Chapter 225: The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead

The garden was silent.

Not the peaceful kind of silence.

The kind that felt… staged. Maintained. Preserved for a memory that wasn’t entirely true.

Zane stood in front of the massive golden statue of himself, staring up at it with a flat expression that slowly twisted into something between disbelief and mild offense.

A nine–foot monument.

Him.

Flying dramatically toward the sky like some legendary martyr.

He squinted at it.

“…That pose is so cringey,” Zane muttered. “I have never done that pose in my life.”

He circled it once, hands in his hoodie pockets, examining the craftsmanship like an annoyed customer inspecting a faulty product.

“And what do they mean sacrifice…?” he added. “When did I sacrifice myself ?”

From his wrist, Eira’s holographic interface flickered softly to life.

“Well,” her text scrolled across the small projection, “you were missing for more than six months.”

Zane clicked his tongue.

“…Fair point. Still don’t like the pose.”

He glanced back up at the statue again.

“…Could’ve at least made me look cooler.”

Eira displayed a tiny digital shrug.

Zane sighed once, then let out a short breath through his nose.

“…Hmm.”

Then he smiled faintly.

Footsteps.

No—many footsteps.

From behind.

“Hands up,” a familiar feminine voice said, firm and exhausted. “Turn slowly… and get on your knees.”

Zane didn’t raise his hands. He didn’t kneel.

He just turned at a normal pace.

“Well, well,” he said lightly. “What do we have here?”

Eirenyssa turned with him.

They were surrounded.

Twenty mages.

Forty knights.

Weapons drawn. Spell circles primed.

And at the front—

Dark green hair.

Glasses slightly tilted.

Eyes ringed with deep exhaustion.

Seris Velmira.

But she didn’t look like the composed assistant professor he remembered.

Her face was pale. Dark circles under her eyes. Shoulders tense. Like someone who hadn’t slept properly in weeks.

Zane blinked once.

“…Ms. Velmira,” he said casually. “How are you?”

Seris froze.

Her eyes widened.

“…Mr. Zane…?”

For a moment, the entire formation wavered.

Then her expression hardened.

“No,” she said quietly.

Then louder—

“No.”

Her staff lifted slightly.

“You vassel bastard,” she said, voice shaking with anger. “How dare you take the appearance of the savior.”

Zane’s brows pulled together.

“…Vassel… bastard… what?”

He glanced around.

None of the knights reacted to the term.

None of the mages looked confused.

So they’d heard it before.

Zane exhaled slowly.

“…Everybody knows about them now?” he murmured. “What exactly happened while I was gone…?”

Seris stepped forward half a pace.

“You’re still not revealing yourselves,” she said. “Fine.”

Her voice sharpened.

“Mages. Attack.”

Magic circles ignited instantly.

Dozens of them.

Fire.

Wind.

Stone.

Pure mana blasts.

A storm of spells launched at once.

The garden lit up in color and heat as projectiles slammed into the space where Zane and Eirenyssa stood. Explosions layered over each other, smoke swallowing everything.

The knights tightened formation.

Then the smoke thinned.

Zane stood exactly where he had been.

Unharmed.

Hands still in his pockets.

Eirenyssa stood beside him, equally untouched.

Seris’ eyes widened in anger and shock.

Her grip tightened on her staff.

Zane sighed lightly.

“Ms. Velmira,” he said calmly. “You should stop now.”

He looked at her directly.

“You can’t hurt me anyway. Believe me.”

A small pause.

“I’m back.”

Seris’ expression twisted.

“That’s a lie!” she shouted. “Zane Creed died while defending the world from destruction more than six months ago!”

Seris’ voice still echoed in the courtyard.

The knights tightened their grip on their weapons.

The mages kept their circles active, though visibly shaken.

Zane sighed.

“…Alright,” he said calmly. “Then I’ll make you believe.”

Seris narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“I’ll reveal a secret,” he continued lightly, “that only you and I know.”

A pause.

“And then you’ll accept that I am the real Zane Creed.”

Seris’ expression flickered.

“…What secret?”

Zane lifted a finger casually.

“First secret,” he began, “the band on your left wrist isn’t just a simple accessory. It’s an artifact.”

Her body stiffened slightly.

“It’s directly linked to Vice-Chairman Lucen. He uses it to call you during extreme emergencies… or for secret meetings.”

The courtyard fell quiet.

Zane continued.

“I know this because one time you were talking to me, and Vice-Chairman Lucen called you through that band to summon both of us.”

He smirked faintly.

“It wasn’t even an emergency. He just didn’t want to send guard and call you because he was being lazy.”

Seris’ eyes widened.

Her hand instinctively moved to her wrist.

The band.

Hidden under her sleeve.

“That means…”

Zane tilted his head slightly.

“Oh, I have one more.”

Seris’ face drained of color.

“…You don’t.”

Zane ignored her.

“One day, outside my room,” he said casually, “you were murmuring something to yourself. I overheard it.”

Eirenyssa leaned in slightly, curious.

“And I teased you about it.”

Seris’ pupils shrank.

“No…”

Zane’s smirk widened.

“You were murmuring about how your weight increased by thr—”

Whoosh.

In an instant, Seris was in front of him.

Her hand clamped over his mouth.

Her glasses slightly crooked. Her face bright red. An angry twitch visible at the corner of her eye.

“Please stop, Mr. Zane,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “I get it.”

Zane raised one hand lazily in surrender, half-amused.

“You were the one who didn’t believe me.”

Behind him, Eirenyssa let out a small, barely contained giggle.

