Responsibility
Responsibility
Just as Aurora expected, it didn't take long for the headmaster to notice that one of the pillar formations had deactivated, meaning Mantis had either betrayed them… or died.
A betrayal made no sense, since if someone at his level was to do so, they wouldn't stop at simply deactivating their tower's formation, and would certainly try to either cause as much damage as possible, or steal what they could find before running away.
Since neither of these had happened, that left only one possibility, which was that someone had managed to kill one of their pillars without them even noticing.
Once that fact was established in his mind, the always confident headmaster couldn't help but feel a chill up his spine.
Of course, his first instinct was to immediately call back the remaining pillars, and that was exactly what he did. Only once he was done sending the signal of recall to their badges and received three confirmations did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Aurora had already been on her way to the headmaster's palace when she received his signal, so it was no surprise that she was the first to arrive.
The headmaster's panicked expression eased immediately upon spotting her, and he audibly breathed a sigh of relief. "It's good that you're here. Where are Lord Kaizen and Lady Kaling?"
The platinum blonde shrugged. "On their way here, probably."
The black-haired man couldn't help but jolt up from his chair and start walking back and forth in worry. "Should I go out and escort them back? No no, I think both of us should go out and get them back in the academy safely! Whoever can take down Mantis can surely do the same with Kaizen and Kaling! There's no time to waste—"
Aurora sighed. "No need to worry, nothing will happen to them."
The headmaster couldn't believe it… even at this moment, when one of their pillars had been killed, Aurora was still acting so chill.
Can't she bring herself to care, for once?!
In his rage, he couldn't help but slam his fist down on the table. "What the fuck, Aurora! I usually treat you with respect, but this is too much! Lord Mantis died, you know! Is this really the time for you to be so uncaring? If something happens to the other two pillars, will you take responsibility?"
Aurora opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the headmaster had already started another tirade.
"No, in the first place, this is all your fault! When you were investigating the Terran movements, you should have been more careful! All of the pillars should have stuck together! Even if you think the Terrans aren't strong enough to warrant that, there are still horrors like that Thousand Eyed God roaming around!"
Aurora waited for a while as the headmaster huffed angrily, and only after he remained silent did she sigh. "Are you done, now? Can I say something?"
"Huh? O-Oh… yeah? No, wait! We should first go and—"
Looking at the platinum blonde's stare, the headmaster gulped and changed his mind. "A-Alright, l-let's listen to what you have to say first, Lady Aurora, then we can go and escort the other two back."
Aurora nodded. "You're right when you say that the death of 'Lord Mantis' is my fault. I killed him."
The headmaster stared at her blankly for a while before bursting into nervous laughter. "Ahahaha… Haha… Haha… N-Nice one, Lady Aurora. I really was too nervous back then. I-I feel a lot better now."
"I don't joke."
The black-haired man felt his legs shake for a moment. "I-I was hasty and unbridled to say such a thing, Lady Aurora. No one could have expected this to happen. Spreading the pillars out to search the forest wasn't the wrong decision. The death of Lord Mantis is definitely not your fault! Please don't blame yourself!"
Aurora sighed. "Listen carefully, headmaster… I killed Mantis. His body exploded into bits and pieces, and those bits and pieces exploded into tiny little particles, which evaporated till there was nothing left of him. I cannot be any more clear than this, can I?"
There was pin-drop silence in the headmaster's meeting chamber, as time passed by minute by minute, and the headmaster felt his vision repeatedly turning dark as he tried to comprehend Aurora's words, and what it meant for him if that was true.
Although he had repeatedly theorized fighting with Aurora, and how he could take her down using his superior artifacts and fighting experience, the reality was… he didn't dare to go against her at all.
When he had been but a small boy, Aurora was already used to punishing senior professors, and she did so quite frequently. Back in the day, before the headmistress perished, the terror that Aurora commanded in the academy was a sight to behold, and anyone who grew in such an environment would never dare go against the girl.
And the most terrifying part was that it was impossible to tell when she was truly angry. People could only guess her mood through the intensity of her punishments. Thankfully, after the headmistress died, Aurora seemed to have mellowed out a lot, and only took care of matters that required her attention.
Right now, there was no one else aside from Aurora and himself in the room, and the headmaster felt, for the first time in thousands of years, that his life was truly on the line. He couldn't help but send his spirit power into his spatial artifact, getting ready to call out all his defenses to turtle up like a proper coward until the other two pillars arrived. Maybe then the three of them could gang up together to survive.
But as minute by minute passed, and Aurora still didn't make a move, the headmaster finally felt some of his fear fade away.
Right. If she wanted to kill him, wouldn't he be already dead?
"L-Lady Aurora… You see… U-Um, can you tell me… why you killed Lord Mantis?"
To his relief, Aurora didn't lash out, nor did she glare. The platinum blonde gave him a nod before turning to stare at the door.
"Wait for the other two to arrive. I'll explain it to all three of you together."
Although he had already concluded that the other two weren't killed by her based on her earlier words, hearing it again from her mouth still brought the headmaster much relief.
Still, he only relaxed when the two cloaked figures finally rushed into the headmaster palace and arrived at the meeting hall.
"Emergency Summons? What happened?"
"Huh? Lord Mantis is still not here? I thought he'd be here before us."
Aurora indicated for them to take a seat, and the two pillars gave her a bow before doing so. They were quite curious about what caused such a summon. Going by how Aurora was already there and they had been called back, perhaps whatever scheme the Terrans were cooking was already figured out, so there was no need to continue their search.
Maybe Mantis was even out dealing with them? The man was quite whimsical, though, so the two of them weren't sure if he wasn't just late.
Interestingly, the headmaster remained silent, and didn't even greet them.
They thought that they would have to wait for Mantis to arrive first, but unexpectedly, Aurora tapped the table to get their attention.
"Please listen carefully, all three of you, I will only explain once."
Aurora considered her words for a moment before she started speaking. "A few days ago, I became aware of a scheme that threatened my student's life, so I decided to tail her in secret to protect her if needed. Today, the scheme was finally executed, and I'm uncertain of the fate of all the students who were in the same expedition as my student, and they are very likely already killed by professor Donna."
"Donna?!"
"That puny little junior professor?! She dared to kill a student right under the eyelids of a pillar?! Deserving death!"
Aurora shook her head, and the two pillars immediately apologized for interrupting her. "Doesn't matter. Anyway, Donna is not dead, she may either be hiding in the Wonderland of Doom, or could have already escaped."
Not to mention Kaizen and Kaling, even the headmaster was shocked. How could a puny little junior professor escape from Aurora?
No way.
Even if she didn't want to kill the woman for her offense, she still should have at least captured her! Unless Donna could present a very strong reason for doing so, she was sure to be executed by the academy's rules!
As the prime enforcer, it made no sense for Aurora to have let her go.
Of course, her next words immediately cleared all their doubts.
"When I interceded to stop her, I was attacked by Mantis. I care not for his reasoning, nor can I be bothered to explain it to you. But since he attacked me, he perished. That is all."
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