'Why? Why did the memories come back now? Why would the mana brain make such a decision?' Alec's mind churned. He swallowed and swallowed as if he was trying to wash away the smell of blood. But it didn't work. His brows rose. He had understood. 'This is my way of paying respect. He died for us, and nobody knows. At least I can remember and feel the guilt.'

As the cheers from the crowd died, Alec bent down and closed the head's eyes. He took a look at his pants. It needed to be washed. Then he turned his attention toward Professor Howard.

"Praise be upon Uriel of the Flame! The heretic has been delivered justice," he said, silencing the students. With a snap of his finger, Enoch Wright's remains turned to dust and flew away, riding the wind. Now, the only remaining proof of his existence was the blood staining Alec's pants and the ground. Possibly, after the anti-meme came back, nobody would remember him. No one.

A short moment later, Professor Howard closed his eyes. Countless spell circles rotated around him and innumerable magical sigils appeared. They were indecipherable. And they weren't created just now. They had always been there. Alec just couldn’t perceive them before. He didn't know their meanings. They were too esoteric, and he hadn't even heard of such sigils. 'Maybe it's a lost piece of magic.'

A holographic, blue-colored, gargantuan eye formed above the man. It was the size of two tankers placed on top of each other. Its pupil thrashed, gauging its surroundings. Then, it disappeared as if it hadn't existed at all. Professor Howard reopened his eyes and muttered something to himself, caressing his beard. Alec was pretty close to him, so he could hear what he was saying.

"No time left... It's too weak... We have to fast forward," he said. Alec frowned and crossed his arms. As the man had spoken so quietly and the crowd was still noisy, he couldn't hear the entirety of his words. What was he talking about?

Before he could guess further, however, Professor Howard snapped out of his daze and cast voice-amp on himself. He looked around the student body and started announcing. This time though, he was more casual. He seemed to be returning to his old self, ever so slightly.

"Everyone! I hereby declare that the final exams have been pulled forward in the schedule! The training grounds will close tomorrow evening, and the exams will be the day after. Rest well, and good luck!" he said. Many students winced at the announcement but still shouted in unison.

"Sir, yes sir!"

Alec took a deep breath. He had expected such a decision. Whatever was going on, Professor Howard seemed to know the anti-meme beforehand. He just had his memories blocked. And as far as Alec's understanding went, the anti-meme would weaken immensely even after it activated again. It would lose most of its effectiveness and reach a premature end of the cycle. For some reason, he felt like he was rounding the last bend. Entering the final stretch. Things would come to an end soon.

"Say..." Evan suddenly sent a telepathic communication, jolting Alec. There was a somber expression on his face. Maybe he wanted to escape from what he had done. What they had done. Or maybe he was genuinely curious. But he still asked. "That story... I liked it. How does it end?"

Alec thought for a moment. Then understood what he meant. He was talking about the memetic story he had been writing since the last exams.

"I have a really bad habit when writing," Alec responded telepathically. A bittersweet smile of reminiscence blossomed on his face. "Whenever I wrote something, I would end it on a bad note. The bad guys would win, the heroes would fall..."

Evan frowned. His gaze unintentionally fell and settled on the pool of blood where the head once was.

"But this one..." Alec continued, regathering Evan's attention. He grabbed his chest with his right hand. His heart was still beating, like the tick-tock of a grandfather clock. Steady and calm. He raised his head slightly and looked at the crimson lights raining down upon them. "I think just for this one, I will do a good ending. No matter how much I need to write."

***

The training grounds were crowded. In fact, crowded would be an understatement. This was a full-on stampede. The puny idea of personal space had disappeared in front of the crushing concept called money. Everyone wanted to win those sweet sweet credits, and everyone wanted to win big.

Alec cast a handy piece of enhancement magic. One that practically rehydrated his body using the atmospheric water vapor. For some reason though, the air seemed drier than usual.

"This is so fucking boring," Alec said while stretching. He then wrapped his arm around Evan's shoulder. "I'm tired man..."

Evan pushed his arm off and sighed.

"Me too," he said with a frown. "But still, imagine how those at the back of the line feel. We came here pretty early and we have only about... What? Half an hour to go?"

"Y- Yeah," the girl next to them said timidly. Even with her head slightly down, she was taller than Alec. Not to mention Evan, who would have to slightly raise his head if he wanted to look at the girl's face.

Still, her shy demeanor made her look smaller. She was tall, but she occupied less space. That sort of thing.

She was standing close to Evan as if trying to hide behind him. From what? Alec didn't know. Maybe she was feeling a bit intimidated by his presence. Alec's status as a student was becoming weirder and weirder with every passing day.

After standing around for another half an hour, it was finally their turn to enter. The first two to go in were Evan and Lea, leaving Alec alone. They only came back after utilizing their entire time limit. A blinding light shone on the edge of Alec's vision. He turned his head and found one of the monoliths raised by Hunter Howard to be changing. The writings on the list shifted, and the first place was taken by the two.

Evan Coates & Lea Robinson: 5.432.216

'Huh.' Alec exclaimed mentally. 'That's not bad. Well, considering their advantage as a two-person team... Still, it's okay. Not as good as me, of course.'

A short moment later, Evan and Lea came out of the hatch entrance. Evan had a satisfied, smug smile tugging on his lips while Lea seemed ever so slightly more confident in her gait.

When Evan saw Alec's expressionless face, however, he frowned. His back slouched and he clicked his tongue.

"Fuck... You surpass that? Really? What the fuck did you do to get so many points? How big is the difference?" he asked. He had immediately understood Alec's training score to be higher than theirs just by looking at his reaction. Scary. Maybe Alec was spending a bit more time with him than he was supposed to. 'If things turn out well, I want to spend some time with Ariel.'

"There is no need to talk about it. Scores vary wildly," Alec said while stepping forward. He rotated his shoulders to warm up and passed by them. He turned his head back slightly, showing the right side of his face to them to deliver the last line. "If things go really badly, our scores might be close," he said with a shit-eating grin. Satisfied with the way Evan cursed under his breath, Alec jumped down the hatch.