The Healer’s face turned resolute. The way she spoke—like she was making a vow—suggested she’d slap me awake if I couldn’t open my eyes.

……If I come to my senses, my neck won’t be twisted around, right? Honestly, the Healer’s slap terrifies me more than being trapped in a mental world.

Before my needless anxiety could show, I swept my hair back with my usual irritation and spoke.

“You finally understand. Then move. Before the rest of them all die.”

Now then, let’s lower the difficulty.

* * *

[Entering Michael’s Mental World.]

[Warning! An abnormal status has been detected. This area has been consumed by the world of the False Mirror Shard.]

[Warning! Abnormal approach. You have not been invited. The world is hostile to you.]

[Warning! Your data cannot be found within this world. Your range of perception will be limited.]

The System window started clamoring the moment I entered. Flashing bright red, they appeared to be error or warning messages.

‘Well, a quick glance around tells me everything I need to know.’

It felt like stepping into an unfinished game. I could tell those were roughly houses and trees, but they were nothing more than pale, washed-out silhouettes. As if the resolution of the entire world had suddenly plummeted.

Honestly, it was hard to make out anything, but considering this was a place filled with the Protagonist’s trauma?

‘It’s definitely the village where he lived as a child.’

To briefly summarize the Protagonist’s past as depicted in <Hero Rampage>:

His father, the Demon Lord, killed his human mother. Nobody helped. The Protagonist went on a rampage and burned down the village.

Various things happened before he came to the Academy, but this was the event that defined the largest part of his life.

‘The incident took place at the Protagonist’s house, so let’s see…’

It was an unfamiliar neighborhood, but finding my way wasn’t difficult. The “zelkova tree in front of our house” that appeared constantly in the Protagonist’s flashbacks was large enough to catch the eye immediately, and more importantly…….

‘In a world where everything is low-resolution, only one person appears in high definition.’

It sounds like something out of a love poem, but it’s simply the truth. Everything else was a product of mental magic, and the only real thing was the Protagonist, so he was the only one I could properly perceive.

Thanks to that, the Protagonist’s condition was immediately visible through the half-open door.

“Aaagh, no!”

A piercing scream, a curse mark writhing uneasily across his skin, and cheeks crusted with dried tears of blood.

“Mother, please wake up. Mother…… please. No, why is there blood, why…….”

Muttering like a madman with hollow eyes—anyone could see he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

‘Is that mannequin-like thing he’s holding the Protagonist’s mother? And the hulking figure standing in front of him is the Demon Lord?’

So it’s right after his father killed his mother. Yeesh, damn. What timing. I wanted to bite my tongue off.

“I-Is anyone there? Someone, please save my mother. Help! A monster, a monster is hurting my mother……!”

The Protagonist desperately looked around, weeping and crying out.

Unable to just stand by, I threw open the already half-open door and stepped inside.

Then, with my back to the Protagonist, I faced the figure that appeared to be the Demon Lord—as if positioning myself to shield him.

‘What the Protagonist wanted most at that moment was a hero to save him. And a hero, by definition, always shows those he protects a magnificent view of his back.’

Next, I turned my head just slightly with a cool expression to glance at the Protagonist. This is ‘Chris.’

“W-Who……?”

“You pathetic thing. To be so consumed that you can’t even recognize your own teacher’s face.”

I clicked my tongue at the Protagonist, who was blinking up at me like a rain-soaked puppy.

However, the Protagonist wasn’t the only one startled by the sudden appearance of an outsider.

[Warning! The world is hostile to you.]

Through the crimson status window, I caught sight of the Demon Lord moving. Hmm, was he about to use magic?

Hard to tell. The resolution was seriously bad—enough to make me squint involuntarily.

So the final boss is sizing up the kill right in front of me? Well, I’d need something to work with first.

“Th-That’s! No……. It’s dangerous to stay here, please run, okay? Run right now…….”

The Protagonist grabbed the hem of my clothes, trembling.

But what could I do? I couldn’t empathize at all. I answered in a perfectly calm state.

“Michael Foxin. Why should I run?”

“That monster, that monster killed my mother…… and he’ll kill you too, P-Professor!”

