Free Web NovelChapter 47: Death Flag Probe
Cillian slowly stood up from his seat and looked around the classroom, feeling both enthusiastic and amazed.
There was no Freya, Aster, or Fred.
The world around him felt unnatural, as if a layer of life had been stripped away. The colors still remained, yet everything carried a dull and lifeless atmosphere. It was akin to old movies playing on a worn-out screen back on Earth.
The difference between those old movies and Cillian right now, who’s clearly in this new reality, is that he can freely move.
Instead of watching it from outside, Cillian gets to experience it.
[Death Flag Probe #1]
[Mental Load: 11%]
If not for the fact that the system was there to remind him that all of this was merely a part of his powers, Cillian might’ve already started doubting the reality he was witnessing. fгeewebnovёl.com
"Amazing..."
The more Cillian delved into his Death Flag System and discovered something new, the more fascinating it became to him.
"So this is a death flag probing? And it seems number 1. This is one of the possible outcomes of leading to my death?"
In the homeroom class, when he wasn’t even planning on staying here? The story doesn’t line up at all.
"Can I still use my abilities here?"
Cillian thought and tried using Faceless active ability.
[Mimicry is activated]
[Mimicry is forced to stop after finding nothing to mimic.]
’I can still use them, huh.’
After knowing that his abilities were still available to use, Cillian then moved around with a curious face.
He moved the chairs and tables around, even stomping on some of them, yet there was no visible reaction from inside. It created noise and left the room in a mess, but there was nobody to warn him about his actions.
His gaze fell on the windows.
Slowly walking towards it, Cillian’s whole face fell on the Academy walls that act as a barrier to stop any intruders that might come to him.
His gaze then shifted slowly in the skies.
"Bones?"
Gigantic bone-like arches stood like tall pillars that seemed to have been erupted from the ground, curving together to form a massive skeletal dome. These "bones" even occasionally twitched as if they were breathing.
Cillian’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he backed away from the window.
"This is my first Death Flag? The bones that look like barriers?"
Cillian asked in a confused tone before he started walking to the door to check the situation outside.
Yet right after opening the door, a black-hooded man plunged a dull blade into Cillian’s abdomen, bringing back painful memories and a pain unlike anything he had ever felt.
"Bleurgh!"
The hooded man watched as Cillian coughed up blood before tilting his head and speaking evenly.
"A student at this hour?"
Cillian’s eyes before gritting his teeth.
"Fuck! Even though it’s not real, the pain it gives is almost the same as outside!"
[Mental load increased by 5%]
[Mental Load: 16%]
Cillian angrily looked at the red eyes of the man who stabbed him during the first Death Flag scenario, and at the possible outcome of his death if he didn’t do anything.
"I’ll fucking remember you."
"Remember me? What, by screaming?"
The hooded man asked nonchalantly before extending his hand toward Cillian’s face, only for his soul to be sucked up before his body fell with the rest of the bodies scattered around the hallway.
[Death Flag Probe #1 ended]
[Death Flag Probe #2 starting]
Cillian found himself inside his dorm, fully prepared with four guards he had gotten from Dena and Dennis, the two leaders whom Ethan had invited at his request.
These guards are second and third years. Dena and Dennis, who are leaders of their own faction in this school, had assigned these guards to Cillian at his request, returning the goodwill he showed when he shared information with them.
It was the perfect time to use this goodwill.
"Cillian, what’s wrong?"
One of the guards asked Cillian, who appeared to have received the greatest shock of his life, before letting out a crooked smile.
’This is one of the plans I set in motion, which is to protect myself after requesting help from Dena and Dennis. Yet this is also a death flag?’
Cillian thought this was one of the ways to keep him safe, yet it also became one of the possible outcomes that could lead to his death.
How?
’I need to know.’
This wasn’t the real world, anyway.
As much as possible, Cillian needed to know how this death would turn out.
That’s why Cillian ignored the guards who relentlessly tried to stop him from getting out since it was already night.
But he was successful in leaving.
Yet the moment he got out, the dormitory hallway was filled with thick fog. It wasn’t poisonous, something Cillian had expected after stepping out, but it was getting harder to see, even when he squinted his eyes.
Is this an illusion?
