The squads won. When the elves realized they were beginning to lose, they retreated into the rift.

  I opened my eyes the next day to find myself being carried by a member of the extermination squad. He was shouting:

  "This kid’s alive! Rescue team, over here—quickly, help this boy!"

  I was treated. Slowly, the pain faded. The burn marks healed. But just as my physical wounds began to disappear, I heard something that shattered me.

  "It’s definitely a miracle this lone boy survived out of everyone in this area."

  My heart sank.

  “What is she saying?” I thought.

  “Has she gone mad? Someone help her!”

  Panic gripped me as I looked around frantically, desperate to find someone—anyone—else alive.

  I couldn’t accept it. I refused to.

  I scanned the area, hoping to spot my friends. Maybe they were just injured. Maybe the sisters, or the kind headmaster, were somewhere receiving treatment. Maybe... maybe...

  But all I saw were ruins, the remnants of a pce that once brimmed with warmth and joy.

  Rows of corpses. All covered in white sheets. Silent.

  One exterminator turned to his comrade and asked in a low, grim voice:

  “Hey… isn’t he the only survivor?”

  The other nodded solemnly.“Yes… he’s the only one who made it.”

  I dropped to my knees.

  In that moment, my world—everything I cherished—was reduced to ash.

  My family… gone.

  My home… gone.

  All in a single night.

  And I couldn’t do anything.

  I didn’t cry. Maybe I was too shocked. Maybe it was the trauma. I just felt… empty.A hollow void spread inside me, suffocating and cold.

  Then the academy’s headmaster came over and decred:

  "I’ll take this boy with me. He’ll be admitted into my academy."

  Everyone agreed. But I said nothing.

  The next day, I arrived at the academy—a massive structure, rger than anything I had ever seen. Red-brick buildings stretched across acres, filled with hundreds of students, each pursuing a dream.

  When I was taken to my new css, the teacher asked me to introduce myself.

  I stood before them all.

  "Aln."That was all I said. Just my name. Nothing more.

  The teacher awkwardly nodded and then asked the other students to share their dreams for the future.

  Some wanted to be knights.Some would inherit their families' businesses.Others… hadn’t thought that far.

  Then one boy stood up, confident and loud.

  "I’ll own an extermination squad," he decred. "I’ll conquer the rifts, gather treasures, and become the strongest."

  His name was Daniel.

  For reasons I still can’t understand, he took a disliking to me almost immediately.

  "You look weak. I’m strong. Bow to me," he demanded with a smug grin.

  His ckeys echoed behind him:

  "Daniel-sama is the best!""Daniel-sama is the best!""Daniel-sama is the best!"

  I didn’t respond. I simply walked past him.

  That seemed to infuriate him.

  "You peasant!" he roared—of course, being the son of a noble.

  But I didn’t care.I, who had lost everything just a day before, simply turned around and gred at him.

  Just a gnce.

  It silenced him.

  "W-what’s his problem? Those eyes… they looked like they’d devour me."

  "Yeah… what a freak," one of his followers muttered.

  From that day on, Daniel made sure to never miss an opportunity to provoke me.

  Meanwhile, I withdrew from everyone.

  I buried myself in the library—silent, distant. I avoided companionship, made excuses when people reached out.

  “I’m sick.”“Busy today. Maybe next time.”

  Was it fear of getting attached again? Of losing people?Or maybe… maybe I just didn’t want to feel that kind of pain ever again.

  As for Daniel, he stayed committed to his dream. He trained hard in the arena, earned the title of "strongest in the css," and built up his popurity.

  Maybe he was serious about becoming strong. Maybe he had something to prove.I didn’t care.

  That world, his world… it wasn’t mine.