Chapter 208
'I don't know what you're planning, or why you chose such a cruel method, Aldraya.
But if everyone moves away from you, then someone has to move closer.
And that person is me.'
That sense of anxiety continued to rumble, refusing to be buried.
The more Ilux tried to scatter it away, the deeper the guilt gnawed at his thoughts.
His concern for Aldraya transformed into a dark obsession, a need to understand the reason behind her actions.
When the communication radio at the unnamed woman's waist crackled, reporting that the target was now moving at high speed toward the male dormitory, collective panic resonated through the group.
Under the rigid instructions of that woman, the gathered students and teachers—assembled in a rapid effort to stabilize their psyches, already torn apart by the library explosion—moved en masse through a corridor lined with enormous flower pots.
The pots towered high, roughly one-sixth the height of a twenty-five-year-old youth, forming a silent row that flanked the path.
Amid the dense crowd and the chaotic mood, the tight surveillance that had previously clung to Ilux began to fade.
His position was steadily pushed backward by the human current, from being near the woman's back to drifting farther until he found himself in the middle of the rear line, slightly to the right.
When the group turned right at the end of the corridor, Ilux seized the opportunity.
With a deliberate, slippery motion, he slipped away and moved behind one of the massive flower pots.
He crouched there, holding his breath, his heart pounding as he waited to see if anyone noticed his disappearance.
The sound of the group's footsteps gradually faded, growing faint, then vanishing entirely.
Remarkably, there were no shouts calling his name, no signs of commotion, not a single figure turning back to search.
The group continued onward, as if he had never been among them in the first place.
His existence was erased so perfectly and easily, like a speck of dust swept away by passing wind.
'If all clues point there, then I will go there as well.
Male dormitory, wait for me.'
Sixteen minutes felt like an eternity for Ilux in hiding.
He counted every second anxiously, listening for even the smallest sound that might indicate someone else's presence.
Slowly, a smell began to sting his nose.
No longer mere imagination, but a real scent carried by the air—the stench of burning, scorched paper, and crumbled concrete dust.
The smell of the library bombing now crept through the corridor, a physical reminder of the chaos that had occurred and set everything in motion.
He waited until he was completely certain that his surroundings were truly quiet and empty.
Carefully, Ilux finally emerged from behind the giant flower pot that had served as his hiding place.
He did not dash forward immediately.
His legs moved very slowly, only four short, measured steps, like a cat skirting the edge.
His eyes swept every corner and shadow, ensuring once more that no eyes were watching, no figure passing by or lying in wait beyond a bend.
Only silence greeted him, an emptiness that was unsettling yet liberating.
Once that certainty was obtained, everything changed in an instant.
Like a released spring, Ilux's body moved at tremendous speed.
His movements became sharp and purposeful, pivoting a full one hundred and eighty degrees with resolve.
All doubt and contemplation were cast far away.
There was only one target burning in his mind now, one coordinate etched clearly within him, overwhelming all fear and any desire to flee.
His destination was the male students' dormitory.
'Whatever awaits me ahead, I have chosen to arrive.'
With all his strength, Ilux pressed on.
He focused on every breath, regulating it to remain steady and deep, filling his lungs with cold air mixed with lingering traces of soot.
Distance after distance vanished beneath him at a merciless pace, his feet darting across the empty corridor floor.
Dozens of steps were spent, dozens of meters crossed.
Fatigue began sending its signals, manifesting as aching calves and a fiercely pounding chest.
Yet instead of yielding to the sensation, Ilux redirected all his thoughts to a single figure.
The image of Aldraya, his sixteen-year-old teacher, dominated his mind.
Burning concern, piercing guilt, and an overwhelming desire to understand the reason behind everything transformed into pure fuel.
He compressed all those feelings into a single, unstoppable drive.
As a result, his pace accelerated rather than slowed.
His legs moved with increasingly blazing power, driving his body through corridors, around building corners, and across neglected courtyards with ever more ferocious rhythm.
At last, after a journey that felt both intensely brief and overwhelming, he arrived.
Not at the dormitory's main entrance, which might be guarded or monitored, but precisely at the back of the building.
This place was familiar to him, a secret shortcut commonly used by the male students of Star Academy when they were late for class.
A covert path that now served as his perfect entry point.
'Don't let me come here only to find emptiness.'
Throughout his hurried journey, Ilux had indeed tried hard to ignore the surrounding chaos.
His mind was focused solely on one point—Aldraya—and his surging concern for the girl who was his teacher drowned out all awareness of his environment.
But now, in the brief moment of silence before entering the dormitory, awareness of the true situation forced itself upon him.
He recalled the footpath he had passed earlier, its surface seemingly torn apart from within by a massive force, leaving behind strange claw-like marks in the ground.
Several large tree roots that were normally firmly embedded appeared unnaturally uprooted, flung aside like children's toys, coated in unfamiliar and unsettling black stains.
Even the air he repeatedly inhaled to fuel his steps felt increasingly abrasive in his throat.
Not only was it heavy with lingering explosion dust, but it was also thickened by an unpleasant aura, a mixture of ionized ozone and something far more rotten, like pure energy turned corrupt.
Gazing upon that grim scenery, it was impossible for him not to feel a deeper tremor of fear.
All these signs of destruction spoke of a terrifying level of power, and perhaps uncontrollable rage as well.
Behind the dormitory walls, there was a chance he would find something far beyond his imagination.
Thus, with a heavy heart, in the silence of that ruined back corridor, Ilux prayed.
A simple yet turbulent hope—that his teacher was unharmed, that Aldraya remained intact, both physically and mentally.
He wished that his reckless arrival would not end in a futile discovery, or worse, in a bitter truth he could not bear.
"Get lost, you troublemaker!!"
And precisely on his twenty-sixth step, the danger came suddenly and blindly.
A massive support pillar made of solid metal, ten meters in length, shot forth like a gigantic spear from an unseen angle.
The heavy object moved with horrifying speed, targeting Ilux's body as its sole mark, as if hurled by the hand of an invisible giant.
To be continued…