Extra in a Romance Fantasy

186 – The Guru (6)

“…Wade…?”

Mary, with her eyes opened, looked at Wade’s face with a bewildered expression.

Her eyes trembled, as if she could not comprehend this situation, this scene before her.

“…A dream…?”

Ultimately, Mary thought it was highly likely that this scene was a dream.

“It’s not a dream.”

Wade gently denied her misconception.

“……?”

At those words, Mary’s already large eyes widened even more.

Filled with overflowing questions, her gaze wandered here and there.

As if she couldn’t believe Wade’s words.

What stopped Mary’s searching eyes was—

Thwack!

Wade’s finger, striking her forehead.

“Ah!”

At the brief, stinging pain, Mary instinctively let out a sound.

Holding her forehead with both hands, she looked up at Wade with eyes still unable to grasp the situation.

“It’s not a dream.”

Wade smiled gently as he met her gaze.

At that, Mary’s already large eyes grew to an unimaginable size.

“…How…?”

And the questions that filled her eyes spilled out as words from her lips.

“I… surely…?”

Mary saw it.

The scene of Wade’s sword swinging toward her.

And she felt it.

Something clearly passing through her, cutting her.

Yet, why was she still so perfectly alive?

Mary couldn’t comprehend that fact at all.

However, she couldn’t resolve that question right away.

“I’ll explain that later.”

With those words, Wade set her down on the ground.

“Ah…”

Leaving Mary, who was flustered by the somewhat sudden movement and situation, Wade turned his body.

And glared.

At the cult leader, who was watching them with trembling eyes.

The leader’s eyes were shaking greatly.

At a glance, they bore a resemblance to the look Mary had shown, but fundamentally, they were different.

Unlike Mary’s eyes, which were filled with pure questions, the eyes of the cult leader were clearly imbued with a different emotion.

That emotion was anger.

“…What is it?”

Alongside feelings of confusion and surprise, an undeniable rage overflowed from those eyes.

“What on earth have you done! Wade Hebron…!!”

And that anger spilled out as a voice from the cult leader’s lips.

The expression had twisted into something grotesque.

Like someone who had witnessed an event that should never have happened.

That face and expression were stained with indignation and injustice.

From the cult leader’s perspective, it was only natural.

The cult leader had hoped for Wade’s despair.

To be forced to kill his childhood friend, Mary, with his own hands, and to fall into the abyss of despair because of it.

And ultimately, to be destroyed.

That was what the cult leader desired.

To create a situation solely to witness that scene.

A situation from which there was no escape, where a choice had to be made.

However, Wade had stepped outside the stage that had been prepared for him.

In a way that was entirely unexpected.

It was only natural for the cult leader’s face to contort.

In contrast, Wade’s expression was infinitely calm.

With a face that felt as if it were submerged in an icy stillness, Wade glared at the cult leader.

“Now it’s my turn to ask.”

And he asked.

“How does it feel?”

With a voice so cold it evoked images of a snowy wasteland.

“That carefully prepared stage has turned to ruin.”

With a sharp gaze that seemed capable of cutting through mere eye contact.

“In the end, your grand ambition has come to a halt.”

As he said, it was true.

As Mary’s rampage ceased, so too did her powers come to a stop.

The rifts that had endlessly poured forth monstrosities were now all closed, and above all, the distortion of space that had deepened over time had come to a complete halt.

“I would appreciate it if you could kindly explain how you feel right now.”

At that cold sneer.

“Wade Hebron…!!”

The face of the cult leader twisted even further.

“So, what will you do now?”

At that moment, a voice interjected between the two.

It was none other than Ethan.

“It seems like the situation has come to an end, doesn’t it?”

In his usual, characteristic teasing tone.

“Are you going to make a desperate attempt?”

With a fierce smile blooming on his face, Ethan asked.

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea. I realized it after taking a hit. You’re not just any ordinary foe. There’s probably no one stronger than you across the entire continent. With that kind of power, who knows? …Ah, maybe not?”

Ethan’s gaze began to shift away from the cult leader.

The cult leader’s power was beyond any standard.

Even Ethan, who possessed top-tier skills among the Ten Blades, was helpless against it.

Truly, a monster capable of unleashing disaster with sheer will.

That was the cult leader now.

However.

“Anyway, it won’t work against that guy.”

The cult leader and Wade had yet to fight, and Ethan couldn’t even begin to fathom Wade’s level, but with an instinct that had reached a superhuman realm, he felt a vague certainty.

