・Epilogue

The wind carried the scent of blood. Eight hours and twenty-four minutes since the battle against Redonia's suddenly appearing army began—the streets were stained red. Students, teachers, the Red Army. Corpses lined the streets, and the stifling heat intensified the smell of iron. In the midst of it all, Guest continued to fight.

One after another, they simply kept striking down the endlessly surging army. Yes, were they forced to? Or did they simply want to? As they fought, covered in shades of red, crimson, and vermilion, even the sense of time vanished.

Before they knew it—Guest stood there, having spilled a maddening amount of crimson at their feet. It all belonged to the Red Army. The Hero who slew the Jabberwock.

An army of that level could no longer stop that power.

"...How is it? Have the numbers dropped nicely? Then, it's about time I started."

A violent tremor. The sensation of feet leaving the ground. The East Wing, now full of holes, collapsed before their eyes. Rubble rained down like hail, and what emerged from within was—

Goba!

The Crimson Arena. A monstrous structure built as if eating through the Academy City from the inside.

"This is the Purchasing Committee. The 'Red Queen.'"

The arena trembles. It speaks to all the students remaining in the Academy City with Redonia's voice.

"I know not how many of you are left—but listen, students of Delos."

"I have now judged the false value bestowed upon this academy."

"I shall announce the conclusion."

"The rankings no longer have any value."

"Those who sit at the top, sleeping while clutching past victories—the idle."

"Those fools who obsessively protect only their own rank."

"They are not the strong. They are usurpers who steal opportunities from you and sit atop them."

"And you who sink to the bottom, what have they drummed into you?"

.

"No talent?"

"Born different?"

"Effort won't reach?"

"Know your place?"

"You were brainwashed to have your fangs pulled, to accept defeat, and to continue rotting."

"But did you not doubt it even once?"

"Why are only they at the top?"

"Why are only they chosen?"

"The answer is simple."

"This system does not exist to choose the strong."

"It exists to protect the current strong as the strong forever."

"Then, you should just break it."

"I shall give it to you."

"The power to burn away the stagnant hierarchy and drag everything down to the same horizon."

"—It is the 'Scorch Rank' (Shakui)."

"You who survived my judgment, I shall equally 'Enscorch' (Joshaku) you. You have that right."

"That ticket will pull up your power."

"It will let your fangs reach the throats of those you could only look up to until yesterday."

"And the Scorch Rank will burn hotter and stronger by devouring other Scorch Ranks."

"If you wish to defy me, so be it. But... don't you want to 'give them a taste of their own medicine'?"

"Don't you want to teach them the taste of the mud you've been forced to eat?"

"That ticket is a right. A pass to victory."

"—But remember. The person standing next to you has the same right."

"The one who hesitates will be devoured first."

"The one who trusts will be betrayed first."

"The one who does not reach out will have everything stolen."

"Therefore, show no mercy."

"Devour!"

"Steal!"

"Burn!"

"Drag every last coward out to the battlefield!"

"Even if they are friends, even if they are kin, if they stand in your way, they are the enemy!!"

"Allow no one but yourself to decide your value!"

"Rewrite the ranking itself with blood and flame!"

"Show me!"

"Show those who looked down on you!"

"Show the world!"

"That your power is real! That your desire for retribution was right!"

"That <<your life was by no means a mistake>>!"

"—Now, begin the proof. Reforge the academy with your own hands."

---

...Just as a single gunshot echoed through the city, as if it were the trigger, the silence was broken in various places.

A pale blue magic arrow raced through a dust-swirling alley, and immediately after, a massive explosion swallowed it along with the caster. Destruction chains. A student transformed into a giant monster rampages through the city, gravity waves sweep away the few remaining buildings, and localized spatial anomalies and time stops add to the chaos.

"...It has begun."

Redonia looks at her hand. The palm of an adult, after "selling" her time.

Even though she has played a massive card, there is no trembling.

She simply waits.