Amy's enthusiastic smile froze on her face as Libris' words sank in.

"Wait... the new chapter is already out?" she repeated, feeling her previous excitement rapidly deflating, replaced by a growing sense of unease.

[Two chapters, actually, 154 and 155. They released a double issue. The publisher decided on a unique double release this month.]

"Two?!" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Since when do they release two chapters at once? Why?"

[Money obviously. The manga has hit a milestone, and to celebrate, the publisher contacted the “author” and asked if two chapters at once were feasible.]

Amy shifted uncomfortably on the bench; her earlier eagerness had completely evaporated. The memory and emotions of her last reading experience reappeared in her mind.

"I just remembered I have... um... homework."

[...Interesting. Just seconds ago, you were thrilled about manipulating readers' perceptions of you. Now that you have the chance to see those perceptions firsthand, you're suddenly avoiding them?]

"It's not the same thing."

[Really? Explain.]

She scowled, hugging Libris closer to her chest as she walked. "The last time I read those comments, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, if you recall."

[I am aware.]

“Then—

[Running away from uncomfortable truths won’t change your reality, only make it worse.]

"I'm not running away," Amy muttered.

[Deny it as much as you want.] Libris said with a sigh. [It doesn’t change that if you don’t know what the readers think about your character, you won’t be able to affect their perception of you.]

She slowed her pace slightly, chewing her lower lip. As much as she hated to admit it, Libris had a point. If she wanted to shape readers' perceptions of her, understanding how they currently saw her was important information.

"Ughhhhhhh…..fine," she grumbled, picking up her pace again. "Actually I don’t really care that much about what a bunch of random people think about me anyway."

[...It’s truly fascinating how you can pivot so quickly from "I must make readers like me more" to “I don’t want to read their opinions because it makes me uncomfortable” to "who cares what a bunch of random people think about me" in the span of a single conversation.]

"Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?"

Amy found a secluded spot beneath a large oak tree and settled against its trunk. The academy grounds were mostly empty at this hour, with most students already heading to eat or study in their rooms.

Without needing to ask for it, the book's pages began to glow with that familiar golden light. The text shimmered and transformed, resolving into the newest manga chapters.

[Chapter 154 is titled: "Past never leaves." It covers everything after the nightmare to Crow, Lyra, Lain, Ash, and you, gathering in Crow’s room to open the box.]

The cover art for Chapter 154 showed Crow standing alone on the Academy rooftop at sunset, his expression somber as he held a small wooden box against his chest.

"Why is he on a rooftop?"

[Because it’s cool?]

Always so edgy…

With a sigh, Amy began reading.

The chapter opened with a close-up panel of Crow's face, his expression hard as stone as he surveyed around him. His black eyes reflected the chaos of the battle's aftermath: Academy security forces rushing past, medics attending to shaken students, and teachers establishing protective barriers around Building B's entrance.

A narration box captured his thoughts: Fuck.

“I can’t express how much I relate to that feeling,” Amy said with a tired bittersweet smile.

The manga continued with the panel widening to show Crow standing alone in the courtyard, his uniform torn and bloodied, sword still drawn as if expecting more enemies to emerge from the shadows. The bodies of the creatures they'd defeated were already dissolving into black ichor that sizzled when it touched the ground.

Ash approached, his own clothes in similar disarray.

"Headcount?" Crow asked without looking at him.

"Dunno," Ash replied quietly. "I think everyone on our side survived, though I don’t know about Lain’s."

“Lain?”

“Apparently, she and Amy were in a nightmare this whole time and were stopping a ritual of some kind.”

“What…?” Crow asked with an incredulous expression on his face.

“Go and ask her yourself, she’s in the infirmary, east wing. I’ll go back with Lyra, make sure she doesn’t overextend herself on healing the students.”

He nodded then began walking towards—

“Wait,” Ash's voice stopped him.

Crow looked back toward Ash, who held a book in his hands.

“Lyra told me to give you this,” he said as he gave Libris to Crow.

Crow inspected the book for a few seconds before nodding to himself. Then he left.

[I still find the fact that you gave me to him very distasteful.]

“...didn’t we get over this already…?” Amy asked aloud, feeling exasperated. Was it genuinely such a big deal? She wondered.

[Whatever…]

She rolled her eyes before shifting her attention back to the manga.

