A World Where You All Are The Villains

As if he hadn’t really been expecting an answer, Serge looked away from me.

Then he lightly jumped up onto the debris of the collapsed stairs.

It was a height that seemed impossibly far to me, something I had been agonizing over how to climb.

I was just feeling the emptiness of the overwhelming difference in our physical abilities when.

“What are you doing. Grab on.”

Suddenly, he held out his hand to me.

I widened my eyes.

‘I thought he’d just leave me behind and go, whether I climbed up myself or not…’

It really was unexpected.

Feeling a bit dazed, I walked toward him.

And the moment I reached out my hand.

Snap―!

As impatient as ever, he grabbed my hand before I could even take hold.

Then, before I could react, he pulled my body up with a strong force.

“Ugh…!”

My feet lifted off the ground and soon landed on top of the broken debris.

“…Thank you.”

I removed the handkerchief that had been covering my face and muttered quietly.

Not only had he helped me climb up the stairs, but thanks to him, I had gotten out of that dangerous situation.

Even if that dangerous situation had been a disaster he caused himself.

Serge snorted at my thanks and turned away.

‘…Shameless bastard.’

While secretly flipping him off at the back of his head as he started up the stairs first, I carefully stepped forward.

The landing that had been intact was now half destroyed from the explosion, making it quite dangerous to climb.

Crackle, crackle. Fwoosh.

The remaining flames, not yet extinguished, slowly spread as they fed on the wooden stairs.

Fortunately, there was no sign of the Awakener’s body.

It had probably been blown apart in several directions by the explosion.

‘Ugh.’

Shuddering at the horrible thought, I hurried out of the floor before the fire grew larger.

Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any more Awakeners as we climbed toward the ground level.

The building was so quiet that it felt eerie.

I kept glancing past Serge toward the floors above and cautiously spoke.

“…Do you think there are more Awakeners?”

“If there were, they would’ve come out already.”

I had expected him to ignore me, but he answered indifferently.

“The two earlier were probably the ones managing this place.”

“How do you know?”

“Why would they send Awakeners over something as small as intruders? They’d just send their underlings from below.”

“……”

“Their precious sources of money were about to get wiped out, so they rushed over.”

That meant the Awakeners held positions of authority within the Sephirot Church.

‘This is bigger than I thought.’

A cult connected not only to the Empire’s Crown Prince and the only Purifier, but also to high-ranking Awakeners.

It definitely didn’t seem like a group of random nobodies.

‘If they’re sources of money, they must be nobles like Baron Gavent.’

As I was thinking over Serge’s words, a sudden realization struck me.

“Don’t tell me… you released the Corrupted on purpose?!”

“What, do I look like someone crazy about blood? You think I let them out just to watch people get torn apart?”

“……”

I didn’t answer.

―I said I wouldn’t kill them with my own hands. I never said I wouldn’t let them destroy themselves.

At the time he said that, he had truly looked like a blood-crazed butcher, a demon incarnate, every nickname he carried brought to life.

‘So it was a move to draw out the higher-ups…’

When my silence stretched, Serge frowned and looked back at me.

“Why aren’t you answering…”

“……”

“Ha!”

Then he noticed my meaningful expression and let out a short laugh.

“Wouldn’t it have made our little hide-and-seek more thrilling if that were the case?”

“……”

“What do you think. Now that the building’s empty, want to try again?”

“No!”

At his ghostlike, chilling smile, I shuddered.

Then I hurriedly explained.

“That’s not it… I’m just worried. It looked like there were quite a few nobles among the believers. If so many people suddenly die, how will they handle it…?”

“How will they handle it? They’ll just lump it together as a mass death from group drug use.”

“And they won’t connect it to the Sephirot Church at all?”

“The so-called leader hasn’t even shown his face yet. If they stir up the nest without solid evidence and it drives them deeper underground, then what?”