Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 490: When the time resets [2]



At the same time, House of Myron.

As everyone headed back to their rooms after completing their tasks for the day, Aoife looked around.

"....Has anyone seen Julien?"

"Julien?"

Evelyn tilted her head, similarly looking around before settling her gaze over to Kiera who scratched the back of her head.

"Err... dunno. It's been a bit since he left."

"Where do you think he went?"

"Maybe he went to investigate the situation? Well, who the fuck cares? He leaves like this all the time. You should be used to this by now."

"Yeah, you're right."

At Kiera's words, Aoife stopped and nodded. Right, right... Nothing was surprising about Julien disappearing. It was a common thing.

"I'm more surprised by the fact that those two... err... Kyle and Camelion have disappeared." "It's Caius and Kaelion."

Aoife corrected Kiera who scratched the back of her head while saying, 'Ah, shit. Yeah, that...'

She wasn't very good with names.

"Wait, they disappeared?"

It was Aoife's turn to look surprised.

Leon looked at her weirdly.

"Aren't you the group leader? How do you not know?"

"Ah, no, that..."

Aoife's face fell while she started throwing one excuse after another.

"There's a lot of students and I like can't keep an eye on everyone. Especially Kiera, since she might do something that might get us all in trouble. If I have to babysit her then I can't pay attention to everyone can I?"

"Oy."

Kiera frowned but didn't rebuke Aoife.

Thinking about it, Aoife's words weren't without merits.

Kiera puffed up her chest.

'I do cause trouble, but at least I know I do.'

Leon looked at Kiera and shook his head before looking at Aoife.

"If you're so worried about someone making trouble then you should've kept an eye on Julien."

"That's impossible."

"Why?"

"He's stronger than me. If he really wants to leave my sight, I can't do anything about it."

11

Leon tried to argue back, but when he opened his mouth, he realized that he had no words to argue against her.

And he hated that fact.

"See? Even you know that I can't do anything about him."

||

Leon covered his mouth, his eyes darting around the room. Just as he considered reaching out to the Professor, a movement caught his attention. His head snapped toward the nearest window, where a faint shadow flickered, and he soon spotted an owl.

"Owl?"

Taking a closer look, Leon realized he was familiar with the owl.

Wasn't this Julien's pet?

"That's..."

Coming to an abrupt halt, everyone turned toward Owl-Mighty, who stood outside the window. Without a moment's hesitation, Leon stepped forward and pushed the window open, allowing the dry, cold air to rush in, sweeping through the hallway.

"What are you doing here? Is Julien nearby?"

"No."

Owl-Mighty shook its head, glancing around the group.

With its cold eyes, it started to speak.

"He's with two other people."

"Where?"

At Aoife's question, Owl-Mighty turned silently, its eyes glinting in the darkness, and extending its wing, Owl-Mighty pointed toward the towering white structure in the far

distance.

"There."

"Ah."

The expression of everyone present fell at the same time.

Closing her eyes, Aoife rubbed her face while mumbling, 'Jinx. I tried to deny it but they

weren't wrong. He's a jinx.'

Staring into the distance, Leon's eyes narrowed.

"Let me guess."

He turned to look at Owl-Mighty.

"He's in trouble, isn't he?"

"....Yes."

***

My mind was a jumbled mess.

Recalling the faint vision that had just occurred, my mouth suddenly grew dry.

Thu Thump-!

In the background, the drums continued to echo as I forced myself to keep steady.

'So in the end... Sithrus was someone that I knew?'

I tried to recall the voice, but my mind was blank. I couldn't recall such a person in the past. From the tone in which he spoke, he seemed to be rather familiar with me.

But how come I didn't know...?

'I'm almost certain my memories haven't been manipulated. No, it is more like a large chunk of my

memories have been erased.'

Could it be that I was the one who had done this?

....Or was there a different reason for this?

However, if there was one thing that I was certain about, it was the fact that I saw myself staring at me. He... No, I... saw myself. He didn't react, but I knew that he saw me.

That made me think.

'What if in the past I saw myself like this?'

I licked my lips.

The thought was wild, but it made perfect sense.

Oracleus, Emmet, me...

I had seen the future in advance and prepared for it. Of this much I was sure. Now, I finally

understood another thing.

The future that Emmet saw, was the future that I made.

"This is so confusing.'

Everything felt like a jumbled mess in my mind, but I was starting to understand. Everything

that I did was interconnected with the past present and future. This very much felt like

something an 'Oracle' would pull off.

But even so, there were still a lot of things that I didn't understand.

And in this particular case, my relationship with Sithrus.

'How close were we in the past?'

This made me ious, but I knew that I didn't have the time to dwell on this matter. There

were more pressing matters that I needed to take care of.

"Hoo."

Taking a deep breath, I fixed my gaze on the skill tab in front of me. In particular, towards a

certain skill-[Eyes of the Seer].

It was no longer gray.

I could now use the skill.

My chest trembled at the sight but I didn't hastily press on the skill. I still wasn't sure about the duration of the skill. Was it going to last until I died, or was there a fixed time limit?

I was still unsure about this so I needed to plan in advance. If there was a time limit, then I couldn't afford to waste time.