Seris shot her a sharp glance before composing herself.

She stepped back and turned to the formation.

“Mages. Knights. Stand down.”

The tension broke instantly.

“Put your weapons down and return to patrol.”

The magic circles faded. Swords lowered. The group dispersed quickly, though many glanced back in disbelief.

When they were alone again, Zane casually asked,

“So… what exactly happened while I was gone?”

Seris turned back to him.

For a second, anger flashed across her face again—but this time it wasn’t embarrassment.

It was something heavier.

“How,” she demanded, voice shaking, “can you even ask that so casually?!”

Her hands trembled slightly.

Then she shouted—

“Where the hell were you for the past seven months?!”

Zane was genuinely taken aback.

Seris Velmira was not someone who shouted. She was composed, precise, sharp even under pressure. For her to lose control like this…

That meant things were serious.

“Ms. Seris,” Zane said more gently, “you should calm down first.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“How can you tell me to calm down?!” she shouted again, tears now forming at the corners of her eyes. “When so many things—how can I calm down?!”

Zane’s expression shifted slightly.

“Then tell me what happened,” he said, tone steady now. “Why are you like this? Where are the others? I can’t sense Caelum anywhere in the academy.”

Seris clenched her fists.

“First you tell me where you were!” she snapped. Then her gaze shifted sharply to Eirenyssa. “And this person. She was the one who followed behind you when you flew toward that white sun. Who is she?”

Zane exhaled slowly.

“Alright. But let’s sit somewhere first. It’s a long story.”

After a brief hesitation, she nodded.

“Come.”

She led them toward the Vice-Chairman’s office.

As they approached, Zane’s eyes moved toward the nameplate.

Under the engraved plate that once read Lucen Merrith — Vice-Chairman, there was another, newly placed beneath it.

Seris Velmira — Acting Vice-Chairman

Zane stopped for half a second.

“…Acting Vice-Chairman?”

Seris didn’t answer. She opened the door.

They entered.

Zane and Eirenyssa sat in the chairs across the desk.

Seris walked around and sat where Lucen used to sit.

The weight of that seat was visible in her posture.

“Now,” she said. “Tell me.”

Zane leaned back slightly.

“It’s a long story,” he began. “You probably won’t believe it. So I’ll say it short.”

He gestured lightly toward Eirenyssa.

“When I stopped that white sun attack, I immediately went after the attacker. I tried to reason with them.”

A pause.

“It broke into a fight.”

Seris’ fingers tightened slightly on the desk.

“And due to certain circumstances,” Zane continued, “me and her ended up in a different realm.”

Seris blinked.

“A… different realm?”

Zane nodded.

“And there we met the ones who instigated the entire world-destroying plan.”

Her eyes widened.

“What happened then? Why were they trying to destroy our world? And does that have anything to do with why you couldn’t come back?”

Zane nodded slightly.

“They were trying to destroy Orimund to prevent the Abyssal release. Something connected to the Vassels, so I had to convinced them not to destroy the world. ”

The moment the word left his mouth, Seris’ expression hardened.

“Those Vassel bastards again…” she muttered through gritted teeth.

She closed her eyes briefly, removed her glasses, and exhaled slowly.

“I see. Convincing those guys took you more than six months.”

Zane shook his head.

“Actually, No. It took about thirty minutes.”

Seris froze.

“…Then why?”

Zane leaned forward slightly.

“There is something called Time dilation between this world and that realm.”

He tapped the desk lightly.

“In their realm, only thirty minutes passed.”

” But in this world… six months and twenty-five days passed.”

Seris slammed her palm on the desk.

“What?!” she exclaimed. “That’s impossible!”

“Calm down,” Zane said calmly. “Now answer me.”

His gaze sharpened.

“What exactly happened here?”

“Why are you Acting Vice-Chairman?”

“And why,” his voice lowered slightly, “am I sensing Lucen’s mana… deep underground?”

Seris went still.

Her eyes widened slowly.

Then she exhaled.

“…Now it’s even more believable that you’re the real Zane Creed,” she murmured. “Only you would sense him down there.”

She put her glasses back on.

“Come.”

Zane stood immediately.

“She’s coming too,” he said, pointing at Eirenyssa. “She’s very strong. And I have a feeling you’ll need her and you can trust her on my behalf.”

Seris hesitated for a fraction of a second—then nodded.

She walked to a bookshelf and pulled out a specific book.

A section of the wall shifted with a low rumble, revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.

“Follow me.”

They went down.

At the bottom, there was a door.

Seris placed her hand on it. A white magic circle appeared beneath her palm. The door unlocked with a soft click.

Inside was a small, empty chamber.

“Come in.”

They stepped inside.

Five magic circles were inscribed on the floor. Seris pressed them in a specific order.

The entrance sealed.

Zane’s eyes narrowed slightly.

An elevator.

The chamber began descending slowly.

After some time, it stopped.

The door opened to reveal a long underground hallway.

They walked.

At the end was another room.

When they entered—

Zane stopped.

The entire chamber was covered in blue magic circles—hundreds, maybe thousands—layered across walls, ceiling, and floor. Papers filled with glowing runes were plastered everywhere.

At the center of it all—

A bed.

And on that bed—

Lucen Merrith.

But—

His left arm was gone.

His body from the stomach downward was darkened—purple-black corruption creeping across his skin.

Dark mana leaked slowly from his wounds.

His eyes were covered by cloth inscribed with glowing runes.

He was unconscious.

But his jaw was clenched tight.

As if he were enduring unbearable pain.

The air in the chamber was heavy.

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