Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 552: A Flash (1)

Alon and Penia exited the strange text.

There was no way they could sit there indefinitely inside a place where even space itself had become unstable.

And more than anything—

“You alright now?”

“......Yes. I think I can at least move.”

—Penia’s condition had improved far more compared to before.

“Then let’s head out.”

“Yes.”

And so, after emerging from the strange text, Alon soon found himself looking upon ruins.

No—

“......The academy.”

The academy itself.

Alon recognized the identity of the ruins instantly and showed a slightly surprised expression.

‘It hasn’t... been rebuilt.’

Alon slowly swept his gaze around.

All he could see were ruins. There were no signs whatsoever of reconstruction work, no traces of anyone trying to restore the shattered academy.

If anything, it looked abandoned.

‘Why?’

Of course, if it were merely a matter of leaving damaged buildings unattended, it would not have been entirely incomprehensible.

If people were occupied with more urgent matters, reconstruction work could naturally be delayed.

But this place was the academy.

An academy where the Empire’s nobles and talented individuals gathered.

In other words, the academy itself possessed symbolic importance within the Empire.

And despite something so symbolic having been destroyed, the complete absence of any reconstruction efforts felt strange enough that Alon finally asked:

“......Penia.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know exactly when we returned to?”

“I used the same coordinates, so I’m certain we returned to the original timeline we belonged to. We spent several months there, so...... several months have probably passed here as well.”

“So it really is like that.”

“Yes.”

Penia nodded.

‘Then that means it’s remained in this condition for several months.’

Alon looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before letting out a sigh.

Deep down, he had expected the academy to already be undergoing reconstruction, which would have allowed them to naturally reconnect with the Empire and receive assistance.

And so, just as Alon was about to start walking toward the outside of the academy—

“You’ve returned.”

At the familiar voice, Alon unconsciously turned his head.

“......Rine?”

And there—

He saw a familiar face.

Rine stood there as though she had known all along that Alon would appear right now.

####

After meeting Rine, who seemed to have been waiting amid the academy ruins—

Alon and Penia, with Rine’s help, were able to stay in a lord’s castle near the academy.

And at the same time, Alon finally learned from Rine why the academy had not been rebuilt.

“After the distortion field of the Karma of War collapsed, the academy district fell outside the barrier field?”

“Yes, Godfather. Though rather than a hole being torn open, it’s probably more accurate to say that area itself was excluded from the Empire’s barrier field.”

“So that’s why......”

Alon nodded.

Rine then turned her gaze once more toward Penia, who lay beneath the darkened window.

“She must have pushed herself far too hard.”

“How is Penia’s condition?”

As a mage himself, Alon knew exactly how dangerous mana exhaustion could be.

But even so, he could not properly assess her physical condition, which was why he asked.

At that, Rine made a somewhat strange expression before replying:

“She’ll probably be alright after getting some rest.”

“That’s a relief.”

Alon quietly exhaled.

“......”

“......”

And then silence fell.

But both Alon and Rine knew exactly why this silence existed.

One person was missing from this place.

Someone who should have been here—

Was not.

“Huu—”

Alon steadied his breathing once more and habitually rubbed a hand over his face.

Rine’s expression remained calm.

As though she intended to say nothing at all until Alon himself spoke first, she merely watched him quietly.

How long did the silence continue like that?

“......Evan remained in the past.”

At last, Alon broke the silence and spoke of Evan.

And Rine—

“I see.”

—quietly nodded.

As though, on some level, she had expected it.

Without displaying any particularly strong emotion.

Yet at the same time, her nod carried the faint sense that she had realized something.

“......”

And seeing her expression, Alon felt an inexplicable sense of irritation.

Of course, he knew it was an entirely personal and irrational emotion.

And yet, seeing her accept Evan’s death so calmly stirred something within him, and just as Alon was about to say something—

“So that’s why it was Palaon.”

Rine spoke first.

“......Palaon?”

“Yes.”

“Why is that name suddenly coming up?”

At Alon’s question, Rine looked at him for a moment.

Then, as though realizing something, she let out a small exclamation.

“‘Palaon’ is Evan’s family name, Godfather.”

“......Evan’s family?”

“Yes. The family name he carried as a fallen noble. And the reason I mentioned Palaon is because the name appears in an ancient text.”

At Rine’s words, Alon slowly turned his gaze toward her.

And then—

“‘The great human who fought and defeated Al-Akulakka, Palaon.’”

At those words, Alon’s eyes widened.

“Wait. Then are you saying you know what happened to Palaon— no, to Evan?”

Alon asked rapidly.

Rine smiled and nodded.

“According to the ancient text, Palaon—”

She quietly opened her mouth.

And—

“Ah......”

Alon let out a low sigh.

####

When had it started?

When had he stopped being able to see?

When had he stopped thinking entirely?

At some point—

Without warning, the question surfaced inside Evan’s mind.

And at the same time, he heard the horrifying sound of flesh tearing apart before him.

Of course, the sound did not belong to him.

Rather, it came from the Black Flesh creatures endlessly charging toward him.

