"There's no going back now."

Staring at the Priest who was seated on the chair in front of me, I stepped back and tooka couple of deep breaths.

His eyes were hollow, and his expression was slack.

I scratched the side of my neck.

"This might not necessarily get all suspicion away from me but it might buy me some valuable time for me to better figure out the situation.'

Turning my head to look around, my eyes fell on the Pope's body. Tapping onto my leg, I bent over and placed the body within the ring.

Right after that, I cleaned up the room before changing. It was good that I kept some spare clothes in the ring.

In the current state that I was in, going out would be a massive giveaway.

I needed to be completely clean before going out.

Of course, that was far from enough to get me out of this entire situation. The first thing I needed to understand was how many people were aware of the Pope's presence.

Thankfully, finding the information wasn't that much of a problem for me.

"But before that..."

I shifted my attention towards the new skill; [The Eyes of the Seer]. Staring at the skill, I felt a strange feeling come over me.

'How does this skill work, exactly?'

I was curious about my new skill.

How exactly did it work? Would the upgrade version be different in the sense that I could now control the visions instead of them appearing randomly?

If that was truly the case then...

"I must try."

I didn't have much of a choice considering my situation. If I could catch a glimpse of the inevitable future then I could find a means to get out of this situation.

"Yes, it's worth a try."

Closing my eyes, I calmed my beating heart.

The thought of being able to catch a glimpse of the future at will felt exciting. Most visions were vague and unexpected, leaving most of the time at a loss for what to do. However, things would be different if I could have more visions of the same scene.

It would give me more insight into the situation and prevent scenarios like the one that had just happened from repeating.

"Hoo."

Cooling my mind, my mana circulated and I activated the skill.

A sudden calm washed over me, cooling my mind. A strange numbness settled in my head shortly after, and it suddenly felt as if I were floating. It was a weird experience that took me by surprise but what was even more surprising was the duration of it.

It only lasted... a few seconds before completely fading.

"Hm?"

When I opened my eyes again, I realized that I was back in the room.

'What the...'

Nothing happened?

Clenching and unclenching my hand, I realized that, unlike when I was experiencing a vision, I had full control over my body.

This could only mean that the skill failed.

"Why?"

Covering my mouth, I tapped my foot against the ground. All sorts of thoughts swam inside my mind as I tried to figure out exactly what went wrong, but regardless of how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out an answer.

"There must be some sort of trigger that I have yet to find about that will help me use the skill."

But what exactly was that trigger?

I thought about spending some time to figure out the answer but stopped myself when I reminded myself of my current situation.

'Not now.'

There were more important things that I needed to take care of at that moment.

Shifting my attention towards the Priest, I tapped onto his back a couple of times before pressing my finger against his forehead; 'Immersia.'

"Hm, hm."

The Priest's eyelids eventually opened.

"H-huh? Where is this...?"

The priest looked confused at first but when his gaze fell on me, clarity quickly returned to his mind. He immediately tried to struggle but stopped right as he moved.

"I don't suggest you move."

"You-Ah?!!"

With an audible 'gulp', the priest stopped moving. Looking around, his eyes visibly shook, tracing down the numerous thin threads that covered the entire room.

"You, you... You killed-"

"Let's not talk about that."

I smiled, cutting the conversation while at the same time tightening the threads that covered the entire room.

"Don't worry, I'm not actually planning on killing you."

I wasn't entirely sure what to do with him, but one thing was clear: I needed information, as much as I could get. And I wasn't planning to go easy on him to get it.

"Killing you would do more harm to me than good. For now, I'll just ask you some questions and all you have to do is answer me."

"....W-what makes you think I'll speak?"

The priest replied, his glare shooting directly at me.

It was a threatening glare that had no effect on me. I had been glared at by way more powerful

people in the past.

"If you don't speak, then I will be forced to make you speak."

"Ah?"

The priest laughed.

"Are you saying that you will torture me for answers?"

"No, no, no."

I shook my head, moving closer and pressing the palm of my hand against his head.

"I'm not good with torture, but I can do a lot more than that."

My fingers tightened around his skull, stifling a groan from the priest. Before he could cry out,

I focused, whispering a single word in my mind: Sadness.

His body immediately stiffened on the spot and tears streamed down the side of his cheeks.

"H-hic. W-what have..."

"...I know. You must've cared a lot about the Pope."

"P-pope?"

"Mhm, I too am saddened by his sudden passing. How could he die like this?"

Drip! Drip!

'Rage'

"What do you know!?"

