The Battle for Isaac (3)

Atla Hall, before Luce summoned the Thunderbird.

Eva Hielov, a four-eyed female student, was sitting on a chair. She was utterly baffled about what was going on in Atla Hall.

Everyone's memories were different and altered. More so, strange rumors about Isaac were afloat.

He's a slob? He tries to flirt with any girl he can get his hands on? That's ridiculous.

'He took on a demon! A demons I tell you!'

How does nobody know what he did?

Whatever. In the first place, talented and skilled wizards were known for their lack of common sense. Trying to understand them was like trying to cover the entire ocean with a single human palm. Basically impossible.

She repeatedly glanced at the women Isaac had supposedly touched. However, Kaya Astrea… was nowhere to be seen.

Keridna Whiteclark, the girl with a pink bobcut, was asking people around her.

'Isaac came onto me…? Why am I only finding out about this now? Show me what you have seen now.'

It seemed she didn't know anything either. As to why she seemed so urgent… this was indeed a mystery.

Additionally, Lisetta Lionheart with her orange ponytail was still devouring and ripping apart the meat in front of her. As expected, she doesn't seem to know anything either. More importantly, how much was she going to eat?!

Her whole body trembled in disbelief.

Isaac… has he been protecting people like this all along?

'I touched someone I shouldn't have.'

Realizing this, Eva stuffed her face into her hands and started to mess up her hair, despite the many eyes around her. She wanted to die.

[What's wrong?]

"…!"

Suddenly, a familiar lady's voice rang in Eva's ear.

As if she heard something she wasn't supposed to, Eva stiffened up completely.

A white cat with a pink ribbon hanging on her tail, Ella. Dorothy Heartnova's familiar. It was a voice that she could never forget.

[Long time no see, my friend?]

"Ah, ah…"

[Do you remember what I said before? I told you to keep what you found out a secret.]

"Sorry, I'm sor-!"

Ella used Dorothy's mana to stop Eva, who was instinctively getting out of her seat and trying to escape.

Kkeuuu—

"Heuk!"

[Can you stay still for a second?]

A strong force was pressing down on Eva's thighs. She couldn't move an inch.

Eva looked at the white cat standing next to her in fear.

[It looks like something strange happened right? Everyone has different stories. However, you… You look completely fine.]

"Pl, pl, please don't hurt me…"

The strength that gripped her thighs felt like an unassailable wall. It was as if something impossibly heavy had its entire weight on just her legs.

Eva swallowed her tears and started pleading with Ella.

[Don't worry. I don't mean any harm. More importantly, there's something Dorothy is curious about.]

"I can't say anything…"

[What?]

Ella came here because Dorothy wanted to make sure Isaac's information was not spread.

From what the students were saying, Ella assumed that Isaac had come to Atla Hall.

Out of all of the students, the only one who looked fine was Eva which was why she approached her.

While all the other students seemed like they were babbling as if their memories were fabricated, Eva looked terrified while sitting quietly in her chair.

Because of this, Eva, who was wrought with fear, paradoxically seemed the most normal.

From inferring the situation at hand, it seemed like a mysterious phenomenon had occurred in Atla Hall. Isaac seemed to have a hand in it.

Judging by the way he also forced Eva's silence, it seemed like it was Isaac's intention to not reveal what actually happened.

[On the contrary… Isaac knew his information was going to be sold and he used it to his own advantage…]

Ella's monologue was muffled so that Eva couldn't hear what she was saying.

It may seem unbelievable, but Dorothy said that Isaac, who looked mild and weak, was much stronger than she was.

Dorothy was someone who could see through the essence of everything with the power of [All In the World]. There wasn't a possibility of her eyes being wrong.

Therefore, it would not be weird at all if a man who has risen to higher heights than Dorothy were to play with the lives of ordinary people.

The force that weighed on Eva's legs disappeared.

Eva was relieved with a tear-stricken face, but as soon as she heard Ella's voice, she reflexively held her breath.

[I don't want to disturb Isaac, so I'll just let it go.]

"Ah…"

[Still, my friend, let's not act out of line shall we?]

Ella took the form of mana before she disappeared.

Eva was unable to control her trembling body for quite some time.

* * *

'Let's get this straight.'

What a messy night.

I wonder if this is how a pilot feels when his fighter jet has no cockpit window. While enjoying the wind in my face, I was lost in thought.

In the skies above the academy, I was currently holding hands with Dark Kaya as we flew at high speeds with the power of wind magic.

Behind us, Galia and Luce chased us as if they were dogs playing fetch.

