Chapter 95 - Foul Portents

'I never knew...the futures available to us would be...this bleak...'

Inside a dimension that is in itself also inside the human mind, Mari kept on perusing and perusing each one of all the possible futures that are accessible to her, trying to look for the scenario where she and her friends' survival are most guaranteed. Inside this dimension, all of her visions are like snippets--a very short glimpse of a happy ending, or a brutal demise.

For almost an hour her mind worked very, very hard, that doing it for a long time already took some toll on her physical strength.

'I've already looked at more than 600 possible futures and so far all of them are bad ends, some far worse than I ever imagined...'

Even so, 600 is but a small drop in the ocean compared to the stockpile of futures she has yet to be examined. What lies ahead, are futures that differ only in minute details from one another, a ripple effect stemming from even smaller actions made in the present time. So small, that many of them seem to be almost identical.

'If that's the case, wouldn't that be just a waste of time to continue looking at each one of them?' she wondered.

No, no, she shook her head. Even if many of them have almost the same outcome, there would still be a few that'll stick out from the rest. If she concentrated on looking for these snippets, she could possibly find the one that would lead them to survival.

'W-Wait, what's going on? The files, they're disappearing...?!'

While she's working double time to look for 'the one', Mari was shocked to see some of the future snippets fading into thin air. She tried to retrieve a few that have a relatively positive outcome, but they disappeared faster than her hands could move. The great stockpile then decayed continuously at a rapid pace, until there are only two possible future outcomes remained.

Holding each one of them in her hands, Mari gasped her breath and said, 'So these two will decide everyone's fate. I'm worried, but I have no choice but to see them.'

After taking a deep breath, she started peeking at the one in her left hand. Inside it, was by far one of the most jarring things she has ever saw:

A huge demon, bearing the semblance of a dragon, stood menacingly in front of her. Between the two of them are friends lying on the ground in such an almost lifeless state, their groans and sighs faintly audible to her ears. She also found herself tied up, and was forced to witness what's going to happen next.

The demon then grabbed with its large hand the small body of Iza from along her friends, her rosy skin covered with bruises and cuts, and the only bits of cloth remaining on her pitifully covered her womanly parts.

'No...Iza...'

As if aware of her worries the demon playfully held Iza near its giant mouth that opened like an alligator, revealing its long and sharp teeth.

Then, as if taking a bite off a chocolate bar--

'No...NO! IZA?!!!!!"

No matter how hard she screamed, she couldn't stop the demon as it tore Iza's head off her body and played with it with the demon's snake-like tongue, savoring the taste of a human in front of her. And to spite her even more, the demon grinned before spitting her friend's severed head covered with saliva at her, looking at her with opened eyes--

'No! NO! NO! NOOOOOO!!!!!'

Extremely disgusted and horrified with what she saw, Mari threw the snippet away with all her might. The image of her friends being eaten is enough to cause a great blow to her sanity, and the trembling of her body can't fully describe how much she hated it.

Sobbing in pain, Mari said: 'Not yet...there's still one option left...'

With what little mental strength remaining in her, Mari steeled herself as she peeked into the other snippet. What it showed to her is more or less the same as that of the first one--the difference, however, was that she's the one being held by the demon instead of her friends, who are all awake and watching her. Also, the difference in perspective exists: this time, she can see what it looks like to be eaten in first person.

Seeing her own end unfold in front of her, Mari hesitantly compared the two snippets she just saw.

Given that these two are the only outcomes available to her, would she rather choose seeing her friends die, or sacrifice herself for them, all with no guarantee of them surviving in the end? Either way, all of them are screwed.

Now choose, Mari Nishii. Choose what future you'll take.

'I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry,' she said as she started to sob. Then, with a broken heart, she closed her eyes and chose...

-----

After Rin discovered the demon's ability, it has became clear that any use of magic is off limits as long as the monster is still alive. With Karen and Iza barred from using their healing and support spells, they were tasked to take Mari as far away as possible, while Rin and the boys try to keep the demon occupied. Of course the two girls complained, saying that sticking to that plan of hers will be literal suicide, but Rin still insisted that they keep their abilities for later use.

"You know what, Karen? While I admire Rin for being a cool girl, sometimes I think of her as just an oddball," Iza muttered while carrying Mari on one side with her shoulder.

"Nn. She's an oddball, no doubt, but she knows how to use her quirks when it matters the most," Karen agreed.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Rin using only nothing but her willpower and steel as she rained down consecutive strikes against the demon. She, along with James and Kai, attacked the monster from all directions, while also luring it away from the rest of the group. Unlike her who's a sheltered girl though and though, Rin didn't mind being covered in mud and blood while the demon thwart her attacks. Rather, she reveled in going toe to toe against the powerful creature in real life, an adrenaline rush no video game could ever sustain.

'Maybe...that's the thing I lack the most,' Karen thought to herself.

BLAAAAAGGGGGG!!!

The demon, being attacked from all sides by the intruders, started swinging its tail around in an effort to knock them all away. The sweeping attack toppled down several stone pillars, creating a wall of debris that separated them from the girls.

"Geez, I can see that he's getting frustrated now because of your idea Rin," James said while grappling the demon's tail.

"Really? Then let's frustrate him even further," Rin replied as she tried to cut off the tail from its body.

"Wait," Kai stopped her. "I'll do it myself."