The scene changed to the Academy infirmary. A wide panel showed rows of beds, most occupied by the rescued students being tended to by healers. The atmosphere was one of controlled chaos: urgent whispers, the soft glow of healing magic, and the occasional sob from someone.

Crow entered, immediately drawing everyone’s attention; several people were eying him with admiration.

He walked forward, soon reaching the far end of the room. Lain was resting in a bed partially hidden behind a privacy screen.

She looked tired and had some bruises around her arm and leg, but thankfully she did not seem severely injured.

What followed was a tirade of questions as Lain explained the whole situation to Crow before the topic focused on the box.

"...are you certain?" Lain's speech bubble was characteristically small.

Crow’s black eyes were fixed on the box with an intensity that seemed almost physical.

"Yes," he replied simply, his voice rendered in a sharper, more angular speech bubble than Lain's. "I recognize the craftsmanship."

"...your father's?"

Crow nodded once, his expression impossible to read.

"How did it come to be there...? In that place?"

The panels showed Crow's face in close-up, his eyes narrowing slightly. "That is what troubles me."

A small text box captured his internal monologue: Three years of searching. Three years tracking rumors and legends. And now, this appears—not where I've been looking, but in the heart of a nightmare ritual right in the Academy itself.

The scene shifted to show a nurse interrupting their conversation.

"You two should be resting," the nurse admonished gently. "Especially you, Miss Arkwright. That core depletion was severe."

"We were just finishing," Crow replied. "My friend was returning something I lent her for reading."

The nurse looked momentarily skeptical but nodded. "Five more minutes, then. Professor Vanheim was quite insistent about proper recovery protocols."

As she moved away to check on the other patients, Lain carefully handed the box to Crow, who slipped it inside his jacket with practiced ease.

"...will you open it?" she asked, her silver eyes meeting his.

"Not yet. Not until I understand how it came to be there. and why."

Lain nodded, accepting his decision without question. A small text box revealed her thoughts: He's afraid.

"Rest," Crow said, his tone softening slightly. "I'll check on the others."

After guarding the box in his spatial storage ring, Crow moved through the infirmary, stopping at where Amy was currently resting. He put Libris next to a bedside table, and then studied her sleeping form with a mixture of curiosity and wariness but also gratefulness.

A moment of hesitation later, he bowed. “Thank you for your help,” he muttered.

She knew everything, his internal monologue read. She gave me this book already expecting those creatures to appear…

He silently stared at the unconscious girl before shaking his head. Whatever her plans are, one thing is sure…she’s on our side...at least for now.

Amy smiled as she read Crow’s thoughts. “Finally, some trust in me! I was getting tired of all this undeserved suspicion.”

[Are you forgetting he stabbed your copy without hesitation?]

“Small steps, Libris, small steps…”

Back to the manga, the scene shifted once again to show the nurse from before returning.

"Mr. Thorne, the Headmistress requests your presence immediately," she said, her expression grave.

Crow nodded once, rising to his feet; his thoughts read that he already expected this to happen.

The next page showed Crow walking through the Academy's administrative wing, students parting before him like water. Whispers followed in his wake. He ignored them all, his stride never faltering as he approached the ornate doors of the Headmistress' office.

The Headmistress' chamber was depicted in a grand two-page spread: a vast circular room with a domed ceiling painted to resemble the night sky, constellations shifting slowly across its surface. Bookshelves lined the walls, interrupted only by tall windows and strange artifacts in glass cases. At the center stood an enormous desk carved from a single piece of ancient wood, behind which sat Headmistress Elyndra.

“Why is it that every time there is a big commotion, you always seem to be at the center, Mr. Thorn?” the Headmistress said, gesturing to the chair before his desk. “Sit, tell me what happened.”

Crow remained standing. "With respect, Headmistress, I prefer to stand," Crow said, while simultaneously a thought bubble showed his thoughts: “With the way the academy is purposefully hiding information on my father, I can’t trust them.”

Elyndra's face remained impassive, but her eyes narrowed slightly. "Very well. Proceed. I want you to tell me everything you know.”

“Wait,” Amy said with indignation in her voice. “Why does Crow get the Headmistress and I have to deal with fucking Kaelen!?”

[Protagonist perks.]

“This isn’t fair…”

[Life isn’t fair. If it was, you wouldn’t be in this manga fighting for your life in the first place.]

