Haruto turned his focus back to the front of the classroom, mentally pushing aside his thoughts about Lilith. Yet, the air across the desks felt incredibly thick. Sitting right on his other side, Ivory, Bellona, and Lustra were practically radiating a silent, intense irritation. He could practically hear their thoughts screaming without needing their telepathic link: Who does this princess think she is, just carving out her own space right next to him? Haruto wanted to tell them to just drop it, but with his voice completely gone, he had to remain silent. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life walking on eggshells around everyone, he thought to himself. I just need to wait. The moment I can slip back into my inner mind world to face Creation or Nothingness, I have a mountain of serious questions waiting for them.
Forcing his attention onto the teacher, Haruto tried to ground himself. There is still so much about this world I don't know, he realized. How can I let myself get bored when there's an endless amount of knowledge out there to conquer? My body isn't perfect, but my mind is wide awake. But as he dug deeper into his own state, a cold, heavy realization stopped him dead.
Before the duel, his absolute strongest asset had been his deep empathy—his ability to connect with people on an emotional level, to read their hearts, and to understand exactly what they were going through. But now? He couldn't feel a single thing. He was completely numb, trapped in a blank void where human feelings couldn't reach him. Without that emotional connection, navigating his relationships with his friends was going to become an absolute nightmare.
Even worse, he noticed a terrifying shift in his physical strength. Ever since the moments leading up to the duel, he had been feeling a strange, hollow weakness deep in his chest. At first, he had brushed it off as mere panic or exhaustion from the sheer terror of the fight. But now that the dust had settled, he realized the truth: his natural abilities were completely locked away. He couldn't channel his power, he couldn't spark his skills, and he felt entirely drained of his regular energy.
This wasn't just simple fatigue. Something was deeply, fundamentally broken inside him, and the price of hosting two contrasting gods was starting to tear his human foundation apart.
Sitting right next to him, Lilith suddenly leaned in even closer, her shoulder practically brushing against his as she tried to get his attention. She whispered something softly, her eyes locked onto his face, completely invading his personal space.
Haruto wanted to turn around and tell her to back off, but his throat remained tightly locked, not a single sound escaping his lips. He stared straight ahead at the blackboard, his mind coolly calculating the entire situation like a machine.
Trying to push her away right now is completely pointless, he thought, his mismatched eyes remaining perfectly still. If I react, it'll just cause a scene in the middle of class. It'll force me to engage with her, draw unnecessary attention from the rest of the room, and waste whatever precious energy I have left.
With his physical strength already feeling dangerously drained and his natural abilities completely locked away, he couldn't afford to waste a single ounce of fuel on petty arguments. Deciding that a tactical retreat into silence was his best option, Haruto completely ignored her proximity. He chose to let her stay right there, treating her presence like nothing more than a static object in the room while he focused entirely on preserving his strength.
Sitting right next to him, Lilith suddenly leaned in even closer, her shoulder practically brushing against his as she tried to get his attention. She whispered something softly, her eyes locked onto his face, completely invading his personal space.
Haruto wanted to turn around and tell her to back off, but his throat remained tightly locked, not a single sound escaping his lips. He stared straight ahead at the blackboard, his mind coolly calculating the entire situation like a machine.
Trying to push her away right now is completely pointless, he thought, his mismatched eyes remaining perfectly still. If I react, it'll just cause a scene in the middle of class. It'll force me to engage with her, draw unnecessary attention from the rest of the room, and waste whatever precious energy I have left.
With his physical strength already feeling dangerously drained and his natural abilities completely locked away, he couldn't afford to waste a single ounce of fuel on petty arguments. Deciding that a tactical retreat into silence was his best option, Haruto completely ignored her proximity. He chose to let her stay right there, treating her presence like nothing more than a static object in the room while he focused entirely on preserving his strength.
Lilith leaned in even closer, her voice dropping to a soft, confidential whisper that only he could hear. "You know, Haruto... our formal engagement ceremony is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. And just so you're prepared, the palace is making the official kingdom-wide announcement later this evening."
What?! The news hit Haruto's mind like a sudden system alert, though his face remained as still and unreadable as stone. The day after tomorrow? They aren't wasting any time at all. He forced his hyper-focused brain to break down the situation with cold, hard logic. If his ultimate goal was to claim the throne, secure absolute authority, and gain the resources he needed to beat his crushing boredom, then this engagement was simply an unavoidable plot point. It was a mandatory quest requirement.
There's no rule stating I actually have to act all lovey-dovey or pretend to be deeply in love, he thought, his single crimson eye staring blankly ahead. This is a political merger, nothing more. I am doing this strictly to become king.