""W-What?!""

GUUUUUOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!

With a loud roar the demon flailed its whole body around, the tail hitting the three of them with enough force to send them crashing a few meters away into a rock wall and turning it into dust.

"Guys! Are you okay?!" Karen shouted at them from afar.

Groaning, Kai answered, "Nn. We're alright...just, keep on running..."

"Ugh...you bastard, look at what happened! Another opportunity wasted!" Rin yelled at him.

This guy, she thought, really wants to fight that demon by himself. Even though he's their strongest member, it doesn't mean that he can just do whatever he likes, especially at times like this. Instead of giving off a heroic vibe to his actions, Rin saw through it as just...

'Geez, what a shower.'

"Hwup!" Kicking the ground behind him, Kai jumped towards the demon with his sword held above his head. Not long after that, James followed up with a roundhouse kick aimed at the demon's right flank.

However--

"W-What's going on?! It's like I'm being pulled towards him...?!" Kai exclaimed.

Just as when their attacks are about to land, a strong force came surging forth from the demon's body, a gravitational pull many times stronger than the one acting under their feet. The pull caused both of their attacks to become ineffective, allowing the demon to seize both of them with its large hands.

"Kai! James!" Rin shouted.

'Damn it! That guy can do that too?!' she muttered in exasperation. While they can manage to some point fighting the demon without ever using their spells, they would struggle even more now that they know that the demon can also create some sort of gravity field around it.

""Hrgh...GHAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"" the two young men screamed in pain as the demon tried to crush their bodies in its hands.

"You--stop it!!!"

Gritting her teeth, Rin launched herself into a swift attack, despite being aware that doing it would be fruitless.

Running as fast as she can, Rin readied her blade as she whispered:

"[Butterfly Flash: Hundred Thousa...--]"

"[Recall]!"

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All of a sudden, Rin found herself standing alongside Kai and James, who for some reason became free from the demon's hold. The two men were just as surprised as her, inspecting their whole body for any injuries.

"W-What is going on..."

"It's like...we returned to where we were standing one hour ago..."

"One hour? Could it be..."

Rin looked behind, and she saw Mari finally awake, while being assisted by both Karen and Iza.

"Prez..." covering her mouth with her hand in surprise, Rin asked, "that thing just now...was that your..."

"Yes," Mari answered promptly.

A few minutes ago...

'I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry...'

In a desperate effort to save her friends and herself from imminent death, Mari took a dagger out of her belt and made a small cut on her palm, letting blood to flow out of the wound.

'There's no way I'll force myself to choose between those two options. As the class president, I can't let another member of the class to die...'

Using the blood as a catalyst, she drew a magic circle around her and recited an incantation written in an ancient language, allowing her to use certain spells that could manipulate spacetime at the cost of her lifespan.

'I have to do it. I have to create the future that'll benefit us all...'

And as a result she gained the ability [Recall], which allows selected targets to revert to a previous state one hour ago. Each use reduces her lifespan by one day per target per hour reverted, that's why Mari instantly lost one week of her total lifespan upon activation.

"Mari..."

"I'm fine. What's more important, is defeating the demon over there."

Also affected by Mari's ability, the demon returned to its location one hour back, far away from the group. Confused and agitated, the demon ran headlong straight towards them, while also activating its gravity field.

James shouted, "Everyone, get ready!"

The moment they're about to attack, Mari--

With all her strength, she threw a special dagger at the demon but it missed its mark, flying at an upward path instead of straight ahead. Everyone around her fell into despair seeing the dagger fly above the demon's head, but--

BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

The moment the dagger touched a ceiling above the demon, it released a large explosion strong enough for the overhead rock formations to collapse, trapping the demon under the large pile of falling rocks. The gravity field emitted by the demon also compounded its struggle, as it caused the weight of the rocks to continuously increase, until its whole body got fully crushed by the fallen debris.

Witnessing the horrendous sight in front of them everyone looked at Mari, who for the first time had a satisfied grin on her face.

"As expected of Prez, you're the one who will always get us out of trouble!" Rin said happily.

"Nn, she didn't became our Mama Mari for no reason at all," Iza agreed.

"My, are you blushing Mari?" Karen asked her.

Seeing her friends smile while thanking her, Mari looked at them and said:

"Thank you...for trusting me..."

"""M-Mari?!!""" everyone panicked when she suddenly collapsed to the ground.

Waving her hand, she replied, "I'm...fine. I just need some time to rest..."

After being tended by both Karen and Iza, she regained some of her strength, but she had to be carried on James' back in order for them to continue.

"From this point onwards, I can't use any of my divination abilities. Will you be okay on your own?" Mari asked her friends.

"We'll be fine, I think," Rin gave an indecisive answer.

"Nn. I wish you good luck."

"Guys, my [Midnight Sun] is about to run out," Karen warned them.

Seeing that the light above them has started to flicker, they quickly mended their injuries as they're about to continue on their way out of the abyss.

Kai spoke: "Whatever happens, everyone must get out of here alive and intact. You understand?"

"""Okay!!!""" they answered.

Meanwhile, Mari quietly waited for the lights to fade, as her consciousness slowly fade. Feeling exhausted both physically and mentally, it must've been a bliss for her to sleep for the rest of the ordeal.

'Good night, everyone, goodnight,' she whispered before the lights around her disappeared.