The Academy's Doomed Side Character

Chapter 355: The Masked Woman [3]

What was this?At first, I had assumed Ryan would eventually overpower her once Enhancement fully settled in.

After all, if the person I suspected—the friend who might have created this world—was involved, there was no way he’d create a character this absurdly overpowered.

At least, that was what I believed.

I thought his limit was indirect intervention through that unknown black substance.

Not... this.

The smoke slowly began to clear.

Fragments of the shattered cage lay scattered across the battlefield. Dust drifted through the air, illuminated by lingering sparks of golden lightning and fading holy power.

And then—

The figure inside finally became visible.

The mask was gone.

My eyes narrowed.

...Who are you?

For a brief moment, a ridiculous thought crossed my mind.

Could it actually be him?

Could this somehow be my friend?

But the idea immediately felt wrong.

No.

Not impossible.

Just... unlikely.

Very unlikely.

The person standing before us was a woman.

Long crimson hair flowed down her back, swaying gently despite the lack of wind.

Her eyes were the same color.

Bright red.

Sharp enough to appear intimidating at first glance.

Yet somehow...

She looked kind.

The contradiction was strange.

If she weren’t standing in the middle of a destroyed battlefield, she could have easily been mistaken for a friendly older sister smiling at younger students.

Her lips curved upward.

"I’m surprised."

Her voice sounded different now that it wasn’t filtered through the mask.

Softer.

Clearer.

More human.

"I’ll admit it."

Her gaze moved between Ryan, Leo, and me.

"I didn’t expect three boys who haven’t even properly transcended the wall to display this level of teamwork."

Despite her calm expression, I could tell she meant it.

That attack had genuinely impressed her.

Not injured her.

Not threatened her.

Impressed her.

Which was somehow more terrifying.

Ryan frowned.

"Tch. You’re talking like you weren’t just hit by everything we had."

"Oh, I was."

She nodded casually.

"That was quite painful."

Nobody believed her.

Not for a second.

She looked completely unharmed.

Not a scratch.

Not a burn.

Not even a wrinkle in her clothes.

Then her hand slowly rose to her face.

She touched the broken remains of her mask.

A small crackling sound followed as a fragment fell to the ground.

Clink.

The woman stared at it for a moment.

Then she sighed.

A genuinely disappointed sigh.

"...But breaking my mask was a bad move."

The atmosphere shifted.

Subtly.

But enough for everyone to notice.

Her smile remained.

Yet something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

"I’m a bit defective, you see."

Her fingers brushed against the exposed side of her face.

"So I need that mask to keep myself under control."

Silence filled the chamber.

The words sounded absurd.

Yet nobody laughed.

Because the pressure radiating from her had changed.

It wasn’t stronger.

Not exactly.

It was...

Unstable.

As if something restrained had just been set free.

That was enough to confirm one thing.

She wasn’t my friend.

Not directly, at least.

Whether she was some forgotten setting, an abandoned character concept, or something that had slipped through the cracks of the world’s design—

I had no idea.

But one thing was becoming increasingly clear.

She wasn’t supposed to exist.

And that made her dangerous.

Extremely dangerous.

The woman suddenly placed a hand over her mouth.

Then she laughed.

A small laugh at first.

"Ah..."

Her shoulders trembled slightly.

"As expected."

The smile widened.

"I really can’t control myself without it."

Another laugh escaped her lips.

Then another.

And another.

"Hehe..."

The laughter gradually grew louder.

More distorted.

More unnatural.

The kindness in her expression remained.

Yet her eyes...

Her eyes had changed completely.

Madness flickered within them.

Not rage.

Not hatred.

Pure madness.

The kind that existed without reason.

Without purpose.

Without limits.

"Hehehe..."

The woman lowered her hand.

Her grin stretched wider.

Far wider than before.

"I know I should hold back."

A giggle escaped her.

"But I can’t stop laughing."

Leo immediately tightened his grip on his spear.

Ryan’s expression darkened.

Even Lena looked unsettled.

The woman herself seemed aware of what was happening.

That was the frightening part.

She wasn’t losing control.

She was watching herself lose control.

And she found it amusing.

"Hehehe..."

Her red eyes slowly swept across the room.

One by one.

Ryan.

Leo.

Lena.

Then—

Me.

The moment her gaze landed on me, the laughter stopped.

Instantly.

The abrupt silence felt suffocating.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The woman tilted her head.

A strange expression appeared on her face.

Curiosity.

Recognition.

Confusion.

All at once.

"...You."

My heart sank.

Not again.

Her smile slowly returned.

But this time, it looked different.

Less human.

More dangerous.

"I’ve been wondering about you since earlier."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

Ryan immediately stepped between us.

The woman ignored him.

Her eyes never left mine.

And for the first time since revealing her face—

The excitement in her voice disappeared.

Only seriousness remained.

"Why do you feel familiar?"

The question struck me like a hammer.

Because I wanted to ask her the exact same thing.

...but then before I could say anything she raised her fist.

Thump.

My heart skipped a beat.

No—

It felt as if my instincts were screaming.

The dust from the explosion hadn’t even settled yet, but every nerve in my body was warning me of the same thing.

Danger.

A level of danger completely different from anything she had shown so far.

The silhouette standing within the smoke slowly raised her arm.

The moment I saw it, a chill ran down my spine.

Something was gathering in her fist.

Something red.

At first glance, it looked like blood.

But it wasn’t.

Not really.

My fragmented memories stirred.

A feeling.

An understanding that shouldn’t have existed.

And yet, somehow, I knew.

That thing was dangerous.

Incredibly dangerous.

"Ryan...!"

My voice echoed through the ruined chamber.

"Shield! Block it! Quickly!"

Ryan immediately turned toward me.

Confusion flashed across his face.

He didn’t understand why I sounded so desperate.

Neither did I.

But I trusted my instincts.

And thankfully—

Ryan trusted me.

Without hesitation, he abandoned his offensive stance and pulled out his shield.

Holy power erupted from his body.

Brilliant golden light coated the shield as dense holy sword energy condensed around its surface.

At the same time, Leo reacted.

The urgency in my voice had clearly reached him.

He shot across the battlefield and stopped beside Ryan.

"What happened?" he asked.

"No time!" I shouted.

"Just block!"

Leo’s expression hardened.

Mana surged from his body.

Protective qi condensed around him before spreading outward, reinforcing Ryan’s defense.

A second layer.

Then a third.

The two boys stood shoulder-to-shoulder.

Holy power.

Mana.

Two different energies merging into a defensive wall.

And even then—

It didn’t feel enough.

The feeling only grew stronger.

The masked woman remained motionless within the dust cloud.

The red substance continued gathering around her fist.

Drip.

Drip.

It looked like blood flowing backward.

Streams of crimson liquid crawled across her arm before converging into her clenched hand.

The sight was strangely beautiful.

And terrifying.

My fragmented memories stirred again.

Blood.

That was what it looked like.

But blood was merely the symbol.

The visual representation.

The truth was something far deeper.

My breathing slowed.

A realization surfaced.

"...Life."

The word escaped my lips unconsciously.

The moment I said it, the feeling became clearer.

Blood was life.

Blood carried vitality.

Existence.

Creation.

Destruction.

It was one of the fundamental concepts that formed the world itself.

And somehow—

That red energy carried traces of that principle.