“Ugghhhh….”

Back into the manga, the conversation continued with Crow's detailed account of the events in Building B, delivered with clinical precision. The panels alternated between Crow speaking and flashbacks to the battle, showing moments readers hadn't seen before: Crow facing several creatures simultaneously, bloodedge dancing through the air as he protected a group of younger students; the moment he realized the creatures were impostors; his desperate search through the building after discovering Amy and Lain were missing.

"What were those things, Headmistress? They weren't like any creatures I've encountered before," he asked with a troubled expression on his face.

"Blood mimics," Elyndra replied, rising from her chair to look out the window toward the soon-to-be night sky. "Ancient magic. Not seen within these walls for over a century."

"The Blood Emperor's magic," Crow stated, not a question.

"Yes." Elyndra turned to face him. "Which raises concerning questions about who performed the ritual and how they gained access to such forbidden knowledge."

Could this be related to the tribe of Onyx? Crow's thoughts read.

The scene shifted to show Crow's hands clenching into fists at his sides. "I want to be part of the investigation."

"Absolutely not." The Headmistress' tone brooked no argument. "You and your classmates have done more than enough. This matter now falls to the faculty and the Council."

"With respect—"

"This is not a negotiation, Mr. Thorne. You are to return to your studies and leave this to those equipped to handle it. Understood?"

A panel showed Crow's jaw tightening, a muscle working beneath the skin, but he nodded stiffly.

What followed was a timeskip.

The scene transitioned to Crow's dormitory that evening. A single photograph in a simple frame stood on the nightstand—a smiling man with black eyes identical to Crow's. It was his supposed father, whom he had never met, the same man from his fragmented memories.

“Wait,” Amy interjected, curiosity clear in her voice. “Now that I think about it, they have photographs here? Isn’t this world supposed to be medieval-inspired?” she asked with a frown.

[We also have showers and magical elevators. What did you expect? This is a manga world.]

“...whatever.”

Her attention refocused on the pages.

Crow sat cross-legged on the floor, the wooden box from Building B placed before him on a cloth. He hadn't opened it yet, just studied it in the fading light, his fingers occasionally tracing the intricate patterns carved into its surface.

A soft knock at the door broke his concentration.

"It's open," he called, quickly covering the box with the cloth.

The door swung inward to reveal Lain, her silver eyes taking in the room with a single glance.

Upon seeing it was her, Crow let out a small sigh of relief before going back to inspect the box once again.

"...you still haven't opened it," she observed quietly, closing the door behind her.

"No," Crow admitted.

Lain crossed the room silently, her movements graceful despite the bandages still visible at her wrists. She knelt opposite Crow, her expression unreadable.

"...fear?" she asked simply.

Crow's jaw tightened slightly. "Caution," he corrected. "If this is truly from my father, there might be... complications."

"You said 'if,'" Lain noted. "...are you sure it’s from him…?"

A panel showed Crow's hands resting on his knees, knuckles whitening slightly as he tensed.

"Almost," he finally acknowledged. "I believe it's his work. The patterns are distinctive—symbols from the Old Kingdom. My memories…"

"Then why hesitate…?" Lain asked, her voice gentle.

Crow was silent for a long moment, his gaze fixed on the covered box. When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than usual.

"Because finding it means admitting something I've been avoiding," he said. "It’s only five years ago that I learned I had a father... No trace, no message, nothing. I've been searching ever since, trying to understand these memories that haunt me, following every lead, every rumor. But this..." he gestured to the covered box, "this was in a Blood Emperor ritual chamber. If he's connected to that..."

"...you fear what it means," Lain finished for him.

"Yes."

“I see…”

A few panels showed Crow and Lain in momentary silence as they gazed at the box, before Crow spoke once again.

“We are running late to class; let's get that done, and then we will think about it.”

After a slight time skip, the scene shifted to Crow during Professor Drayke's combat class—

“Wait…what…?” Amy’s face furrowed, her hands tightened against the book, and her heart dropped.

[What is it?]

She stared at the pages with a disbelieving expression, her fingers gripping the book tighter. Then, she frantically began looking back and forth, searching for it. But it wasn’t there.

It took more than a few seconds to process the torrent of emotions crashing down on her. Her heart began beating gradually faster.

"They…they completely skipped the minute of silence for Elias?” It took a big effort to say that name. “Like it never even happened?"

