How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 31: Let this world burn instead

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Let this world burn instead

’This hurts. Please help me, Goddess.’

Viena had no idea how or when everything had spiraled into this much of a mess. A life that had always felt like some kind of dream or fairy tale, an ordinary girl chosen by a goddess herself, becoming a Saintess revered by everyone.

She’d walked through all of it on a path lined with flowers. Living a comfortable life, one full of smiles.

But then, the moment she raised her head.

’Since when did everything turn into such a wreck?’

The path she now walked was lined with nails. Every step she took only tore her apart further, its edges no longer flowering but instead choked with trees dripping blood, drop after drop.

Walking, walking, and walking still.

Far ahead, she saw a light—the one and only hope left. But no matter how far she walked, she never once managed to close the distance, not even by a single step.

That light was like a mirage, one she’d never be able to reach.

"Ah."

Tears kept streaming down without end. Her awareness snapped back, showing her a man who’d done everything within his power to protect her.

A man whose name she didn’t even know.

"Ughk...! Gah...!"

’Please stop...’

She wanted to scream, but it all failed the moment Viena realized just how terrified and helpless she truly was.

Only she remained.

"It’s over now."

The supervisor’s body collapsed onto the cold stone floor, his face slowly losing all trace of life, his eyes hollow, open, refusing death.

"Ah... Ah..."

Yes. This was her. The most useless Saintess in all of history.

Viena couldn’t stop herself from mocking her own existence. She stared at the man in the neat black suit, gripped by pure terror.

Then...

"W-why...? What mistake... what did we ever do, that you’d all willingly go this far, this cruel?"

Her voice came out small, trembling in the silence. The man looked at her with a crooked smile.

"Why, you ask...?" The man took a step closer, and closer still. "The answer’s simple, Lady Saintess. It’s just because we’re walking different paths that happened to collide. Our destinations might end at the exact same point, but we’re each getting there our own way."

That was hard to make sense of.

A destination ending at the same point, yet somehow requiring them to kill people in such a brutal way.

What kind of path was that?

Was that even right, in any sense?

No.

Of course it couldn’t possibly be the right path.

"Don’t blame yourself too much. Besides, this is just how the world works. It’s not you who’s wrong—it’s the world that’s wrong."

Then, the man raised his hand. About to end it all, making the Saintess gasp, squeezing her eyes shut in pure terror.

But then...

Release—!!

"...Oh?!"

Biting down on his lip, holding back that agonizing pain, the current crown prince, Rein Von Augusta, his silver hair slightly disheveled, his pale golden pupils fixed on the man.

Every single spike of stone piercing his body was ripped free by force, sending him crashing to the floor, gasping for breath.

Blood sprayed from every wound riddling his body. That spot, drenched in blood, gave off an overpoweringly metallic stench.

"...Just as expected. Even with a few unpleasant things about your past, in the end, you’re still a member of the Imperial family."

The man smiled, rubbing his own chin.

"...Shut up."

Then the surrounding atmosphere trembled. A sword and a golden shield, gleaming with shimmering accents, materialized in each of the crown prince’s hands.

At the same moment, armor also appeared, covering his entire body and face. Wrapped in that gold, like the sun shining at its very brightest, the crown prince clenched his jaw and charged forward.

The man raised his hand.

The ground trembled beneath the crown prince’s feet as a sharp red crystal suddenly jutted upward.

But...

"Faster, Rein. Stronger, Rein."

The crown prince’s twin murmured. Her silver hair flowing gently down her back, her expression maintaining that same cool, distant impression, her pale golden pupils fixed on the man.

"You, weaken. Slow down. And freeze."

The crown prince’s body grew faster, stronger, letting him dodge that crystal needle by the narrowest of margins. At the same moment, the man felt his own body weaken slightly, his movements slow down, and an instant later, he froze completely.

"Hm?"

Charge—!!

Slash—!!

The crown prince swung a strike from above down toward the man, aiming to cleave him in two. But even caught off guard, the man just smiled.

"Incredible."

Tremble—!!

Dozens of red crystals rose up, crossing over one another to form a wall, cutting the crown prince off from the man.

"Ugh?!"

The crown prince winced slightly.

Explosion—!!

His strike collided with the red crystal wall, triggering an explosion between the crystal and the pale golden light streaking off his sword.

He bit his lip, then shot sideways. For a moment, his consciousness nearly slipped away from sheer exhaustion. But he held on.

Slash—!!

Explosion—!!

Failing to break through, he kept launching one attack after another, each one blocked by that red crystal.

Cold sweat poured down the princess’s face as she kept issuing commands and offering support to the crown prince, until she finally bit down on her own lip hard enough to draw blood.

Materialize—!! Materialize—!!

Several weapons appeared around her, floating in the air, taking aim at the man. Weapons made up of all kinds of different swords.

Then—

Charge—!!