■■■-

Their grotesque screams—yet somehow tinged with fear—echoed at his ears.

But Evan did not hear them.

All he did was raise his sword and swing it once more toward the next flesh mass.

Again, the sound of flesh splitting apart rang out.

Though he could no longer see the flesh masses, Evan’s sword pierced through them with terrifying precision.

‘When was it again? When I stopped being able to see.’

Evan quietly thought.

He could not remember clearly.

The only things he vaguely recalled were that it had been a long time since he had begun swinging his sword with his eyes closed—

And that this had likely happened because he had never wiped away the blood pouring from the Black Flesh creatures.

Beyond that, Evan thought of nothing.

Not why he could still slaughter the flesh masses despite fighting with closed eyes.

Not how he could continue battling endlessly despite so much time having passed.

He questioned nothing.

Simply without thought.

Without desire.

He swung his sword.

Swung.

And swung.

And swung again.

Continuing endlessly—

Carving through the Black Flesh creatures.

How many minutes had passed?

How many tens of minutes?

How many hours?

How many days?

Without sensing any of it—

He simply continued killing the Black Flesh.

And then—

The moment he swung his sword once more—

“......?”

Evan felt a slight sense of wrongness.

There was no resistance in the sword he swung.

It felt light, as though cutting through empty air.

And only then did realization finally dawn upon him.

──────-

He could no longer hear the voices of the Black Flesh creatures.

The instant he realized that, Evan blankly raised a hand and wiped his face clean.

And then he saw it.

A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

“......”

Before him stood a mountain made entirely of flesh corpses.

Blood flowed around him.

And the Black Flesh creatures that had once stretched beyond the horizon—

Were gone.

At that moment, Evan lowered his gaze blankly to inspect his own condition.

And no matter how generously one described it, his state could not be called normal.

His right arm had long since been torn away.

Several horrifying holes had been punched through his abdomen.

And most of all—

“......”

—the sword in his hand had shattered apart, leaving behind only a short fragment of blade and the hilt.

“Is it...... over?”

Evan muttered.

As though he could not believe it.

He spoke absentmindedly.

But naturally, there was no one left to answer him.

Naturally, there was no one left to answer him.

Clatter—

The shattered sword slipped from Evan’s hand and fell.

At the same time, his body tilted backward.

With a splash, Evan collapsed into the river of blood flowing beneath him.

“We’re back.”

Evan muttered blankly while staring at the sky.

At some point, the world that had once been dyed entirely red had regained its original colors.

As proof of that, Evan could see a sun rising in the distance like a sunset.

Not a world glowing crimson—

But a sun carrying its true colors once more.

‘How did this happen......?’

Only after seeing that did Evan begin questioning himself.

Evan understood himself well.

He was strong.

Yet paradoxically, he was not.

He could kill hundreds of flesh creatures.

But facing tens of thousands—

That should have been impossible for him.

So how had this become possible?

A question.

But only for a moment.

Heh—

Evan cast the question aside.

And instead, a deep smile spread across his lips.

“......This period isn’t bad.”

What surrounded him was a mountain of corpses.

What flowed beneath him was a river of blood.

His body was utterly ruined.

And yet he smiled.

At the very end of the story carried by the human named Evan.

Just before placing the final punctuation mark upon it—

He smiled.

“Ah—”

Then he let out a faint exclamation.

“......I forgot to tell him where the emergency funds were.”

Evan had emergency funds.

Money he had secretly set aside through the Information Guild, just in case his superior acted stupidly kind one day and accidentally destroyed his family because of it.

Blankly thinking about that, Evan let out another quiet laugh.

But Alon probably no longer needed such things.

“......”

Now that it had come to this, he found himself wishing he could have seen the end of the path Alon walked.

But Evan soon buried that regret away.

This alone was enough for him.

Even if he could no longer witness the ending from beside him—

He had still managed to place a truly magnificent and perfect period upon his life.

“......”

Evan looked at the rising sun.

He wanted to keep staring at the sky longer, but the sunlight was more dazzling than he had expected.

The sun had not even fully risen yet, and still it was painfully bright.

Too bright to endure without closing his eyes.

“......I’ll rest for a bit first.”

As though casually tossing the words toward someone—

He left behind that final sentence.

And Evan—

“Tell them the rest later.”

—closed his eyes.

Slowly.

Smiling.

Satisfied.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

The sun had risen halfway.

Evan’s eyes remained closed.

And then—

“That’s unfortunate.”

Someone stood before him.

Ash-gray hair fluttering gently.

A young girl stood before Evan, looking down at him with a calm smile.

“I’d like to let you rest, but not yet.”

She approached him and placed something into Evan’s ruined hand.

A ring.

A plain, featureless ring without anything remarkable about it.

And then—

“You still need to deliver it to Teacher.”

She murmured softly.

“And you need to help directly as well.”

Smiling.

Even beneath the bright sunlight, her crimson eyes shone brilliantly.

“Because I’m rather busy.”

She—

......Sia spoke as though giving him a quiet request.