"Senior" and "Junior"

Chapter 26: "Senior" and "Junior"

"Bang... bang-bang..."

As the flames gradually grew, more and more stones fell from the ceiling, as if the entire place were about to collapse. The whole Control Room swayed precariously, sending up bursts of thunderous crashes.

Luo Zhen and Mashu simply stared blankly at the completely sealed door before them, falling into silence.

Luo Zhen understood.

Neither he nor Mashu could leave this place anymore.

The Control Room's door was specially made, and its defenses against magecraft were excellent. Even the highest-ranking Magus could not break it through brute force. Even using physical means, the difficulty of breaking down this door, which was countless times sturdier than steel, was self-evident.

Unless he could summon a High-Level Familiar, it was hardly worth trying.

Otherwise, with Luo Zhen as he was now, there was no way he could escape.

And if he could not escape, there was no need to explain what would happen.

Not only would Mashu be unable to survive, Luo Zhen himself would also be devoured by the flames and lose this hard-won life.

That was the situation now.

For a moment, Luo Zhen no longer knew how to react.

As for Mashu, her voice rang out faintly.

"I'm sorry... Senior... It's all because of me..."

That fragile voice, seeming as though it might disappear at any moment, and the guilt contained within it, made one's heart ache.

Yet, for some reason, hearing that voice instead made Luo Zhen feel at peace.

They were clearly about to die, but his mood had become calm to an almost unbelievable degree.

As for his thoughts, they were even more straightforward.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it."

Luo Zhen's voice returned to its usual carefree tone, and he smiled as though he were taking it lightly.

That caused the thousand words in Mashu's heart to vanish as well, turning into a weak yet exceptionally beautiful smile.

"Senior... You really are Senior..."

That was all Mashu felt now.

The flames swelled again, swallowing both Luo Zhen and Mashu's only way out.

Holding Mashu in his arms, Luo Zhen sat before the sealed door and gazed out at the sea of fire.

"Senior..."

After an unknown amount of time, Mashu's weak voice rang out again.

"Do you... remember when we first met?"

Those words immediately pulled Luo Zhen's memories back into the past.

It had been two years ago.

At that time, Luo Zhen had already been living in Chaldea for a year.

As someone with the most outstanding Master aptitude recorded to date, Luo Zhen had been warmly welcomed by many people when he arrived at Chaldea. But during that year, his constant unwillingness to cooperate with Chaldea's various matters had gradually worn away its patience, causing his relationships with the people there to sink to rock bottom.

To put it bluntly, at that time, no one besides Roman ever approached Luo Zhen.

For Luo Zhen back then, that was precisely what he wanted.

"Rather than waste time with these people who I don't know are conducting what kind of inhuman magecraft experiments behind the scenes, I might as well play some games."

With these thoughts sincerely in mind, and carrying a resistance toward Chaldea, Luo Zhen lived alone.

Sometimes, he practiced magecraft in places no one else knew about.

Sometimes, he played games alone in his room.

Other than when Roman personally came to make him leave his room and cooperate with some examinations, Luo Zhen never took a single step outside.

That had been Luo Zhen's life in Chaldea two years ago.

A life of complete and utter solitude.

Until one day...

"Her name is Mashu Kyrielight. From now on, she'll be living in Chaldea just like you, so the two of you should get along."

Roman suddenly brought a girl about Luo Zhen's age before him and introduced the girl standing beside him to Luo Zhen.

Luo Zhen still remembered Mashu from that time.

Shoulder-length hair no different from her current hairstyle.

Delicate features no different from her current appearance.

A peculiar air no different from what she had now.

An intellectual appearance no different from her present one.

The only differences were her slightly immature appearance and the unusually calm light in her pair of pure eyes.

Luo Zhen knew that look.

It was exactly the same as the look in his own eyes when he was two years old, before he had received his miracle.

And so, Luo Zhen understood.

The girl before him was the same as his former self.

Both of them had once submitted to their own destinies and accepted them.

Therefore, even though Luo Zhen did not yet know what had happened to Mashu at that time, he knew that the girl before him was walking the same path he had once walked, and did not even regard cruelty as cruelty.

The instant he understood this, Luo Zhen could no longer remain alone.

Just as he had accepted Roman back then, Luo Zhen, who had always rejected others, straightforwardly accepted the girl before him.

At the same time, Mashu accepted the boy before her as well.

Simply because Luo Zhen had said one sentence to Mashu at the time.

"If that's the case, then I'm your Senior."

That single sentence likewise pried open Mashu's heart.

That was the scene of the first meeting between the boy and girl.

"Even now... I still haven't forgotten what you said, Senior..."

Amid the raging fire, only Mashu's weak yet peaceful voice, carrying a hint of warmth, reached Luo Zhen's ears clearly.

"To me back then... Senior... you were truly dazzling..."

People were like that, weren't they?

When faced with someone who was similar to them yet had accomplished something they had not, people would all feel a certain yearning.

Luo Zhen was that kind of person in Mashu's heart.

Their pasts were similar, and in the eyes of others, both had been equally cruel.

But Luo Zhen had received a miracle and escaped that fate.

Therefore, as a girl who had yet to receive her miracle, it was only natural that Mashu found this "Senior" dazzling.

Because of that, Mashu was able to tell anyone from the bottom of her heart:

"I'm so glad... that I was able to meet you, Senior..."

The girl's candid confession made Luo Zhen's heart exceedingly complicated as well.

What he said was this:

"I was just luckier than you."

That was the truth.

Luo Zhen had merely been luckier than Mashu.

Even though a miracle had occurred, it was not something Luo Zhen had earned himself. It was a gift that had appeared on him out of thin air.

If that was not good luck, then what was?

But...

"Thanks to that, I was able to meet Mashu, too."

In other words...

"I'm glad I was able to meet you, too."

Luo Zhen's words, accompanied by a faint chuckle, allowed Mashu to completely relax her heart.

"Senior..."

Mashu instinctively used the last bit of her strength to grasp Luo Zhen's hand.

Luo Zhen immediately squeezed back, as though gripping her tightly in his hand, and continued to exert force.

Under these circumstances, the raging fire swallowed the entire Control Room.

However, at that moment, a mechanical system voice rang out as well.

"System experiment detected in progress. Manual operation halted. Please resume operation within three seconds."

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"Operation not resumed. Switching from manual operation to automatic operation."

"Experiment will continue. Beginning search for Master."

"Master in the 'Coffin' detected to be in an abnormal state. The sole Master candidate is Candidate No. 1. Setting Candidate No. 1 as the primary subject of the experiment."

"Anti-Summoning System, activate."

"Spiritron Transfer, begin."