The priest's voice suddenly bellowed throughout the room. As his eyes turned bloodshot, spit

flew out of his mouth.

"....You're the one who killed him! How dare you even mention his name!? How dare you!?"

His screams were so loud that they practically engulfed the entire room. I wasn't too worried

about people overhearing his shouts.

This was, after all, not real.

Bang-!

All of a sudden, the door to the room burst open and several figures entered.

"What is going on!?"

One such figure was a tall and lanky priest. The same priest that had greeted me at the

entrance alongside the priest before me. With short black hair and a long nose, his sharp eyes

scanned the room.

"Uh!?"

The moment his gaze fell on the priest before me, his expression changed drastically.

"How dare you!?"

He pointed at me.

"Seize him!" The figures were swift. In just a few breaths, they completely seized me. I did put up a

struggle but under their combined forces, I was eventually defeated.

That was when the priest was finally freed.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

"Urkh! This bastard!"

Swoosh!

Standing up, the priest kicked me directly in the chest.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His kicks were relentless and filled with power.

"How dare you!? How dare you!? How dare you!?"

'Rage.'

'Rage.'

With each kick, his rage seemed to amplify, making the strikes hit harder and his voice rise,

raw and furious.

"How dare you!?"

His eyes were bloodshot, and with every shout, flecks of spit flew from his mouth, each word dripping with uncontained fury.

"...How dare you kill his holiness!! You bastard!"

Bang!

The kick sent me reeling toward the other side of the room, crashing against the wall. The

sound of bone breaking resounded throughout, but that was far from enough to satisfy the

priest who lunged at me.

"I'll kill you-Uekh!"

"Stop!"

He only stopped when the other priest hugged him from behind and held him back.

"Let go! Let go, Kyle! I'll kill him! Let me kill him!!

"Stop! Calm down! Fill me in on the information beforehand! Calm down!!"

'Kyle, so that's his name.'

Regardless of what Kyle shouted, the priest didn't budge, his rage still directed at me. I knew

this was enough.

'Sadness.'

"S-stop! Stop..."

The priest's tone changed all of a sudden and his rage settled down.

"...H-he, H-he..."

With tears dripping down his cheeks and covering his eyes, he finally stopped his charge.

"What's going on? Be calm. Fill me in on the situation."

"Hick... H-he."

As his lips trembled, the priest pointed at me.

"H-he killed him. His h-holiness... he killed him."

"W-what?"

A look of shock flashed across Kyle's face as he let go of the other priest.

"W-what did you say?"

"Hiek.... H-he killed him. I... I saw it with my own eyes."

"No, no, it can't be."

Kyle took several steps back.

"How could this be? His holiness is strong. How could he die at the hands of a cadet?"

"I... I don't know b-but I saw it with my own eyes."

"No, I refuse to believe this. There's no way he could've died like this. Someone else must've

done this."

"Who else?!"

The priest suddenly shouted.

"....The only people who know about his holiness's presence are me, you, Cardinal Ambrose,

and Keeper Matthias. Who could've done this?!"

"B-but..."

"Are you suggesting that one of us planned it? Kyle, you know that's impossible. If the Pope dies, Cardinal Ambrose will never be able to become Pope himself. Keeper Matthias is bound

by the holy chains, and the two of us are far from capable of pulling this off. It's him! It has to

be hi...m."

Suddenly pausing, the priest raised his head and looked around. Finally, he noticed the several other figures that were present in the room.

"Wait, why are they here?"

"Hm?"

Kyle blinked his eyes.

"What do you-"

"There's no way they should be here. We had an agreement that the only ones that can enter

this room were either me or you. Why would you...?"

The priest's eyes widened all of a sudden as his head turned in my direction, meeting my gaze

as I leaned against the side of the wall.

His eyes widened further at the sight of me.

"Y, you... Y,you..."

"A pity you noticed so soon. You were so caught up in your rage that you didn't notice a thing.

Anyways... Keep going with what you were saying. Are only four people who know about the

Pope's presence in the Academy?"

I spoke through Kyle's mouth.

As the priest's head flicked back, realization dawned on him and his eyes shook.

But it was too late.

I had already gotten all the information that I needed.

Snap!

With a snap of my fingers, the world fractured, collapsing around me. Blinking, I found

myself back in the room, my hand still pressed firmly against the priest's skull.

As I withdrew my hand, an eerie silence settled over the room.

"Alright."

I lowered my head to stare at the priest who was still passed out. Just as I was about to do

something, someone knocked on the door.

To Tok-

"Marian? Is everything okay?"

It was the other priest.

Kyle.