Euthenasia no Euphoria

Chapter 8

A young petite boy who possessed a massive red bush surrounding two wide green eyes was staring out the window on the second floor of his room. Silently, he was observing the people, including his family and his beloved older brother who soon will be taken away. The people who were dressed in military uniforms are sent by the Chasseur magia academy, to collect his brother, like he was a thing that pays off the debt of their family.

It was given on their rules that every oldest son and daughter of a noble family would be designated for the empire. However, this family has twins. By means of twins, they were gifted with identical appearances that one can barely see the difference. In the way, their parents only picked the most reliable one, leaving the weak on the corner alone.

"Tch." This child can't measure his affection for his brother, they were born on the same day, grew up together, and are now because of the law. They are going to be separated for good.

"I wish they would take me instead. My brother looks strong but deep inside, he is weaker than me. He would cry by himself; he would be alone in that place." A grumble was stated.

Even if he grieves for his ill-fated brother. He can't do anything but wait for his return. His brother was taken by the military men. A few years after, the brother came to visit them. When the petite boy sees his brother right in front of his eyes. He would countlessly ask himself.

"Why?" puzzled he was, "Why did he change? The spark was now not visible. He doesn't smile for me, nor even play with me. He doesn't want to talk to me either, and when we're eating together... He is just silently sitting there; eyes were truly lost in the midst of darkness."

He couldn't bear the weight of the burden that was placed on his older brother. That's why he mustered all his courage, he didn't mind if one would reject him, he wanted to say it for his sake.

The door of his brother's room creaked; the whole room was soaked in silence. There he finds his brother standing right in front of an old vestiary. The young lad approaches his brother, "H-hey." However, this brother of his doesn't even look to greet him.

It was very awkward for the young lad but he continued, "I-i..." he snapped a slight glance to the brother who just snubbed him, the butterfly in his stomach starting to crouch yet he is not stopping here. "I... have a proposal for you."

"What is it?"

Miraculously, the brother replied shortly after he heard the young one. This really made him happy, to the extent that he would smile widely, considering that his brother finally talked to him.

"You want to be with Mother and Father, right? We can swap for a while just before the exam!"

His brother stammered, unable to reply for a few milliseconds. And at long last, he sees him.

"Yes..."

***

Euphemia's perspective.

I hear a cry as if one's heart is sinking in the depth of regrets and loneliness. I am standing right in the dimensional world created by Schatten. Still, this is an examination, but this world is empty. No vast fields, nor structures were formed. Unlike the dimension where I first landed, this place is bland.

Walking through the pace, I am bound to search for the little sheep's cries. I searched and searched simultaneously in this flat unresolved one until finally, my effort paid off. I saw this young kid crying on his knees.

"Sigh." I couldn't stop myself from being relieved.

"I wanted him to feel happy, but why did he do this to me? We promised that we will swap back when the examination takes its place... he pretended to be me, and he lied to our parents that he was me! My parents didn't believe what I'd said and just shoved me away back to the academy."

"So, you are not the prodigy one?"

I'd heard his complaints loud and clear. The child paused, lifting his face just to see me. He realized that I'm here, that I will save him. Running towards me, embracing me tightly was the first thing he did.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to be here. I believed in my brother; I thought our relationship would go back to normal if I switched places with him. I didn't know he hated me this much."

"Kid, you're wrong. He doesn't hate you...

...The one he hates the most was this whole damn place. He doesn't want to go back here, prodigy or not. People hate this place from the start, they give you the power to kill both monsters and humans. This place is plagued with monsters, those people only want entertainment, and those pieces of entertainment were none other than us."

I pat his head, "You don't want to die, right? Then get a grip. We're going out of here."

"Hey, sister. Can I know your name?"

"You can't, but you may. Name's Euphemia. Brat."

"My name is Ashley. When we get out of this academy, can we hang out together? I want to buy you the best chocolate on the surface."

"Ew. I don't like sweet things."

My artes activated. I flicked a glance at him just to see the kid was staring back at me, he might be seeing a monster right before his eyes. It was quite disturbing but I have to continue, "Stop looking at me—"

"I'm not afraid of you, sister. In fact, I love you." but he just says whatever comes running to his mind without hesitation. He embraced me tightly, resting his head on my stomach.

Sigh. This is why I hate babysitting.

Using my artes, Eis. I shattered the heart that was creating this dimension, I might be abusing my artes for quite a while now, though, I don't have a choice left. Between the two of us, I am the only one who possessed the artes to destroy everything. I'll just lay it down later.

The whole place came back to its normal state. However, this time, there's a light, able for me to see what's happening, and as happens, there is also a student who came running to strike us using a sword.

Clang!

I deflected the sword by creating an Eis shield immediately before it could even slash me in half.

"W-what is happening?! Why are they attacking each other!?" I groaned a bit because the weight of the sword is extremely heavy, "Have they lost their mind?! The rules said—"

"Shut up! I need to focus and your babbling won't help me!"

"Sorry!"

"Tch. This is definitely a possession. The Schatten we're against with, changed?!" I fussed out.

My strength can't hold this heftiness any longer, I'm being pushed back slowly, even if I don't want to be. I can't create two forms of weapon at once. Not to mention, the exhaustion from the earlier is submerging, making me slow down.

"Sister!"

"Argh...!" No! my shield is crumbling. If this shield disappears, I'm good as dead.

The panic is rising through my veins, I can't think of a solution. Helpless I was, my opponent's eyes widened, her face contorted. The weight of the sword lifted, eventually losing grip on the weapon she was using.

"Ack..." the student slowly moved away from us. "—H-help..." her eyes were engulfed with tears, the next thing I saw was there was a sword piercing her stomach, the blood enormously flowing within. But the girl's face was truly pitiful, I want to help her but she will be dead soon.

"Sigh. You're lucky I saw you immediately." when the dead body fell to the ground, the man who seemed to save my life appeared. He is the guy I was supposed to ask before, we crossed countless times now but I never thought he would save my guts.

His eyes were shallow, not really paying any glance at me but at his sword that he used to kill.

"A—ah, I will pay you off. Just wait!"

"We're against Ghosts this time. The possession rate is 60/40 since those students are already drowning in negativity. Stay alert, we are fighting humans."