Wouldn’t using Mouthful Eye be useful for this problem if this were an illusory fog? If not, then is it an ability conjured through mana or an active ability from a Piece?
Questions arose on his second death probing.
Yet the moment he took another step outside his door, Cillian found himself impaled from behind, a blade piercing straight through his back and into his heart.
[Mental load increased by 4%]
Cillian coughed out a mouthful of blood.
"Ha—hahaha...!"
Cillian touched the blade that managed to pierce through the other side before he heard a voice from behind, whispering through the fog.
"The door opened? Does that mean someone in your room is Ruiner? That’s nice. I will begin extracting your Piece after you die, if you have one that is."
Cillian’s blood continued dripping from his mouth, almost like flowing water, before he asked in a hoarse voice.
"W-what do you mean by... the doors opening?"
The man behind the fog spoke with a confused tone.
"Asking on your deathbed, arrogant kid of the academy?"
The man didn’t even answer and merely waited for Cillian to die after losing a large amount of blood from being impaled.
He died.
[Death Flag Probe #2 ended]
[Death Flag Probe #3 starting]
The third probing scene came, and Cillian found himself shaking while lying down in a hospital bed. His gaze stayed on the ceiling, where everything seemed to lose its warmth, leaving behind an eerie atmosphere of black and gray.
"You’re shaking, Cillian. Are you okay?"
Cillian turned his face slightly and saw Freya worried about his well-being. On the other side of the bed are Phillip and Vin, wearing the same expression.
"What the fuck is this...? Why am I in here?"
Phillip frowned while watching Cillian curse as Vin explained the situation, realizing that Cillian was acting weirdly.
"Cillian, didn’t you know? You’ve been unconscious for hours after you suddenly screamed at your class."
’No, that’s not what I meant.’
How come is this a death flag?
And why...
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag]
’Why do you guys have Death Flags above your head...?’
The stable white flags on Vin and Phillip’s were replaced with Death Flags.
Freya, who didn’t have any possibility flags throughout the time he was with her, had gone straight to the worst possibility flag she could get, the Death Flag.
"What time is it?"
Cillian asked in an urgent tone, which Freya answered on behalf of all of them.
"Few hours till midnight."
’No, no, no.’
Cillian continued shaking his head in denial as this death flag probe had become the most nonsensical of them all.
Dena was supposed to inform Freya about the Academy attack and Aster being the target to mess up the Target Organization plan.
Of course, it was Cillian’s order to inform Dena about it, but she couldn’t inform her now when she was with him.
That was supposed to be the plan.
She should not be here with them.
"Freya!"
Cillian urgently shouted. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Someone is attacking the Academy!"
If Dena can’t inform this news, Cillian will do it himself.
"What?"
Freya grew visibly restless and immediately stood up from her seat, knowing Cillian wouldn’t joke about that.
If the Academy is being attacked, then Freya knew she needed to inform these to the school officials.
Yet just as she was about to move, a loud noise came from the doorway, where a huge black-hooded man entered and crushed the skull of one of the workers who went to check inside.
This huge man carried a mace in his other hand and giggled.
"This door is open. It meant that there’s a Ruiner here."
Upon seeing this, Freya didn’t hesitate to conjure a spell as circles appeared right in the air and targeted the huge man, who merely swayed the mace as if it were a child’s toy.
"Oh?"
Then, with quick steps, he lunged through Freya.
Freya somehow managed to evade a few of the huge man’s attacks until he used a Ruiner ability to enlarge his hand and smash through the shield she had cast around herself.
"What—"
Freya’s head was struck by the mace, sending blood splashing behind Cillian, Vin, and Phillip as her upper body collapsed to the ground.
Cillian’s smile that he had been wearing for the past two probes was completely gone, replaced with utter shock.
Phillip tried to move, but the mace struck his face next. Vin tried to retaliate, but the weapon was fast enough to do its job.
Freya and two of his club members were gone in seconds.
"Ah..."
Cillian watched the mace rushing towards him at a fast rate.
Yet everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, as if life were flashing before his eyes.
Nothing had changed, though.
Splash—!
[Death Flag Probe #3 ended]
[Mental load increased by 10%]
[Mental Load: 30%]
Cillian’s eyes slowly quivered, fear reflected in them.
[Death Flag Probe #4 starting]