“You’re the one who asked for help. At least watch closely.”

This wasn’t mere bluffing—it was confidence grounded in reason.

After all, this was the Protagonist’s mental world. A world where his unconscious mind was law.

The Demon Lord before them was powerful because Michael genuinely believed the Demon Lord to be that formidable a being, which meant—

‘That here, at least, I’m genuinely overpowered.’

If my usual act had properly registered with the Protagonist, this was certain. So as I gazed at the scene before me slowly turning crimson—the Demon Lord must be gathering energy for a fire fist or something—there was only one thing to deliberate.

‘Would snapping my fingers look cooler, or would a casual flick of the hand be more stylish?’

It was an important matter. This could permanently establish the gesture ‘Chris’ uses when casting magic.

However, the Demon Lord, oblivious to such high-level concerns, didn’t wait for me.

“No, Professor!”

Soon my vision, beyond crimson, was flooded with white light. At that same moment, as a desperate cry rang out, I felt arms wrap around my waist—

‘I knew it.’

Decision made. A laugh escaped me unbidden.

* * *

Michael squeezed his eyes shut. He had flung his arms around the woman before him, but he knew it was too late to dodge. He couldn’t bear to watch what came next.

But what reached his ears was not a pained groan—it was a scolding directed at Michael.

“I told you to watch properly……. You weakling.”

“……?”

Not a trace of pain in her voice. Only familiar irritation.

“Open your eyes. And get your arm off me.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am.”

Michael obeyed the command reflexively, only to be stunned by the scene before him.

“……What.”

Black hair streaming in the air, and beyond it, a single finger. The Demon Lord’s flame-wrapped hand was stopped dead at the tip of Chris’s index finger.

He remembered how easily his mother had been felled by that massive, dark-crimson hand. It had been a gesture that no living being could defy. The Demon Lord taking a life had seemed as natural as the flow of water.

‘To do it this easily…… like flicking a dog on the snout.’

Chris’s profile was utterly composed. As if this outcome was the only natural one. She had always been the kind of person who shattered the world’s laws as casually as breathing.

Of course—because it was Chris. No one else but Chris could pull this off. Michael had believed that for as long as he could remember. That was why there had been nights when, struggling through hardship, he had fantasized about having her by his side.

His mind began to clear, little by little.

“To think you wouldn’t even bother waking up over a weakling like this. What a charmed life you lead, hm?”

At Chris’s mockery, the Demon Lord howled. He had surely spoken words in the past, but at some point, Michael could no longer remember what they were. The figure had long since been distorted into a beast-like monster, haunting his nightmares.

“Michael. I don’t know what this thing is, nor do I know your story. Therefore, I can’t guess how you feel, and frankly, I have no intention of trying.”

It was a statement so cold it burrowed into his heart. Yet strangely, it didn’t wound him. Perhaps because he knew what would follow.

“There is only one thing I know.”

With a casual gesture from Chris, the Demon Lord’s massive body was sent flying. It tumbled far across the ground and crashed into the dirt.

-Gurgh! Keck!

“Haha.”

He had never imagined it could look this ridiculous. Everything he had been crying over just moments ago felt impossibly distant. In an instant, a strange emotion spread through his chest in place of fear. Was this what they called relief?

“You don’t belong here. So don’t delude yourself.”

Chris opened her hand once, then slowly closed it into a fist. The Demon Lord’s enormous body began to crumple and shrink. What seemed about to vanish into a single point finally dropped onto Michael’s palm.

“Because it was an eyesore.”

The self-deprecating remark was appended like a sigh.

Michael lowered his gaze.

‘Insignificant.’

There was no need to ask what Chris intended. The moment he saw the thing shrunk to the size of a dot, he understood with certainty.

Michael had grown since that time, and he would continue to grow in the future. Right under this teacher’s guidance.

He no longer had time to waste trapped in childhood memories. He was too busy fighting through reality as it was.

But before waking, before this dreamlike moment ended, there was something he wanted to ask. Words he hadn’t been able to utter since the day they first met.

“……Professor.”

“What.”

“Do you need me?”