I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

Carl's expression remained puzzled. Eyes swept through the crowd and back at Jin. Confusion played tricks with his mind as he attempted to stand up.

The words came out playing in his head again

"Oh, Brethren of Mayura! Rise, we have come to proclaim our right"

'What was that?' He wondered, his legs pulsing with pain as he groaned.

Jin raised a brow, turning towards the figure who approached him a moment ago. His question was evident through his expression, but the latter shrugged.

'What?' Jin thought as he turned back at Carl. 'Did the code not work?'

It was a puzzling thought. One that required an answer immediately. After all, if it proved futile now, then one of their three contingency plans would be put out of its flame.

'This can't be…..perhaps…it is slow at work?'

His gaze hardened, brows furrowing deeply as he whipped a glare at Carl.

Carl took his gaze head-on, returning his hostility with a neutral expression. One that was punctured with the stifled pain he attempted to bury deep.

He stood straight now, body hanging– swaying in motion as he did so.

A low whirl sound, like a siren rang in his head while haziness began to creep over his periphery.

He staggered.

"I– I don't know what that was, but it doesn't matter. The others will come and we will end this mess you've caused for yourselves."

"Tsk." Jin clicked his tongue in annoyance. "It pains me to hear this from a child who willingly joined the fun."

Carl's face tilted slightly. A crease formed between his brows as he held himself from falling. Hands behind him, placed on the giant boulder.

His gauntlets stung from the heat. A high-pitched sound echoed from the contact.

"What?"

"Of course, you don't remember. It was Katherin's wish that you all live the rest of your Academy lives in peace but do you seriously think that we were the only ones who wanted this?"

Carl's expression hardened. Confusion and Suspicion playing a sorry act on his face.

"What?" He repeated, his tone low and husked. Demanding and commanding, yet a plea hung beneath it.

In that commotion, his mind reeled in, spiralling in overdrive to make sense of what played out, yet something called out to him. Deep, firm but low and it demanded he stopped. A warning that could go a long mile in saving him from crossing a line.

A line, whose existence wasn't even known to him.

"What are you talking about?" But his curiosity got the better of him. His confusion needed to be settled. That line will be crossed.

"There are over a hundred members of the Cult within the Students, but not even the students that they are members.."

'Wha–What are you saying? That's absolute….that doesn't make any sense."

Carl muttered, startled by his statement. Their eyes bulged out in shock. "Are you saying that nearly half of the whole school is a part of this….without knowing that they are?"

Jin folded his arm with a smirk playing on his lips. As if breaking down what occurred pleasured him. Watching as the young boy who acted with the enemies realized that he had been in the wrong faction all along.

"Students weren't meant to face the depravity of this world. You are too young and deserve a normal Academy life. This was what Katherin wished for. As such, every time one of you joined us, she would erase your memory of joining."

He paused mid-sentence, gaze observing the boy before him as tension hung in the air.

"She left the name but all memories of joining were taken."

However, that was merely just one of the reasons they chose this method.

Students were children in and out of themselves. They were people capable of bad decisions. Giving up or taking back a decision was as easy as eating pie to them.

'So why would we let over a hundred of you decide at the last minute that you want no part in it?'

It was simple really. No one liked to feel inferior. Weak. Unable to change their own fate. Children could feel this way and express many other complications.

In the end, when they would rise like they did now, there was no telling how many of them would still think the way they did.

'Like right now. These children are simply fighting back because of the threat the Red Peacemakers possess to them and the Academy.'

Unpredictability was not a key they wished to use during the uprise and thus, instead of erasing their memories alone. They decided to add something else. A keyword– a code. One that would activate their will to fight the enemies right in front of them while siding with the enemy, their true partners.

'It was inhumane at first and many of us didn't approve of it….' His gaze narrowed as he watched Carl's expression darken. '...but now? I'm grateful to those who decided to perform it this way.'

"Liar!" Carl cried out in protest. His gaze darkened in the silhouette of crimson while rain dripped down his chin.

His gaze darted through the crowd of robed figures. All are standing in the same spot as they did. Oblivious to the chaos behind them. Their eyes fixed discernibly on him as if waiting for something.

'Well, it will never come!' He thought as he scoffed.

"So what you did was manipulate us?!"

His voice dripped with venom. "Erasing a memory is against any principles by law of this school or the kingdom. And now you're telling me I wanted to join….with a hundred more students?"

His brain tremored, a slow migraine biting at his scalp as he groaned.

'Impossible! I don't recall ever wanting to join.'