The manga had jumped from the aftermath of the Building B incident straight to Crow's storyline, with no mention of the memorial service that had taken place for the student who died.

[Mmm… You're right. It's not included at all. Perhaps it would disrupt the narrative flow? Or maybe they're saving it for a flashback in a later chapter.]

"That's..." Amy swallowed hard, irritation starting to permeate in her expression. "....they can't just skip over it like it didn't matter."

[Does it bother you that much? I thought you'd be relieved not to have to revisit that difficult moment. You yourself did not attend the service, after all.]

Amy shook her head, frustrated at her own conflicted feelings. "Hypocritical, I know. It’s just... it happened, you know? It was important. And now it's like..." She trailed off, unable to properly articulate what was bothering her so much.

[I don’t understand.]

A long silence stretched on for several seconds as Amy wondered if she should continue speaking further. At the end, it did not matter what she wanted; her mouth just moved on its own, speaking despite herself.

"It's like... like his death didn't even matter. One panel he exists, then he's gone, and the story just... moves on."

[So you're upset because the narrative disregarded something significant that you experienced…? Perhaps you're overthinking this. The manga naturally focuses on the protagonist's journey. Side characters—even those who die—often receive minimal attention.]

"Right," Amy muttered. Her eyes fixated on the manga once again. “Everything is so real, people here are not that different from people back on earth… It's so confusing remembering that this whole thing is just a manga made to entertain…”

[...Would you like to take a break?]

It took a little while before she responded. "No," She finally said after a shake of her head, her voice betraying no emotion. "Let's keep going. There is no time to lose."

Libris stayed silent momentarily, as if studying her.

[Very well.] It finally said.

The manga continued, Crow moving with practiced precision through the conditioning exercises– his form perfect despite the lingering soreness from the Building B encounter.

As other students paired off for assessment matches, Crow observed from the sidelines. His gaze followed Amy's match against Tallen with particular interest, noting how she relied almost exclusively on evasion rather than attacking.

Interesting, his internal monologue noted. She's reading his movements before he makes them. Not fighting skill—prediction.

When Amy suddenly surrendered, Crow's eyes narrowed slightly. A text box captured his thoughts: She is hiding something. It's like she wasn’t even trying…

Later panels showed Crow effortlessly defeating his own opponent—a second-year student with shadow manipulation abilities. Crow didn't bother using any of his abilities, instead relying purely on Bloodedge to disarm and immobilize his opponent within seconds.

After class, the scene followed Crow as he met with his companions in a secluded corner of the Academy grounds. Ash sprawled on the grass, Lyra perched on a low wall, and Lain stood quietly nearby as Crow paced before them.

"So," Ash began, stretching his arms overhead, "are we going to talk about why you've been brooding even more than usual?"

"I don't brood," Crow replied flatly, which earned a snort from Lyra.

"Please," Ash said, rolling his eyes. "You're the definition of brooding. You practically have storm clouds following you around."

"What Ash means," Lyra interjected softly, "is that something is clearly troubling you."

Crow stopped pacing, studying his friends' faces—the people who had become what he would call his family. He made a decision.

"There was a box," he said finally. "Inside the nightmare. Lain found it and gave it to me."

"A box?" Lyra echoed, her expression growing concerned. "What kind of box?"

"Wooden. Carved with Old Kingdom symbols." Crow hesitated, then added, "My father's work."

The revelation landed like a stone in still water. Ash sat up abruptly, his usual carefree demeanor vanishing. Lyra's mouth opened in silent shock, and even Lain, who already knew, tensed at the confirmation.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked, suddenly serious.

"As sure as I can be," Crow confirmed. "I'd recognize his craftsmanship anywhere."

"Have you opened it?" Lyra asked, leaning forward intently.

"Not yet."

"Why not?" Ash demanded, jumping to his feet. "It could be a message, a clue to where he went!"

"Or a trap," Crow countered. "Think, Ash. It was in a Blood Emperor ritual chamber. If they're somehow involved in his disappearance..."

"All the more reason to find out what's inside. We need to open it," Ash insisted, his usual carefree demeanor replaced by uncharacteristic seriousness. "Whatever's inside could be the first real lead we've had in a long time."

Crow's expression remained guarded, his dark eyes distant as he considered their options. A small text box revealed his thoughts: Father's box appearing now... The timing feels deliberate…

"Tonight," he finally decided. "We'll open it tonight."

