I Became the Academy’s Pink Airhead

The last thing Urd saw was blackness engulfing her vision.

When she came to her senses, she was being flung away at tremendous speed.

“N-No—!!”

A passage of countless stars passed by like a comet.

The darkness cut through the wind, growing distant.

Everything she had barely gained by sacrificing everything was moving away.

‘Again… Again so rashly…’

Urd reached out her hand with a miserable feeling.

‘Again… Again so incompetently…’

Even reaching out her hand again, she couldn’t touch it.

‘I’m sorry… For being incompetent…’

And the scenery appearing before her again was—

* * *

The group boarded the approaching airship, passing over the black waterways and ruins of the academy city.

Though distortions and veils blocking dimensions occasionally occurred, they couldn’t stop the march of hundreds of steel giants.

Black swamps gushed from the ground.

Countless students sank into the abyss.

But even in that situation, there were those who managed to survive.

Freya, Astrid, Rota, and Kara were able to bring combat personnel who had fallen behind in the process of crossing the center of the academy city.

Fiona, the incoming student council president of , looked around the airship with her mouth wide open. She particularly focused on the heat from the ether engine spewing from the airship’s power unit.

“Wh… Woooow!!! It’d be so awesome to set this on fire—!!! It’d be an explosion visible from the entire academy city!!!”

“That’s right, boss!!”

“If we bring bikes now and fall while looking cool with the explosion behind us, it’d be super awesome!!!”

“Woooah!!! Let’s do it right now—!!!”

Red-uniformed girls shouting strange yells.

Aghast at those words, Skadi and Maya shouted angrily.

“Are you crazy?!”

“Are you insane?!”

As students from and busily restrained the passengers.

Despite the commotion from some students’ disturbance, most of the rescued students were quietly seated in regular passenger seats.

“…”

Sigrun, the leader of ’s investigation unit, was also sitting in a corner of the airship with a gloomy expression. And beside her, Greta, the youngest member of the team, and a few other members were seated.

“…”

“…”

“…”

They were all worried about what was to come.

The Golden Street, which they thought was the last stronghold. The main force stationed there had all sunk into the suddenly rising abyss.

Rather, only the investigation unit personnel patrolling the eastern wilderness barely escaped the collapse. And they were discovered by the giants conducting rescue operations from .

“…”

They had merely survived.

is meaningless without a city to protect.

As her thoughts went that far, Sigrun made a bitter expression.

‘Survived… I didn’t think I’d use such words in the academy city.’

Now I’m not sure if we should even call this place the academy city.

Sigrun looked out the distant window.

The ground had shattered, and black abyss filled the gaps. The abyss that had pooled like puddles now completely covered the ground.

Rumble—

Even now, as the sky collapsed, opaque veils descended like curtains. It was pushing apart so that even those in similar spaces couldn’t touch each other.

The academy city that had become like a cake smashed with a hammer.

“…”

Sigrun clenched her fist and gathered her resolve.

Still.

There are still survivors in the academy city.

It’s our duty to gather them.

Sigrun touched her eyes, shaking off the echoes and tragic scenery still lingering in her mind. And she stood up abruptly.

The investigation unit members with still dazed eyes looked at her like that.

“Leader…?”

“Leader?”

“Everyone, you should have rested enough. Now it’s time to prepare!”

“Pre… pare?”

Sigrun smiled while picking up the bow she had thrown on the floor.

“Prepare to save people!”

“…!”

“…!”

At those words, the investigation team grabbed their weapons and stood up, getting ready to depart at any time.

Amidst the conflicting hearts of many people. Giants were passing beneath the airships advancing leisurely.

Among the hundreds of giants of dwarf origin, a group that was particularly advancing ahead… Several giants were walking majestically carrying a huge spire.

Boom—!

Boom—!

The surreal sight of carrying and moving an entire building.

The giants who recreated that shocking sight laughed heartily.

“Uhahaha! Well I’ll be! Now that we can lift buildings, there’s nothing to fear!”

“That’s right!”

“Let’s go beat up that dragon or whatever like this—!”

“That’s right!”

Meanwhile, the Research Faction students maintaining the ‘Sage’s Room’ inside that spire were having a terrible time. They rolled around inside the room every time the giants laughed and shook their bodies.

“Hueeeeng… Uh, urp… This is too hard…”

“I-I just want to read b-books inside…”

Eventually unable to endure, the Research Faction students looked at their second-in-command.

“Th-This sucks…! Librarian Mila… Can’t we just ride the airship too?”

Mila, the 2nd year rabbit librarian, answered firmly.

“I-I feel like throwing up so sh-shut up and don’t make me talk…”

“Hiing…”

The spire maintained by Research Faction students desperately enduring motion sickness like that.

At the top were five people and one animal.

“…”

Kara raised her flag diagonally and looked outside. Her pupils were shining a clear navy blue.

“The black energy outside is getting thicker as we go. I think we’ll arrive soon.”

“…”

“Peepeep comrade?”

“…It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Peep! My body, doesn’t feel good… My eyes too… gradually…”

“Are you sick somewhere? The outside air doesn’t seem good…”

“No, this is… Hmm… Peep… I’ll rest for a while.”

[Nameless Hawk] closed its eyes and lowered its head just like that.

Kara stroked [Nameless Hawk] once, and looked outside again.

“…”

Astrid beside her narrowed her eyes. The abyss coming in from outside reflected in her red pupils, shining dark red like blood.