'I have two options. Find an exit, or go to the old man.'

My heart told me to look for an exit, but recalling the past few experiences, I knew that it was

almost impossible for me to find an exit. Whoever created this entire scenario didn't want us

to escape.

The old man looked like the more promising option of the two.

At least, for now.

'I still have two more vials. Even if I do end up wasting the first skill, I have two other tries. I'd rather

not use them, but it's not like I have much of a choice.'

I couldn't wait for reinforcements to arrive.

By then, who could say I wouldn't become a puppet like the others here? Time was slipping

through my fingers, and I had no room for hesitation.

Turning my head faintly, I looked at my pocket watch and checked the time.

Tik, tik-

It was 12:12 A.M.

Taking note of the time, I activated the skill.

'It's active.'

Watching the skill turn gray, I looked directly at Pebble and opened my mouth.

"Tell Caius and Kelion to move in the opposite direction of before. Tell them that I need them

to attract the attention of all the puppets."

This was a simulation of sorts.

I didn't need to think about Caius and Kaelion's safety. For that reason, I planned on using

them as bait so that I could get into the same room as before.

"...Are you sure, human? Won't they think you're ditching them?"

"Tell them that I have a plan."

"Okay."

Pebble didn't question any further and dashed in Caius and Kaelion's direction. Upon hearing

my words, they both looked at me with frowns.

I met their gazes and nodded my head slightly.

'Trust me.'

Their frowns depended, but they eventually relented and moved forward.

Flick, flick, flick-!

As expected, all the puppet heads snapped toward them in eerie unison. The sight sent a chill racing down my spine, but this time, I wasn't the one under their unsettling gazes.

The drums came to a stop and a suffocating silence shrouded the space. Holding my breath, I watched as the people around me started to move, their arms and legs

moving in a disjointed manner as the strings attached to them pulled them from the sky above. Like mindless puppets, they rushed in Kaelion and Caius's direction.

The two were still tired from before and so was I, but enough time had passed for us to fight and so, the moment Kaelion and Caius dashed in the opposite direction, two orbs appeared in my mind and the strings above me snapped as I dashed towards the same direction as before.

Swoosh-

My legs hurt as I moved, but I ignored the pain and smashed the door of the building open, directing my attention towards the stairs as I closed my eyes and envisioned a dark space. When I opened my eyes again, the entire space had turned dark, with the faint outline of the stairs and floor above appearing in sight. Purple hands appeared from beneath the ground, reaching for the many people present, and rooting them in place.

"Huu."

Holding onto my chest, I rushed to the stairs and directly ignored the puppets.

As my mana rapidly drained, I felt my body become weak but I still managed to keep myself

steady while following the familiar path from before.

Tik, Tik-

It was 12:15 A.M.

'There.'

Eventually, as my mana reached its limits, I forced my way to the trapdoor, flung it open, and

rushed down without hesitation.

Clank!

It was dark and I could hardly see, but I kept rushing down.

Tik, Tik-

It was 12:17 A.M.

That was the time when I finally arrived at the familiar room. Entering the place, my steps

slowed and my breath stopped.

Dang, da-

"Hm?"

A certain note played in the air.

It felt vaguely familiar, coming straight from a piano and it seemed to come from all around

the room.

Looking around, the room was almost entirely empty except for a large wooden box by the

end of the room. Outside of that, I didn't notice any instrument.

So, how...?

'No, where's the old man?' Searching for the old man, my expression fell when I noticed that he wasn't there.

"What the-Uh?!"

But I soon stopped and smashed my foot down, forcing myself back as I noticed the presence

of someone behind me.

"You'we made it quicker than I... expected."

Standing right behind me was the same old man from before. Wearing tattered clothes that

highlighted his enormous frame, the old man looked at me for a brief second before looking

back.

"What about your two friends? Did you ditch them?"

"Ah, that..."

I thought for a moment before lying.

"...I didn't."

"Mhm."

The old man nodded, his gaze piercing right through me.

"Are you lying to me?"

"No."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

I wasn't actually since this wasn't real.

"If you say so."

The old man shrugged after sparing me a glance.

Staring at the old man, I felt an overwhelming pressure emanating from him. It was

suffocating, making it hard to breathe, as though his mere presence was squeezing the air

from my lungs.

For me to feel such pressure...

Just who was this man?

Thump, thump—

The sudden sound of muffled footsteps filled the air from above. Turning my head, I knew

that the puppets were coming.

That was when I directly turned to look at the old man.

"You asked me to come back after reset. Do you... know of a way to stop this?"

"Stop? You mean the puppets?"

"Yes."

I hastily nodded my head, looking in the direction of the stairs as sweat dripped down from

the side of my face.

They were coming.

Tik, Tik-

It was 12:18 A.M.

"I do."

The old man pointed at the tune playing in the air.

"...The music keeps the puppets away."

"Wha-"

"I wld've allowed you to stay, but you lied to me."

"Eh?"

I hastily looked up at the man.

Before I could understand what was happening, I felt a powerful force blast me onto the side

of the wall as my vision blackened and I found myself back where I came from.

"Huaa."

Taking a deep breath, my chest trembled.

Tik, Tik-

It was 12:12 A.M.

I had died.