The crown prince leapt upward, raising his shield high, then, with a powerful pulse surging through it, slammed it downward.

Explosion—!!

The princess’s floating weapons launched forward at the exact same instant.

Crash—!!

Explosion—!!

Dust billowed everywhere. The crown prince stumbled back several steps, staring at the cloud of dust, gasping for breath.

Their condition was dire, thanks to the earlier fight against the black slime, which was exactly why they weren’t confident they could actually defeat this man.

Their goal was clear—just buy as much time as possible.

The crown prince didn’t let himself dwell on it. He approached the princess, Reina Von Augusta, and immediately helped free her from her restraints.

"Reina?! Are you okay?" His voice was thick with worry, but Reina just nodded, her face pale, raising a hand to signal she was fine.

Of course, anyone could see just how bad her condition really was. But their situation left no room for complaints.

The crown prince quickly turned his attention to the Saintess, who looked deathly pale.

"Lady Saintess, hold on, I’ll—"

"Done playing around now?"

Then the man’s voice rang out. The crown prince flinched, glancing back to find the red crystal had completely encased the man’s body.

Tremble—!!

The crystals held for a few seconds before finally shattering into millions of fragments and vanishing, revealing the man perfectly unharmed.

How much time had they actually bought?

Not even half a minute.

"Damn it."

The crown prince cursed, standing back up, drawing his sword once more. Pale golden light danced around his body as he stared at the man.

"Who exactly are you?"

Right... their goal was to buy time, and that could be done just as well through conversation.

But...

"Me? Who am I? Alright, let’s try to remember, what was... my name, exactly...!"

Then, with a wide grin, the ground trembled. Red crystals rose to the surface, slowly floating into formation as needles, numbering nearly a hundred.

"Hm, I seem to have forgotten. But if you two manage to survive this attack, I suppose I’ll remember."

Inside his golden helmet, the crown prince’s face was consumed with a tangle of emotions as he bit his lip.

He wasn’t confident he could hold off all of that. Reina wasn’t in good condition, and the Saintess looked utterly devastated right now.

With all of that stacked against him, what could he possibly do?

The crown prince smiled bitterly.

If it had really come to this...

"R-Reina, can you help the Saintess?"

".....?"

"Do it, and go. I’ll try to hold out here."

"...I don’t like that sentence, Rein."

"...You know, I always owe you my life."

"And you know exactly what was sacrificed for that life."

The crown prince’s expression froze for a moment, then he smiled, hollow and meaningless.

"Just go."

"....."

Right then, the wave of pale red crystals slowly began shifting from where they stood. Just like before, in a different place, with a different life on the line, Reina stared at her twin brother with a cold, unreadable expression.

Her pupils dropped slightly toward the ground, and then she closed her eyes.

"....Hold on a little longer. I’ll be right back."

Right.

Just like before, nothing had changed. Only her, and the helplessness, and the people around her, being killed off one by one.

One after another.

***

Cray Bentle, at his core, operated at Radiant tier. That was exactly why the professors were confident they could defeat the corrupted Cray.

They’d even deliberately let themselves get captured, allowing themselves to be dragged to the main body, where the other first-year students had been rounded up and held captive.

That way, they could save all those students. But they couldn’t afford to act recklessly, given just how vast Cray’s reach truly was.

So they’d waited patiently, and one student, Eiros, had given them exactly what they needed.

Eiros, along with the other students, had already left. Abandoning that room through the path the professors had provided.

So, just as the professors began to think this entire assault might finally be coming to an end.

"Ah... Professor... Professor Erlina... You liar... Liar... LIAR....!!!!"

Cray Bentle, his head severed from his body, still conscious, began weeping with genuine sorrow, staring at Professor Erlina, who happened to be his own homeroom teacher.

His head lay sprawled on the cold floor, staring up at Professor Erlina’s pupils, narrowed with a cold, complicated expression.

"Why.....? Why.... are you doing all of this to me...? When you once promised me that... someday... someday I’d finally be happy."

Suddenly, slime began oozing out from Cray’s severed neck. Seeping out endlessly, flowing toward his body. Then his head lifted, reconnecting itself.

"...!"

"...This is such a hassle."

"He’s still alive?!"

"...."

Every professor there couldn’t hold back their shock. Their assumption that killing the main body might solve everything had just been shattered.

And Cray, perfectly fine now, raised a hand, wiping at his eyes, still streaming with endless tears.

"I did it, Professor... I tried to make them accept me... But you had to go and ruin it?"

He smiled, sorrow held tight behind his expression as his tears finally stopped. His pupils went hollow, lifeless.

"That’s right. In this world, not a single person ever accepted me. So, before this world tries to destroy me first..."

The surrounding atmosphere turned unbearably heavy. Then, right then, his black slime, severed everywhere, slowly began regenerating on its own.

"Let this world burn instead."

Rumble—!!!

Seems like this wasn’t going to be nearly as simple as the professors had thought.

***