My Unique Adaptation Skill in Another world-Chapter 32 - 31: Suspicions

Fighting through the panicked crowd was harder than fighting the attackers had been.

Everywhere was chaotic, people were shoving, clawing, trampling. Survival instinct stripped down to its most primal form.

Leo pushed through, Daichi clearing a path behind him with efficient brutality, but making sure not to kill anyone.

"Who is this person worth dying for?" Daichi asked, voice calm despite the chaos.

"A friend... I think." Leo didn’t slow down. "I don’t know, but I can’t leave her."

Daichi made a sound that might have been either approval or resignation, it was hard to tell.

They reached the edge of the academy section, bodies everywhere, some students, some attackers.

The smell of blood and smoke was overwhelming.

The elf was still there, still working on the wounded, three other students also helping her, all of them completely unaware of the danger approaching.

The two cloaked figures were twenty feet away, and getting closer, raising their weapons.

Suddenly Leo appeared, blindsiding the attackers.

Defiance leading, it’s weight cranked up.

The first attacker turned at the sound of footsteps too late.

Two hundred kilograms of enchanted steel caught him in the ribs. The impact lifted him off his feet, sent him flying into a pile of rubble.

The second attacker whirled, weapon coming up.

Leo was already moving, Resolve flashing in, A cut across the man’s arm, shallow but enough

The blood drain started immediately.

The attacker’s eyes widened, he felt its unnatural pull.

He tried to disengage, create distance.

But Daichi was there.

The Fourth House warrior moved like flowing water. His blade found the attacker’s throat before the man even registered the threat.

Daichi wiped his blade on the corpse’s cloak. "We need to move. NOW."

The elf had finally noticed them, she stood slowly, eyes wide.

"Leo?" Her voice was shocked. "What are you doing here?!"

"Saving you, apparently!" He moved toward her, checking for injuries. "Are you hurt?"

"I’m fine, but you shouldn’t have—"

An explosion nearby cut her off, closer than the others. The ground shook.

"There are wounded here we can’t leave!" Aria pointed to the students she’d been treating. Three unconscious, one barely conscious, all bleeding.

Leo looked at them, then looked at Daichi.

"We can’t carry them all, not if we are going to fight and survive" Daichi spoke up.

"Then we make multiple trips or we find another way!" The elf’s voice was fierce, but desperate.

Daichi studied the area. His eyes swept over the collapsed section, the rubble, the—

"There’s a service tunnel beneath this section," he said. "A maintenance access, it should lead to the outer ring of the arena."

The elf stared at him. "How do you know about maintenance tunnels in the Grand Arena?"

Daichi met her gaze without expression. "I study places I’ll be attending, even arenas, so do you want to escape or ask questions?"

"Study? Sounds more like an excuse, how’d he even acquire the information? Even the warning from before."

Leo watched Daichi’s expression, he looked calm like someone who’d been expecting exactly this situation.

"Follow me." Daichi said

---

Moving the wounded was slow work.

Leo and the elf supported one student each. The conscious one stumbled between them. Daichi carried the smallest one over his shoulder while somehow still keeping his sword ready.

They found the tunnel entrance behind a collapsed section of seating. A maintenance hatch, half-buried in rubble.

The hatch opened onto darkness and a ladder leading down.

Above, the sounds of fighting continued, screaming, and explosions.

They descended into the dark.

---

The tunnel was narrow, dark, and smelled like old stone and stale air.

But it was quiet.

Away from the screaming, and explosions.

Leo helped lower the wounded students to the tunnel floor. The space was tight, but it would work.

The elf mmediately began treating them again, her hands glowed that same faint green, Prana, healing energy.

Leo watched her work. Focused and gentle despite the horror they’d just escaped.

This was a side of her he’d never seen. One of the students groaned, coming to consciousness.

"You’re safe," the elf told them softly. "Stay still, you’re not completely healed."

The student nodded weakly, tears streaming down their face.

Daichi stood at the tunnel entrance, watching the hatch above, listening, his blade was still drawn.

Leo moved beside him. "Thank you. For coming with me."

"Lady Iori ordered it."

"Still."

Daichi glanced at him. Something unreadable in his eyes. "You made a stupid choice, running toward danger instead of away from it."

"I know."

"But..." Daichi paused. "It wasn’t wrong, just stupid."

They stood in silence for a moment. Then Leo asked the question that had been bothering him since the courtyard.

"This morning. You warned me. About explosions and panic."

Daichi didn’t react. Didn’t tense. Just kept watching the hatch.

"How did you know?"

"I didn’t." His voice was flat. "I suspected."

"Why?"

