Author's Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting



That night Anya didn't get much sleep. All night she was fidgeting in her bed while thinking about her parents, and most of all, about her brother. 

Zero was still out there between those demons, and that fact was eating her from the inside. 

The following morning she got dressed, met with Ellyn and Leon, then went toward a place they'd been called to by the academy staff.

It was not far from the building they slept in and it took only about ten minutes to reach there. 

They reached there soon and when they stood before the building and looked at it, they realized that it was looking just like the building for a school—or an academy. 

It was a huge building, so huge that the building of the Zaforths magic academy was nothing compared to it. 

The front walls were adorned with an uninterrupted expanse of glass windows, giving the impression that the entire façade was made of glass when viewed from a distance.

They crossed the outside boundary and entered the main campus along with all the other students who were here for the same purpose. In fact, there were way too many students here. 

However, the three of them didn't give much thought to this and went on inside. They weren't really familiar with the location but just went where the other students were going. 

Later on, they were standing inside a big hall along with all the other students. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the place was rather too crowded. 

According to how things have gone in situations like these, the three of them were expecting Mr. Halls to come and make an announcement. But that wasn't quite what happened. 

Sure, Mr. Halls came onto the stage. But he was not alone, along with him were three more gentlemen. 

All four of them spoke one by one and explained things to the students present there. It took around an hour for them to explain everything, then around half an hour to answer the questions of the students. 

Once all that was done, the students were dismissed. They had been told many things, some students were in outrage, some were confused, and some had gone numb from all these things happening. 

If it was about Anya, she came in one who had gone numb. At this point, she just wanted her brother back. That's what was on her mind all the time, to the extent that she started spacing out every then and now.

That day all the students were at the new academy building till night, they had been asked to take an exam so that the academy could reexamine the value each student held. 

After all, a student who was scared of the demons or didn't have the will left to fight was simply a waste of resources. 

Once the test was finished, they were sent back to their rooms. 

Closing the door of her room after saying goodnight to Ellyn and Leon, Anya went and lay numb on her bed. Throughout the day she had felt nothing. All she could think about was Zero. She was worried to death about his safety.

Perhaps she would have felt a little better if she got to talk with her parents, but the refugee area was far away and she was occupied by the exam all day. 

She felt useless, helpless. There was nothing she could do to change the situation she was in, or her family was in. 

As she lay there on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her vision went blurry and drops of tears began to flow down her cheeks. 

She felt like there was a huge boulder on her chest, or as if there was a spear stabbed in her chest. There was an indescribable amount of pain. 

She curled up in a ball, hugging her knees and clenching her chest as tears continued to flow down her face and drench the bed sheet. 

She cried, cried, and cried a lot. Yet not a single sound escaped her mouth. 

Somehow she managed to fall asleep—probably because she was exhausted both mentally and physically. However, that night she had a really bad dream. 

***

"Fucking hell they don't know when to give up!" I screamed as I pulled out the ice sword from the chest of a demon beast. 

"Maelstrom: Red!" I said, releasing a tornado of red-hot flames toward the beasts on my side. 

As my [Foresight] kicked in, I instinctively leaned back to dodge an oncoming attack. Capitalizing on the opening, I wasted no time and swiftly maneuvered behind the beast. With a determined thrust, I drove the sword into its body, aiming straight for its core, and successfully destroyed it, rendering the beast powerless. 

The battle continued, and I soon realized that I was surrounded by the relentless demon beasts. There were around thirty to forty of them, all ready to attack me at once. The situation felt overwhelming, and I knew I was in for a tough fight.

I looked for Req but as usual, she was taking care of an army on her own—plus she was far away. 

"This turned out badly," I sighed while continuing to dodge one attack after another. 

It was not as if I couldn't get out of this situation. I still had an attack left which I hadn't used till now—although that one was sure to damage me as well. 

'I mean, of course. I'm not some shonen protagonist who will save powerful attacks just so I can show them off later.'

I did not have the privilege to do that here, plus there was no one to watch even if I did want to show off. 

"Ah well, whatever," I said to myself. Logically, taking some damage was better than dying. 

Therefore I prepared myself for it. 

"Resistance 4," I cast a defensive spell on myself, even though I knew it wasn't going to do much. 

Then I used White to trap the beasts near me so that I could get myself a little space to move around. 

Facing the encircling beasts, I took a stance and raised my right hand, summoning a ball of red flames using Red. Simultaneously, my left hand rose, conjuring a ball of blue flames as I used Blue. The dual flames crackled with power, ready to be unleashed upon my adversaries.

I brought my hands together, making the balls of flame collide. With a surge of mana, the flames intensified, crackling with power. 

As the energy balls united, they created a new one that burned hotter than ever before. The intense heat emanated a powerful and mesmerizing glow.

"Maelstrom: Purple!" I said.

An explosion of scorching purple flames erupted with incredible intensity, powerful enough to melt the very ground beneath me. As expected, I found myself at the epicenter of this blazing conflagration.