Sometimes, the biggest stranger in our lives is ourselves...

What should I do next? Should I do this? Is this the right thing to do? Just who am I?

-The freaking Question of Existence I don't want answers to...

Alfir needs to lose this but in a normal way. He attacked like a mindless brute— without a plan, reckless, and full of openings.

First is Lorie, as expected it was a miss.

Though in Lorie's mind 'Fuck, fuck, fuck! My stored luck is already halfway through after fighting my last match with that Cain bastard! What the hell? This guy swings like an ogre… Aaagh!! That costs me all of my remaining luck! Why is he so strong!?'

Alfir's claim that he knows these people he wrote himself just like the back of his hand is a bull. He was enlightened by this fact when he saw Lorie's panicking expression.

'Did I just mess up big time?' He thought and decided too late.

"Don't leave me out of this!"

Deron performed his trump card—

BRAVERY BLADE: CRIMSON CRESCENT!

A crescent wave of shrill force traveled at the speed of sound. Even the spectating teachers are amazed by Deron's superhuman display.

This time, it's Alfir's turn to panic.

'This?! This is a skill you are supposed to learn halfway through the story, you freak of nature! It's not 30 chapters yet! It's still the enrollment arc! SHIT! I overdid it again...'

Alfir feebly parried, he needs to make an elaborate act. But to his surprise, his parry proved to be too much for Deron's trump card

Deron's [Crimson Crescent] bounced back, returning with double the force.

'Eh?'

That doesn’t make sense. Was Deron too tired in confronting Pierre? Was Lorie too out of luck since she confronted Cain? Alfir’s lips twitched. Even without precognitive powers, he’s pretty sure of what ought to happen next. The audiences were in an uproar.

“What?”

“Di-did h-e- just…”

“The hell?”

“The shit stain, he is…?”

Alfir is speechless, but shit stain, really? Deron was ejected outside the ring, meanwhile Lorie fainted on her knees. The crowd went deaf silent.

“…”

The extra won the fight.

'Why is the world placing me in the spotlight!?'

Alfir underestimated Lorie's luck powers. He thought that he was able to neutralize all of her remaining luck without any consequences. And with Deron's overwhelming specs, Alfir will then be one-sidedly beaten down. As a result, Deron will become the hero that the audience desperately sought. Alfir is planning to hand the victory to Deron just like in the original story.

But Alfir miserably misjudged Deron's and Lorie's current abilities. Of course, the two will be tired!! Deron fought a three-way battle in the Group Battle. Similarly, Lorie dueled Jana that same day. Today on this very tournament grounds, the two similarly fought tooth and nail against their opponents.

‘Meanwhile… Me… I smacked Zia easily, no sweat needed except for some very forgettable bleeding, I was all fine and dandy… Then I fought Jana who as quickly admitted forfeit.’

It should be Deron's win! Or maybe Lorie's!!

Lorie's luck produced a ripple effect. Alfir even as the author, didn't realize this at that moment. This is Lorie's first time that she unleashed this much luck both in this world and Alfir's fictional writings.

Alfir thought hard about what happened, then… he concluded… If an enormous amount of luck is released, a ripple effect will occur... He noticed it too late. Though his mutation offers him a very unique perspective, it doesn’t mean that he’ll be able to see everything.

Heck, he’s not even certain of the future despite being the author of this world.

In the original story, Lorie used her powers with a conservative and minimized approach which became the core strategy of her mutation application.

The stadium is eerily silent. The audiences are aghast and in disbelief.

"It's anti-climactic, but a win is a win." The principal clapped amidst the awkwardness. Through his [Specter Summons] in the shape of several mouths, his announcement echoed in the arena…

There is not much to Alfir's performance. There is nothing special to it, so the principal is as much as disappointed as the audience.

The principal summoned another gigantic screen, then replayed the fight at a ×0.00001 speed. When Alfir attacked, Lorie released a devastating amount of luck that visibly caused the air to tremor. When Deron's [Crimson Crescent] arrived, it didn't even touch Alfir's sword. On a closer inspection, it was the wave-like tremor in the air that reflected Deron's powers.

It was a chemical reaction Alfir didn't foresee, he should have whittled Lorie's luck powers with attrition, and should have not chosen to neutralize it in one blow.

"As you can see, Lorie and Deron took each other out. Alfir thanks to his strategic attack, Lorie was forced to give her all. This is the fastest fight in the history of the academy in something like this..." A three-way battle that finished in seconds… that’s very new to the academy’s relatively short history.

The audience closed one eye to the principal's bullshit. Sure, go and save your academy's face, or something...

"Now, we celebrate!"

The after-party commenced as the organizers regretfully gave Alfir the champion's trophy.

"Jimmy, research about this Alfir person..."

"Should I also make an article about him?"

"Make it as neutral as possible."

"Sure."

Alfir is an orphan who roamed as a refugee from street to street and nation to nation. There are corresponding data supporting this information, but Armin hardly believes it.

There is a 2-year gap in his data being blank. These small gaps in their students' personal backgrounds are hardly pursued. It's only when they pose some level of threat that they take it more seriously.

It is a fact that spies filled their society, but they are an existence the Hero System can easily weed. This is why when the academies are established, there were strong objections.

The academies are becoming a blindspot of the Hero Society, but it is a necessary step they must take. They need to prepare and get stronger, or else it's the end of the world.

...

'Goodbye world domination... I... I want to cry. What happened to the scheme of becoming the master behind the shadows?'

Alfir hid very well. He vanished like the rat he is... Skittering... And scuttling on the roofs of the academy.

Midnight has already come and the persistent journalists and students alike should be no more, but Alfir wanted to stay longer here stargazing, contemplating a life he once lived.

He didn't attend the after-party for the fear of being swamped. This world is not much different from his old world. There is one moon, many stars, and an endless void.

'Maybe this is not another world, but the same world, my world... It's just in a different timeline, or maybe an alternate reality...' He thought.

'Bah! Who knows... Maybe the gods, or the god... knows it... should I ask them?' He admonished himself… doubted even if praying would have any meaning.

"This feels so unreal..." He exclaimed.

'I came to this world, without even a shred of curiosity as to how... And why am I so obsessed with conquering this world... It's not even mine, it's theirs...' He reminisced, recalling a certain manic episode on his first day in this world.

Alfir looked at the few students from where he stood. Even if it's midnight, there are many students milling around the academy. There were lights, laughter, and life...

'I can remember. I woke up in this world from that cramped darkness in the slaughterhouse.'

'Yeah, I remember. There was this wolf... It came out from my laptop. It made a snack of me...'

'I can remem— no... I cannot. I cannot remember... Before the wolf, what was I doing? What is it? I am in the internet cafe. Was I playing a game? Research? Date... What was the date? I was writing, right? Was it Mutagenic Medieval?'

'Family, how about my family? I have a father, his name is... What was it? I can't recall... Mother? I cannot remember her name, neither her face nor her voice.'

'But I can feel that I had one, I had a family... Light novels, I know the word, but I cannot remember even a single title... Movies, I still draw a blank...'

Chills soaked my being. There is something wrong... Lies... Illusions...

'No, there is something I can remember— the novel, Mutagenic Medieval. Its story, every prose, and pages... I can remember it all with great detail.'

Alfir found his reason, but he was already on the edge of the roof before he regained control of his body. In his frantic state of trying to find meaning to his missing memories, he unconsciously walked here—

Then he lost balance.

Then fell.

To his death.

Never finding the meaning of what he is missing.

He closed his eyes with deceptive comfort that if he dies, he'll wake up from this nightmare.

Further, further and further...

Death.

...