"Because peace like this doesn’t last." Daichi finally looked at him. "A hundred years since the last major conflict. All the races gathered in one place. Security heavy but not heavy enough. It was too perfect. Too easy. Someone was going to break it."

"That’s not an answer."

"It’s the only one you’re getting."

They stared at each other.

Leo stepped closer. "You knew."

Daichi didn’t look at him. "About?"

"This. The attack. The tunnels. All of it."

"I suspected."

"That’s not the same thing."

Daichi finally turned, and for just a moment, his mask of calm professionalism slipped. What Leo saw underneath wasn’t guilt or shame, just cold calculative look.

"No," Daichi said quietly. "It’s not."

"So what are you? A terrorist? A traitor? What?"

"None of those." Daichi’s expression was unreadable again. "I’m someone who sees opportunities in chaos, and someone who protects his investments."

"Investments?"

"You, the elf girl, this situation." He gestured vaguely at the tunnel. "House Kurogane didn’t become the Fourth House by following others’ rules, Leo. We make our own."

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"It’s the only answer you’re getting." Daichi’s eyes hardened. "I helped you save her, i’m keeping you alive, whether that’s out of goodness, or self-interest..."

He shrugged. "Does it really matter right now?"

Leo wanted to argue, but couldn’t because Daichi was right, whatever his reasons, he had helped, and that had to count for something, even if Leo didn’t trust him at all anymore.

Behind them, the elf finished healing the worst of the injuries.

She stood slowly, wiping blood from her hands.

Then she looked at Leo.

"You shouldn’t have come back for me."

"True."

"You could have died."

"Maybe."

"Why did you do it?"

Leo shrugged. "Because I wanted to."

The elf’s expression became more soft, and vulnerable.

"Thank you." Her voice was quiet. "For being an idiot."

Almost a smile despite everything.

Then it faded.

"Leo... before the explosions, when I saw you in the stands."

"You looked terrified," Leo said. "It looked like you were trying to warn me."

She went very still.

"How did you know?" He kept his voice gentle. "How did you know the attack was coming?"

Silence stretched between them.

Above, the sounds of fighting had changed.

But Leo kept his eyes on the elf.

Waiting.

"I can’t explain everything," she finally said. "Not here."

"Then tell me what you can."

She shook her head. "There are things I know, things I’ve... seen, but explaining how or why—" She gestured helplessly. "This definitely not the right moment for it."

"So that’s all I’m getting?"

"Does it matter right now?" Her voice was sharper and defensive. "People are dying up there, and more will die, we need to focus on surviving."

Leo held her gaze, she was hiding something, a lot of somethings, everyone seemed to be doing that, but she was also right.

"Later then," he said. "When we’re safe, you’ll tell me."

"If we get out of here, I’ll explain what I can." She replied.

This was all he’d get for now.

"This isn’t over," she said, changing the subject. "The attacks will continue."

"How do you—" Leo stopped himself. "Never mind, later."

She nodded, relief flickering across her face.

From the shadows near the tunnel entrance, Daichi spoke.

"She’s right."

They both turned.

Daichi was still watching the hatch, but he was listening.

"Those weren’t random attackers," Daichi continued. "They were professionals, and well-equipped." He paused. "And this is just the opening move."

"You sound certain," Leo said.

"I am." Daichi looked at him. Something unreadable in his eyes. "Because I know what they want, and tonights killing was mainly just distraction"

He glanced at the elf. "And the start to something bigger." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Then the sounds from above seemed to change.

The chaotic screaming from before had become something else.

Daichi noticed it "Something’s happening."

He moved to the ladder, climbing up just enough to peer through the hatch.

His expression went dark.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Come see for yourself."

Leo and the elf climbed up beside him.

The arena had transformed.

The panicked stampede had slowed, people were still fleeing toward exits, still trampling each other, but now they were looking back, pointing, staring at something.

At the center of the arena floor, a figure stood alone.

Bodies surrounded them, dozens.

The figure radiated power, visible power, dark energy that shimmered in the air like heat waves, making Leo’s skin crawl even from the distance.

Imperial guards were trying to approach.

The figure didn’t even move.

The guards who got too close simply dropped, like puppets with cut strings.

"Wha—who is that?" Leo whispered.

"Demon contractor," Daichi said quietly. "A high-level one, maybe even a failed Transcendent."

The figure’s voice carried across the arena, magically amplified.

"This is just the beginning, the races will burn"

A pause, letting it sink in.

"And from the ashes of your precious, fragile, peace..."

Power flared around them, visible, palpable, corrupted.

"...we will build something better."

The figure smiled.

And the Grand Arena, already a slaughterhouse, descended into nightmare.