The Academy's Time Looper-Chapter 46: Hide and Seek
"Ready or not, here I come."
Throwing aside his doubtful thoughts, Athen sprinted forward; however, as another two seconds passed, another intersection came into view.
As Athen glanced up and noticed the fire lamps were in the same exact place as they were at the last intersection, he suddenly slowed.
Was he...looping?
The only reason such an unbelievable thought popped into his head was because of his recent discovery of his "true identity."
There were countless normal explanations for the lamps being in the same exact place, such as the architect wanting to make everything symmetrical and neat, yet Athen’s gut was telling him something was off.
This wasn’t the first time...
The sensation coursing through Athen’s body right now was almost the same as the one he had perceived before deciding to accept Kai’s plan and go to the front row, where the top-ranked students were.
Instantly trusting his gut, Athen paused in the middle of the intersection, now glancing at the paths that went further in and out of the Coliseum.
*THUD*
*THUD*
As the sound of footsteps got closer and closer to him, echoing from the path that led further into the coliseum, Athen made his choice.
Within seconds, he was running into the path that led out, looking back over his right shoulder.
Some parts of the hallway weren’t lit up as the fire lamps were spaced fairly far from each other, so all Athen could see was the red carpet and the intersection.
Behind that, it was just a void of pitch-darkness.
Then, just as Athen was about to look back forward, he spotted a shadow slowly creeping out of the darkness and into the start of the intersection, which was slighty illuminated.
Before he could even turn his back forward and react, the figure stepped out of the darkness and into the dimly lit intersection.
In that split second, Athen got a clear look at the figure.
Unlike before, on the outside, the teacher no longer had a hat on, so Athen immediately recognized him.
How could he not?
The very person who had shown him that magic for the first time.
Realizing his opponent, Athen immediately began sprinting forward, hoping to find some way out of the coliseum.
In this confined and straight hallway, a fireball would easily take him out.
As if responding to Athen’s thought, the temperature in the hallway suddenly increased, and a small flame appeared above Professor Caldris’s wand.
Seeing another intersection coming up, Athen ignored the fireball slowly taking form above the professor’s wand and pressed forward.
But...before Athen could even reach the start of the intersection, the fireball immediately barreled forward.
As the fireball charged forward at Athen, going much faster than him, Professor Caldris tilted his head with an intrigued expression, seemingly expecting something from the student.
However, his gaze slowly dulled as he saw Athen still desperately sprinting forward.
Professor Caldris would have much rather assigned a regular test like a simpler one versus one; however, the principal had forced his cards.
"It would be a waste of your talent for you to do something as simple as that! Make something cool with your family’s ability, will you?"
Recalling the principal’s words, Caldris sighed and leaned back, keeping an eye on Athen’s figure and the fireball.
Because of her, these poor students were suffering through his impossible test.
If Professor Caldris passed zero students and gave no approval letters, then the principal wouldn’t dare make him do something like this again.
Thus, he had made the test exceptionally hard, intending to fail every student who came near him.
Leaning against the wall, Caldris raised his wand, ready to shatter his imaginary world within seconds.
He had spent his whole life in this empty and barren coliseum, memorizing every single last bit of it, so he knew Athen had no chance of reaching the intersection before the fireball hit him.
As a soft breeze coming from the arena, which was a couple of steps behind him, enveloped him, Caldris reminisced.
It had been a long time since he had stepped into this world.
Back when it wasn’t always empty...
"Those who waste their talent are fools. The greatest sin is having power but opting not to use it."
As those old and forgotten words suddenly surged through his head, Caldris vehemently shook his head, snapping out of his trance.
"A power like this doesn’t deserve to be used...especially by him."
After regaining his composure, Caldris looked up and watched as the fireball, now only two feet away from Athen’s figure, burned the student’s blazer.
Feeling his jacket start to catch aflame, Athen’s expression darkened; however, he kept going.
He had been in hopeless scenarios before, so this wasn’t anything new.
"Imagine the look on Kai’s face when I pass this!"
At that moment, just as the fireball was about to hit Athen, the world suddenly froze.
The fireball, Athen’s sprinting figure, and Caldris’s body.
Everything came to a stop.
It was as if someone had taken a photo of the scene as nothing, not even the flames inside the lamps, moved.
...
...
...
After an unknown amount of time, a small spiritual figure suddenly appeared between Athen and the frozen fireball.
While the world remained frozen, the figure glanced around the hallway and walked around with a somber expression.
Letting out a deep sigh, the one moving person in the frozen world muttered.
"The first turning point...ah, how many loops were lost here? I believe the guy before me said...a hundred?"
Reaching Athen, who was mid-step, the figure slowly raised his hand to the student’s head.
Then, his hand simply phrased through Athen’s head before halting as it reached the center of the skull.
With his palm hovering right above where Athen’s brain was, the figure said.
"It’s complete."
As those words echoed throughout the frozen world, the figure’s body suddenly started to flicker like a broken light bulb.
One second, the figure’s body was completely visible, while the next, he was gone.
"Good luck...after all, if you die, I’ll be gone as well. And then, the one after you will probably fail due to lack of information. Then, all these loops and deaths would have been for nothing."
Within a second of those words being said, the figure had completely disappeared without a trace.
...
...
...
"Wait, why am I running?"
