Classroom of the Elite: Amnesia Haven

Arc 3 - 7 The Heaven's Interruption

Due to the obstructing buildings, I can't tell if it's from our side or the enemy's. From the source of the sound itself, I'm leaning towards an ally side. I took the opportunity to climb up to the roof of one small building and saw a plume of smoke from the direction Fuka's team should be in right now. Nazuna had said that she was concentrating on Arve of Fire. That was likely her magic.

From where I was positioned, I could see through the hole in the intersection clearly. I saw two sides of the tunnel, specifically from Team Manabu and Miyabi. From Team Miyabi, there were about ten to twenty fully-equipped goblins clearly on guard duty. For whatever reason, the back half of them fell asleep... No, I saw black shadows seep into their bodies from inside the tunnel before that happened. Ikuto, huh?

I hurriedly went to the roof where the king should be. I must always be ready to do my part. Though if I rush ahead of myself, and dodge the snipers, the troops below will become a problem in return.

The king's army was already at the intersection. Manabu, Miyabi, and Fuka's team were close to converging, it seemed. I can sense the situation there is getting tense from their movements. Even the king looked like he was about to make a move. ...That scepter. Manabu had advised me to be careful with it. The jewelry he's wearing might not be just for decoration either.

I descended into the tunnel where the king's army was. The snipers were distracted by our surprise attack. Another explosion occurred, this time from Manabu's side. Honami must have done it. I saw that myself. We were close enough for them to be able to notice me normally. But not only them, the goblins at the back and in front of me guarding the king, all of them seemed to regard me as non-existent. Well, aside from my ability, I'm sure the factor of them being distracted is the other most important reason. In any case, I'll make good use of it. No, not yet.

The king was surrounded by a wall of goblins. Not just one, but multiple layers. I could force my way through them if I wanted to. Our bodies are built differently. But I didn't do that. Not yet.

The king yelled in a hoarse, abrasive tone. He sounds enraged. In the interval, he extended his staff to Manabu's team, which was closest to him. The staff had glittering stone stones on the end. One of them glittered as he carried it out. I wanted to know what it was capable of.

"Avoid it!" Manabu bellowed, dodging to the side as he went.

Akane was a little late but did the same in a panic. Honami followed Manabu's path rather calmly.

Something resembling lightning struck the ground where Manabu was. It left a charred ground, its sides reddened. Manabu and Akane in the back would surely die if it struck. Honami would've lost both of her legs.

That's a relic? I wondered.

Honami's group from Miyabi and Fuka's side seemed visibly bothered by the sight. Manabu's team was more composed about it. Nevertheless, I initiated my move at that moment. The goblins' attention was completely on the front.

"Eek?!" Nazuna suddenly yelped.

Miyabi went startled. "What?!"

Ryuji, Sou, Mako, and Yuki all had their own shocked expressions. I caught sight of Ikuto and Fuka wide-eyed, taken aback. Manabu's expression was frozen, with the two girls behind him having it worse. I was no better myself. My guard dropped slightly as I was stunned by the sight in front of me.

From the heavens, almost an instant after the king struck Manabu with his mysterious scepter, a literal bolt of lightning struck the goblin king squarely. It instantly took him out of existence. 'It just came out of nowhere. That, and the timing was just spot on.'

Is that the consequence of using the relic Manabu told me about a while ago? I found that hard to believe. Then what? My gaze naturally flicked to the opening of the tunnel passage above the deceased king. I couldn't get a full view of what was up there because of the tunnel roof. Why am I interested in examining the sky? It's probably... no, it must be because of the strange feeling I felt back in Old City. The sensation I felt back then was that someone was watching me. I don't know if it was a human, an animal, or something else. All I know for sure is that something was watching me back then. I just didn't know what and why they were doing that. I never felt that way again after that. I suspected that the cause of the king's death was that unknown entity.

...I have no way of knowing that. I don't even know what that creature watching me is. Let alone see it. No, I'm not completely devoid of anything in my mind regarding that matter. I had a guess.

As I continued watching the clear sky, with no prior notice, it grew cloudy. More than one lightning bolt, several and, by the sound of it, dozens of them were blaring. It was worse than I thought. The consequences the goblin king took from that single attack were too far-fetched.

"Retreat to Old City, now!" Manabu ordered. He went to withdraw shortly afterward. "On me!"

Team Miyabi, Fuka, and I didn't hesitate to make a run for it. We didn't refrain from killing as many goblins on our way to escape faster. We all know that this upcoming storm is a bad thing.

***

It was not good. Unnaturally so.

It took us a whole day to get out of New City, and the storm didn't subside, instead, it got worse. There were several cases where one of us was indirectly hit by lightning and had to be treated by priests for it. We were lucky that it didn't hit our whole body directly.

We used the chaos that the goblins also experienced because of the storm to get out of New City more easily. The chaos was naturally great. Manabu had said that a storm of that level was not natural. Not here.

Once we arrived in Old City, we took our well-hidden belongings and left for Alterna soon after. On the way, Manabu said something that not only me but probably most of the Spearhead members knew by now. "Someone is interfering with our negotiation efforts."

"...Who is it?" Honami replied somberly.

The atmosphere had not been favorable. Mainly because of the fatigue and failure they had experienced from this operation.

Manabu shook his head. "I'm not sure of the answer yet."

***

A/N: The content of the negotiation won't be disclosed any time soon, possibly not even in the Arc itself. Well, I'm sure it's not that hard to guess, and it's not like it was anything grandeur or the like.