Lyra frowned, twisting a strand of hair around her finger nervously. "Just us?"

The implication was clear. Despite Lyra somewhat hesitating around that girl, she still remembered very well how they had found the box in the first place.

Crow hesitated, his gaze drifting across the courtyard where other students were dispersing after classes. His attention was fixed on a familiar figure walking alone—Amy Stake, the mysterious new student whose appearance had coincided with so many unusual events.

A flashback panel showed Amy in the nightmare dimension as described by Lain—blood streaming from her eyes as she fought to free the trapped students, risking her own safety for strangers.

When Crow heard that, he couldn’t help but feel a little more comfortable about that girl. Despite her mysteriousness, hearing that she apparently seemed to feel great care for others was both reassuring and confusing.

She was there, his internal monologue noted. She found the box. Whatever game is being played, she's already a part of it.

"Alright, we will tell her," he told his companions, his decision made.

The next few pages showed Crow’s group conversation with Amy. Then the scene transitioned to Crow's dormitory on the top floor of the Class S residential tower.

"Wow, I thought your room was a mess since you didn't let me get in, but it's actually kind of cool," Ash commented, flopping down onto Crow's perfectly made bed without invitation, immediately disrupting the orderly sheets. "Very... you."

A small text box noted: I should have chosen another place.

Crow ignored him, retrieving the box from his desk drawer. The tension in the room was palpable, rendered through tight framing and shadow effects as Crow set the key beside the box.

After a few more lines of dialogue, the moment finally came.

Crow hesitated for a heartbeat, his hand poised above the lock. A close-up showed the conflict in his eyes—hope warring with dread, anticipation with fear.

He inserted the key into the lock. The mechanism clicked softly, the sound emphasized in the panel's design.

No one breathed as Crow's hand rested on the lid.

A full-page spread captured the moment of revelation—light spilling from within the box, not the blinding flash they'd half-expected. With the exception of Amy, they all leaned forward, eyes wide, as they stared at the contents.

Inside lay another key—larger than the first but unmistakably similar, with the same golden material and faint pulsing energy. Beside it was a folded parchment, yellowed with age.

"Paper and another key..." Ash said, his voice rendered in a speech bubble that perfectly captured his mixture of shock and disappointment. "Is this some kind of joke?"

The final page showed a close-up of Crow's face as he stared at the contents, his expression frozen in disbelief.

[End of Chapter 154]

“I’m tired…” Amy sighed, closing the book with a weary gesture. It had been only a single chapter, yet she was already completely drained.

The thought of Elias' dismembered head, pulsating with increasing intensity. She could see every minuscule detail. The fluids of his brain, the red blood all over the floor, his eyeball popping out next to her feet…

He hadn’t even been mentioned, yet his absence was the thing that made his memory so powerful. It didn’t matter how much she tried to distract herself from that thought; it just kept coming back, frustrating her to a degree she couldn’t articulate.

[Would you like to take a small break before we continue with Chapter 155 and the comments?]

Amy frowned slightly. "Take a break to do what?"

[Just take a walk with me. Clear your head.]

"It's getting late," Amy pointed out, glancing at the darkening sky. The academy grounds would be closing due to curfew soon, and she still had the next chapter to read.

[So what?]

Without warning, Libris suddenly floated upward out of her satchel—something it hadn't done in quite a while. The book hovered at eye level, casting subtle shadows across Amy's surprised face.

[Look, with everything that's going on—your plans with Crow and the others, Kaelen's plotting, my request, classes, your determination to work hard until Act 1 continues—we won't have much time to just... take things calmly. Soon enough, you'll be swept up in events beyond your control again.]

“...” Amy stared at the floating book, torn between hesitation and recognition of the truth in its words. She frowned, wondering if it was alright to take a break right now, at such a critical moment.

[Just one walk. Before things get complicated again.]

The evening breeze rustled through the leaves overhead as Amy considered the offer. The prospect of immediately diving back into the manga—facing more revelations, more comments, more reminders of how this world both was and wasn't real—suddenly felt overwhelming…and tiresome.

After a moment's hesitation, she nodded, standing up and brushing off her uniform.

"...fine…"

[Good.]

The book drifted forward, and Amy followed, leaving the bench and her worries behind, if only for a little while.