Wade was stronger than the cult leader.

And that was not a truth limited to Ethan alone.

Wade, and even the cult leader himself, knew and felt it.

Who was stronger.

Thus, Wade remained calm, while the cult leader’s face showed no signs of easing.

“…….”

The cult leader slowly moved his gaze.

He saw those surrounding him.

Wade and Ethan, Beluid and Alexis, Rachel, Aira, Cedric, Chris, Wilhelm, and even Mary.

All eyes were focused on him, standing here.

And their gazes seemed to say one thing in unison.

Now, it’s all over.

In that moment, the leader of the cult.

“…Ha.”

Instead of despair, he laughed.

“Hahahahahaha!”

It was beyond mere chuckling.

It was laughter so loud, it could be described as a roar or even madness, echoing around him.

However.

That laughter did not last long.

The kind of laughter that could make one frown in discomfort.

Suddenly, it stopped, just like that.

With laughter and distortion gone, he wore an expression that was chillingly devoid of emotion.

The leader looked back at his companions.

“You know nothing.”

Then he spoke.

“Is the situation really over? Should I at least put up a fight?”

His words continued in a voice that felt hard and cold, as if devoid of any emotion.

“Truly, you know nothing.”

The leader lightly shook his head.

“What do you think my purpose is?”

His gaze shifted to Ethan, who had been mocking him just moments before.

“To plunge Wade Hebron into despair? Or to kill all of you?”

His voice remained calm, but his eyes burned like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

“No, you’re all wrong.”

The leader firmly interrupted.

“My purpose has been, from the very beginning, to achieve a great undertaking, nothing else.”

He spread his arms wide.

“For a long time, far longer than you could ever imagine, my purpose has been solely that. The creation of the cult, the countless schemes across the continent, and even standing here like this, it has all been to fulfill that great undertaking.”

Unlike the cold, sunken expression that remained, the more the words flowed, the more intense the gaze of the priest became.

“Consider this.”

With eyes now shining with a light of their own, the priest spoke.

“If Wade Hebron had killed Mary Blunoir, the distortion would have ceased.”

For the first time, a smile blossomed on the face that had been rigid and unyielding all along.

“Do you think I wouldn’t have prepared for such a scenario? If that were to happen, the grand undertaking would come to a halt, wouldn’t it?”

“……!”

At those words, Ethan’s expression hardened into a grimace.

“Wade!”

Ethan immediately drew his sword and shouted Wade’s name.

It was a gut feeling that the priest was about to do something extraordinary.

However, his shout ultimately proved unnecessary. Wade was already in motion before he even moved.

With a speed that no one could perceive, Wade charged at the priest, sword drawn.

That speed transcended the realm of humanity, and even the priest, who possessed the strength to toy with the Ten Blades, could not fully grasp it.

And then.

Swish—

Wade’s sword mercilessly cleaved through the priest’s body.

It was only then that the priest realized. That he had been cut.

Yet.

“It’s useless.”

Even though he had been sliced.

Even though he had been split in two.

The priest smiled.

“It’s already too late.”

He laughed, wearing the brightest smile he had ever shown.

And then.

Whoosh—

The priest’s body, now in two halves, disintegrated into dust in an instant.

“What…?!”

Everyone gasped at the bizarre sight.

—

It was a sight that defied all common sense.

A person split in two calmly speaking, and their body disintegrating into dust in an instant.

Yet, as if indifferent to whatever reactions they might provoke, the dust of the teacher’s body began to move as if it possessed a will of its own.

The speed was such that one could only watch in a daze.

Soon, the dust had arrived.

In that space, frozen in distortion.

And at the same moment.

Swoosh—

The dust vanished in an instant.

As if it had never existed, without a trace.

Immediately after.

Boom—

The space began to vibrate.

At first, it was barely perceptible.

But as time passed, the vibrations intensified rapidly, and by the time a few blinks had passed, it had become violent enough to shake the entire crater.

“What…?!”

Even on the crater, which was now shaking to the point where it was hard to stand on two feet, the group did not take their eyes off the distorted space.

They felt it.

That something unusual was happening.

Even those who were not endowed with superhuman senses and instincts, like Wade or Ethan, could feel it clearly.

Their instincts were screaming.

That something terrifying was occurring.

That something would happen that no one could stop.

Without even fully grasping what it was, they felt fear.

An inescapable, heavy, and viscous fear.

Amidst those gazes, where such fear began to creep up and shake.

Creak—

At last, the ‘door’ opened.