"Does it matter if your memory was taken or not? You may not remember it but the code is more than enough proof. Only those who willingly joined were given this code…..and you are one of those students. Carl."

Carl's brows twitched slightly.

"Impossible! Utterly and undeniably impossible! I have never hated the Non-system users. I don't wish for their death as you do! This is absurd. I am innocent of whatever you point at me."

Jin's shoulder quivered slightly; his arm clasped to his lips as he stifled a chuckle.

His chest heaved, rising and falling with erratic rhythm while his stifled chuckle evolved into a muffled laughter.

The others remained silent and simply watched. Observing how the scene played out.

They had heard of the code. The keyword was prepared in advance for the students. It was meant to be used In a time of unrest, where the tide had been turned far away in their enemy's favour.

Especially if the students were that enemy.

It was an odd and old spell. A spell of the mind Bind. An occult spell used mostly by Black Magicians.

It binds the mind, locking up memories that aren't required by the caster and playing the memories they wish to be repeated. Played in a loop throughout the activation.

It could be hateful memories. Joyful memories or sorrowful memories, but these memories play out the rest of the body, defining the next step of action to be carried out.

Hate begets chaos and thus, hateful memories will lead the students into a path of carnage.

Its activation was dependent, and the amount of time taken for its activation was also dependent.

A few students were immediate, locking up the mind, and playing out their most hateful memories, especially those related to the enemy.

If they were to use that same concept, then Jin simply had to wait. Because for those who have other memories– good ones that get in the way of the hateful ones. Blocking it, or perhaps sealing it, the spell simply needs to carve through it. Until the hate has been tapped into and exploited for the spell.

Carl Dunham may have stood strong so far, but he would break soon.

'Though, I am curious what memories shield you from us….Carl.'

Carl shook his head, pulling his helmet over his head with a snap.

Energy had been drained from his body. Leaving only a small amount of mana within his body.

'But that alone is enough.'

"Enough of your lies. We shall purge you as the Academy's hands and feet. For the destruction you have caused. The pain you have bloomed and the danger you pose."

Jin's lips curled into a smirk. A tight one that broke off as he burst into a fit of laughter.

"Hah, geez. Carl. I knew you were an upright boy, but this farce of yours is really killing me."

He said, gritting his teeth as he leaned forward slightly, heaving his chest while his laughter laced in the air.

Carl's body tensed. He straightened his arm and pulled out his claws, silver metal glinting with a lustrous sparkle.

Silence hung between them now. Pierced by the rain as it beat down on the ground, its endless drop unable to quench the flames that burned in hunger, and Jin's laughter that began to fade.

He coughed out, stifling his laugh finally as he looked up at Carl. "Oh….now that I think about it." He said, his eyes sparkling with realization. "I know the reason why you may have changed your stance. You did hate them before….the Great Families. After all, they are children who were gifted with power they never worked for."

The statement stung like a bee, a sharp, striking pain right in the heart.

His eyes widened in realization, while his brain cleared, memories playing out in the process.

In those memories, something dark and murky began to creep into it. Spreading slowly like muddy water in a pond.

"Rita Vinci, wasn't it? The girl you foolishly fell for. She is the reason why you've changed your stance."

Carl remained still. His expression eased, tension losing from his bones and tendons.

Everything clicked back together like a puzzle world game. Sticking to each other until a clear picture had been crafted.

His jaws loosened, lips parting apart slightly while the dark, murky shadow began to crawl even faster.

Spreading through his memories, consuming the images, burning the videos, everything that seemed to be used to give him an ounce of happiness.

It consumed them all, a gasp of the wind. An alien of thought. A cancerous invader of the world around him. His world.

Images of his class, friends, and faces of the family. A doh. A barnyard. The sun casts its elegant silhouette over the green hills. A flute dangling around a girl's neck. Drawings and paintings hung along the walls of a room. Dark, onyx hair that seemed to smell like strawberries. Sweet, yet sour. Captivating, yet sour.

Consumed.

And what was left? Red.

Crimson images. A blood moon. Flashes of beasts. Soldiers were sent in to murder the village. Cries of a girl and a woman as they were burned alive. While the soldiers roared in furious victory.

The chaos. The blood. The pain.

It burned. It stung. It bloomed into his mind like poison, and it grew.

Jin's head tilted slightly, his smirk tugging at the edge of his lips as Carl stood right in front of him, claws out, mana surging, eyes white. Mind blank.

He chuckled.

"Good to have you back with us, Carl."