32 This can’t be happening

As I approached Wind Boy, I created walls of ice behind me to at least slow Raja down a little bit. There was no way he knew this house better than me, so it should delay him enough. 

"Come here, Saki!" Looking ahead, I saw Wind Boy starting to conjure up some wind. Either he was going for the kill or trying to attack the maid carrying Saki. 

"No, you don't!" Images of Saki being decapitated by the wind flashed through my mind. I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me angry at Raja and myself. I have reached my boiling point and I needed to do something. 

Conjuring up a massive ice lance that was the size of the hallway. I had poured a lot of mana into this attack, causing me to feel dizzy, which was one of the many backlashes of using too much, but I held strong. 

"Get down!" Kicking the back of the lance, I launched it down the hallway, aiming straight for Wind Boy. Luckily, the maid heard my command and instantly laid flat on the ground with Saki. 

"Shit!" With nowhere to go, he tried to redirect his attack at the lance, but thanks to the amount of mana I used, it was completely ineffective. The surrounding walls and ceiling were getting destroyed, but that didn't matter as long as it hit its target. 

He tried to move out of the way, but it was too fast for him to react since he wasted his time trying to stop it with his wind. The lance pierced right through his chest, killing him instantly as the width of the lance progressively ripped his body apart. 

Seeing that he was clearly dead, I quickly dispelled my ice, making the lance vanish and Wind Boy's mutilated body fall to the floor. 

*huff* *huff* 'I actually murdered someone...' I looked at my hands as the reality sat in that I actually committed murder. It honestly felt good, but that might be due to the reason why I killed them. I was protecting Saki and knowing I saved her at least once was satisfying. 

"Tarj!!" In anger, Raja screamed out, which I assumed was the boy's name. His arms were completely covered in flames as a reflection of his anger. I looked ahead to make sure Saki was okay, but it seemed the maid hurt herself in the fall as she stayed lying there with Saki. 

I saw Saki's mouth moving but I couldn't hear what she was saying. I turned back around to face Raja as he was the final boss of this hitman group. If I could kill him, then the other two should run away.

'This is probably my worst match-up, but no matter.' I couldn't think of a worse element to go against, but I was confident I had a chance. My mana was recovering quickly, so soon enough I could launch another big attack. 

For now, I conjured up two ice swords, which will hopefully buy me some time. 

"Fun and games end here, you bitch. I should have just killed you right away." Raja continued to walk towards me, with the flames continuing to increase in intensity. I began to feel the entire area heat up and I saw some of the residue ice from my attacks begin to melt. 

My swords were still holding up, but I doubt they will keep form with direct contact. 

"Too bad, now you're going to die." I got myself into a stance, which I admit was from a manga I read, but I didn't have any sword training. I wouldn't have any time to adjust to a new one anyway, as Raja finally began to sprint towards me. 

His speed was a lot faster than I expected, so before I knew it he was throwing a punch directly into my face. Out of reflex, I tried to block it with the flat side of my ice sword, but it deformed and shattered instantly. It was to be expected that the fire was too strong for my ice, but at least I thought it would not shatter. 

I leant back, narrowly avoiding his flame-encased fist and threw my broken ice sword towards his face. However, he would catch it with his other hand, causing it to melt.

Pushing off my feet, I put some distance between us and conjured ice spikes from the ground towards Raja. I thought they would have done some damage, but he stood there like it was nothing and let his flames rage free. 

Before the tips of the spikes made any sort of contact, they vaporised, making them useless. All of a sudden, my heart rate began to quicken and my hopes of winning this fight were slowly slipping. 

I thought my use of magic was pretty good, but it's clear that Raja is much more powerful. 

'I guess just reading books doesn't make you powerful.' It was pretty obvious by now, but Raja had a lot more experience than I did. I may have studied and practised, but no doubt this wasn't his first time doing this. 

With this world having the study of magic at a much later age, there is no rule against learning it beforehand, so of course there will be some that are exceptional well before they come here. If anything, this place is just meant to filter the students into jobs. Core magic classes are taught, but from year 2 onwards, you can choose not to study it at all. 

"Now isn't the time for thinking." With my brief moment of thought, Raja had appeared behind me at a speed that I couldn't even register. 

Feeling the flames getting closer to my back, I tried to turn my body and conjure up an ice shield where the hit was going to land, but I wasn't even sure if I could block it. With Raja so close, the heat was beginning to affect me, making me feel sluggish and dizzy.

I held my arms up as his fire fist made contact with my ice shield, but to no surprise, it was destroyed in an instant. Raja continued his punch, aiming straight for me. There were no other options to avoid him and I had to just pray my arms could hold out. 

My skin melted, causing everything in my body to tense right as he made contact. I was launched back by the punch and the pain did not go away whatsoever. I screamed in agony as I dragged along the ground, feeling my arms throb in the process. 

I didn't know what kind of condition they were in, but I tried to cover them in ice, which only added to the pain as I heard a searing sound. I could hardly move my hands to get myself off the ground, as anything caused a sharp pain through my body. 

"Time to die."

**

<Saki > 

All I could do was stare and watch as Lyra fought for her life. I didn't know why Raja was here to kill Lyra, it should have been me, not her. I didn't want to witness her getting hurt. She shouldn't be the one being targeted yet here I am watching her being beaten. 

The maid who carried me was out cold when she fell to the floor, hitting her head on a loose piece of rubble. 

"Please…. Please stop it." I was sobbing on the ground as I saw Raja walk up to Lyra who was lying defenceless on the ground as well. I was praying that whatever protected me last time would come out again, but I felt nothing. The only thing I could feel was the impending dread of seeing Lyra get killed. 

I tried to wipe away the tears, but they wouldn't stop coming out. This wasn't the outcome I wanted and who would have predicted such a destructive end? This was supposed to be my fantasy story where everything goes right and I get super strong, not some reliving of a new timeline where I go through my past in some kind of new way as a form of torture. 

"ARGHHH!!!!!!" Lyra's screams suddenly filled the hall and as I focused on what was going on, I saw her being picked up by the head and being completely incinerated by flames. Her screams were quickly cut off and soon her body fell limp and her head was no longer visible. 

"L-L-LYR-" My voice caught in my throat, as I had lost it from all the screaming I was doing before. Everything had happened so quickly that I hadn't realised that Lyra had just… died. S-she was just killed in front of me.

My breathing became more ragged and I began to crawl along the ground towards Lyra, refusing to believe this was true. I had to be seeing things. There is no way she was just killed right then and there. 

As I crawled, Raja glanced in my direction before smiling like some crazed maniac. He then turned and walked the other way, leaving the scene. I wanted to stop him, but I had nothing. Any mana that I did have, I had no will to bring it up. All I wanted to do was see if Lyra was alive, so I continued my crawl. 

'S-she r-r-really is d-d-d-dead.' I eventually made it to where Lyra's body was… a lifeless and headless corpse on the ground. I couldn't even think properly. All I could do was cry as I just stared at Lyra.

"N-n-no, s-she is gone. I-I killed her by getting her involved. I-it's all my f-fault." My voice barely came out as I sucked in the air trying to breathe, but it progressively got harder as I suffocated on my breaths. 

'If I hadn't become friends with Lyra, she would have been alive still, a-and maybe Raja would have killed me instead.'

'Why can't I just start over… one more time I promise I won't make the same mistake again.' As I sobbed into the shirt of Lyra's corpse, my eyes caught a glimpse of something purple. I raised my head to get a better look and tried to wipe away my tears. 

On top of some rubble, there was a familiar-looking apple sitting atop it, like it was presenting itself to me. 

"Hehe~ attempt two."