Kaya's memories were altered when Marlog was defeated. I assumed that perhaps in Kaya's memory, I made an embarrassing show of affection toward her.

That was probably why she took me from Luce and attempted to seduce me.

'It's true I managed to escape captivity thanks to her.'

If it weren't for Kaya, my wrists would've probably still been shackled to Luce.

Even so, it wouldn't have been a big deal. All I would've needed to do was play with Luce for a bit and I would've been free in no time. That was why I didn't really take her handcuffs seriously.

Of course, I'm not saying I'm into restraints. That's not my kink at all.

After the Elt Island incident, I taught Luce a lesson on ethics regarding how 'It's wrong to suppress the freedom of others'. As a wise teacher, I kindly taught my cherished student Luce, yet it seemed like my lesson had gone in one ear and out the other.

'Should I teach her with actions instead of words?'

I should probably teach Luce the meaning of putting yourself in other people's shoes sometime soon. If I tie up Luce, wouldn't she understand my feelings in the end?

'…Maybe that's a bit too much.'

Well, I don't need to go that far I guess.

Luce was not in an extreme enough state to be considering Extra Bad Ending No. 13 [Bird Cage} and even in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, she didn't keep the player captive after the ending…

…I'll choose to believe that there will be plenty of time for reeducation.

'Anyway.'

Back to the current situation.

When it came down to it, it honestly wasn't that bad.

Both Kaya and Luce were overreacting because they were drunk on their feelings.

So for now, let's get out of this mess and create an opportunity to talk to these two calmly.

'I should clear up Kaya's misunderstanding first.'

We reached a tall clock tower surrounded by numerous buildings.

Right after we passed the clock tower, we were briefly obscured from Galia's field of view.

'It's time to fall.'

「Ice Generation (Ice Element, ★1)」

While trying to time my fall perfectly, I stretched my remaining hand down and made a handle-shaped block of ice. I held onto it tightly.

From there, a mass of ice was added to the handle, creating a heavy block of ice.

This should be enough.

"Ahhk!"

Kaya let out a scream. Due to the weight of the ice cube I was holding, Kaya and I started to fall instantly.

Levitating your body with wind magic required a fine level of mana control.

So, hypothetically speaking, let's say that a heavy weight was suddenly added while maintaining such difficult wind magic.

Kaya, who was accustomed to considering weight when using wind magic, lost all her mana control.

After we started falling, I immediately got rid of the ice cube and stretched my arms upwards, releasing icy blue flames with immense force.

「Frostfire (Ice Element, ★4)」

Fwaaaah——!!

"Sir Isaaaaaaaaac?!"

Since [Frostfire] could double as a booster, I used this method many times in the past to accelerate or decelerate myself.

As a result, Kaya and I fell to the ground at a frightening speed.

It's cute when she gets so flustered. I unintentionally took my revenge with this.

It's certainly true that it feels better to drag someone around than to be dragged around.

"…!"

When we suddenly disappeared, Luce and Galia were stunned. Galia stopped in the air, creating a strong gust of wind with a flap of its wings.

If one looked around for about 2 to 3 seconds, one could see us falling vertically.

However, there were too many buildings located around the clock tower. There was no space for Galia to squeeze his massive body between the buildings, and there was no way they would make the extreme choice of demolishing the buildings.

During the time Luce unsummoned Galia, I was going to take Kaya and run into the clock tower.

"Kaya, I'll trust you with the landing!"

"Oh, yes!"

「Wind Generation (Wind Element, ★1)」

Fwooooo——!

Immediately, I extinguished [Frostfire] and trusted our landing to Kaya's wind magic. We slowly approached the ground and finally landed safely.

"I was so surprised…"

"That's it. Follow me!"

"What? Oh!"

Luce was landing vertically while riding Galia.

Seeing that she was still chasing after us, I grabbed Kaya by the wrist and ran into the clock tower.

All I wanted was enough time to have a conversation with Kaya. I needed to clear up the misunderstanding with her before I could talk to Luce.

'Ah.'

I forgot because I was in such a hurry. I was pretty strong and could also run fast. If I clenched Kaya's wrist this tightly while running, I probably caused her a lot of pain.

I relaxed the grip slightly and turned back to look at Kaya.

"Sorry, Kaya! Are you okay?"

"I'm not okay, I'm happy!"

"What?!"

[Kaya Astrea] Psychology: [The thought of getting forcefully dragged by you is making her very excited.]

I swear I'm going to lose my fucking mind.