“Hmph, this mist is extremely unpleasant. To think there’s a power forcibly manipulating the laws of the world… It doesn’t have a single aspect that makes people happy like this lady’s light. Black Knight, don’t you think so too?”

Helina answered indifferently in a humming voice.

“…The one using flashy techniques to hide her body is more suspicious.”

“What—?!”

“…You’re entranced by your own flashiness.”

“H-Have you seen such a rude knight?!”

Leaving the two bickering again behind.

Freya stood up with a determined expression.

“…I-It looks like the preparations on this side are almost done.”

At the center of the Sage’s Room, Rota was connecting her grimoire to the device and muttering. Then orange light entered the ether circuits spreading like spider webs from the center of the Sage’s Room.

Flash—!

Rota’s eyes were shining a clear orange. Her voice that always sounded clear echoed along with the light.

[Not fate, but story. Story not story, but the form of souls.]

Like a doll made of light.

Her two cat ears and clear eyes.

Every single strand of hair was shining.

Woong—!!

[When the golden morning rises, cats pour out of orange clouds, a girl riding a pink bicycle, dances with a red hawk, to the blue flag.]

The muttering of a madman.

As words that sound like sleep-talking continued.

The grimoire began to shine, scattering new colors.

Rota clapped her hands and shouted.

[Nyaa—!!]

Woong—!!

Rota’s ether skill.

Clara’s ability to use others’ ether.

The magic activation method changed by [Golden Witch].

All of these completely changed one law that was thought could never be changed.

The tip of the spire shone like a lighthouse, and all therianthrope female students trembled.

And they felt thoughts connecting with each other.

-Oh, oh my?!

-Wh-What is this?!

-Kyaah?! Don’t read my thoughts—!!

-You… think like that normally…?

Freya shuddered seeing that. And she slightly raised her hand to activate an ether skill without taking out her wand.

“…”

Flash!

A barrier formed above her palm.

The rabbit librarian Mila’s skill, [Rabbit Hole Barrier], activated.

Seeing that, Freya took a deep breath.

“…!”

Ether skills are singular.

But at this moment, magic became plural.

In this light, you could use others’ magic and borrow others’ ether calculations. Each other’s magic multiplied and became stronger.

A huge change came to magic that had been thought to be truth until now and had given up on development.

‘Though this was the purpose of the research… To think it finally succeeded…’

Freya’s ugly purple cat ears stood on end as she realized the meaning. And she shook off the [Rabbit Hole Barrier] from her hand while trembling.

“Oh, oh my… So broken… Wh-What talent…”

In fact, it was difficult to even call it talent. A miraculous result created by gathering possibilities that shouldn’t have existed at all… It was truly fate-like magic.

As Freya was trembling like that, some people burst into the Sage’s Room.

Slam!

“Everyone!!”

The person who entered was Alvit.

She had led her group after seeing the mysterious giants from moving a familiar structure.

Kara welcomed the familiar face that entered.

“Comrade Alvit?! You’re safe!!”

“Kara…?! Don’t tell me you…?! No, Rota too…?!”

Alvit had a blank expression seeing the navy blue [Unique Ether] spreading from the flag.

And she was shocked when she saw Rota with her eyes half-closed, emitting orange light from her whole body. But it was less than the shock of Eir, Bell, and Sieglinde who followed.

They never dreamed they would see a more surprising sight than numerous giants advancing while heartily smashing obstacles.

“How can one school…”

“Honestly, it’s frightening…”

“Th-Three of them…? All first years…?”

The only ones not surprised by that sight were Hilde and Erda. They were concerned about the safety of the students they had been leading.

Erda looked at Hilde and said:

“President, I’ll take care of the students’ boarding.”

“…Thank you.”

Hilde turned and looked at the figures gathered in the Sage’s Room. Her gaze slowly looking at each person one by one was filled with anxiety.

Freya, Eir, Astrid, Helina…

The executives of the and Clara’s three juniors.

“…”

Among them, the pink hair was not visible.

“Has… anyone seen Lara…?”

“No…”

“We were barely surviving the collapse…”

“She suddenly disappeared somewhere…”

[Nameless Hawk] suddenly trembled violently.

“Urp…?!”

It wasn’t surprising for the timid one to shake, but he was writhing more violently than ever before.

So sensing something was amiss, everyone in the room looked at [Nameless Hawk].

“Peepeep…?”

“Huff…! Huff…! Urp…?!”

Blech—

And what came out of the huge chick’s mouth as he bent over and retched was… Clara. She fell in the middle of the Sage’s Room with a lifeless expression.

Crash—!

Bell, who had been terrified since earlier, screamed in shock.

“Kyaaaah—?!”

But others had dazed expressions seeing Clara who suddenly barged in.

“Clara?”

“…[Spiral]?”

“…Ruffian?”

But Alvit and Hilde looked at each other’s eyes once, then said simultaneously.

“…It’s not senior.”

“…It’s not Lara.”

The girl resembling Clara… Urd stood up staggering.

“…”

And she looked around at the faces gathered in the Sage’s Room.

“He-Help.”

At her thin voice, the three from and [Nameless Hawk] cautiously spoke to her.

“Lady Urd?”

“Goddess?”

“What do you mean?”

“Goddess, what on earth happened to the World Tree…?”

Urd lowered her head and said to everyone:

“Help Clara trapped inside the World Tree!! The prophet has taken control of the World Tree—!!”

“…!”