A wave of deep annoyance—purely logical, devoid of emotional heat—settled into his thoughts. He had always absolutely despised romantic games. To him, there was nothing worse than a perfectly good, high-stakes game of strategy and intense action getting completely derailed by forced romance. It was a massive waste of time, a distraction from the real objective, and it completely ruined the pacing of the game. He was here to conquer the world and fix his broken files, not to play house with a princess.
Smack!
Lilith suddenly reached over and playfully rapped her knuckles against the side of his head, breaking Haruto right out of his deep train of thought.
"Why are you being so incredibly quiet?!" Lilith huffed, leaning back slightly but keeping her sharp eyes locked on his frozen face. "Say something! Show some kind of expression! At the very least, you should look a little happy that you're about to become the king of this entire land. And as for the romance part? Don't worry—I'll make sure you fall head over heels in love with me eventually, just you wait!"
Haruto's mind raced. He would have given literally anything in that moment to throw out a dry remark or a sarcastic smirk just to get her off his back. But with his emotional files completely deleted and his voice tightly locked, he couldn't force a single micro-expression onto his face.
Instead, he did the only thing he could. He looked her dead in the eye and gave her a very firm, slow shake of his head—a clear, silent 'No.' Then, without breaking eye contact, he calmly raised his hand and pointed his index finger straight at the blackboard, indicating she should shut up and pay attention to Professor Elara's lecture.
Lilith's jaw dropped slightly in sheer disbelief. She crossed her arms, let out a massive, dramatic pout, and aggressively shoved her custom desk a few inches away from his, creating a deliberate gap between them. She turned her head away with a loud huff, pretending to ignore him entirely.
Haruto let out a long, slow, completely silent breath through his nose. The immediate threat was avoided, and he could finally focus his hyper-observant mind back on the lesson without any more exhausting distractions.
The loud, rhythmic chime of the academy bell finally echoed through the corridors, signaling the start of the midday break. Professor Elara packed up her materials and stepped out, and the classroom instantly filled with the chatter of moving students.
Hearing the bell, Lilith's dramatic anger vanished in a flash. She immediately dragged her custom desk back over, leaning across the gap with a bright smile. "Hey, Haruto—"
But Haruto didn't let her finish. The moment the teacher left, he folded his arms tightly on his desk, buried his face into his sleeves, and closed his eyes. He deliberately let his posture go completely limp, putting on the ultimate act of being fast asleep. He had absolutely zero strength or desire to deal with anyone right now.
However, his silence didn't work this time. Within seconds, his hyper-observant ears picked up multiple sets of familiar footsteps approaching his desk.
When he opened his crimson eye just a fraction beneath his sleeve, he saw that Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, and Toya had walked over, forming a tight circle around his desk alongside Lilith. Even though he kept his eyes shut, trying his best to look completely out cold, his friends weren't buying it.
"Hey, wake up, boss," Toya said, his voice laced with genuine concern as he tapped the edge of the desk. "Seriously, what's going on with you today? You haven't uttered a single word since you woke up. Did something go wrong during the duel?"
Ivory stepped closer, her expression tightening with severe anxiety. "Aetherna came looking for us earlier. She was deeply upset and said you completely ignored her this morning, treating her like she didn't even exist. Haruto, please look at us. What is happening to your system?"
Lilith looked between Toya and Ivory, her eyes widening in absolute amazement as she pieced the clues together. "Wait... you mean he wasn't just doing that to be mean to me? He hasn't spoken to any of you today?"
Haruto lay perfectly still beneath his sleeves, listening to their overlapping voices of concern. He wanted to jump up, wave his hands, and tell them he was fine, but the cold, heavy lock on his throat and the terrifying blankness in his chest kept him completely paralyzed in his own silent trap.
Bellona stepped closer, crossing her arms tightly as her sharp eyes glared down at his folded arms. "Are you seriously trying to pretend you're asleep right now, Haruto? Come on, we all know you're wide awake. Is your energy level still that low from yesterday?"
Lustra pouted, leaning down to try and catch a glimpse of his face hidden beneath his sleeves. "It's not just that he's quiet. Have you guys looked at his face today? He looks completely hollow. It's like he isn't showing a single drop of emotion. No smirk, no annoyance, nothing. It's starting to freak me out."
The moment the word 'emotion' left Lustra's mouth, Ivory froze. Her eyes widened as a terrifying realization locked into her brain, pulling up the data logs of their mental conversation with the ancient entity from the day before.
"The side effects of hosting dual divine cores... data deletion... the purging of human traits..." Ivory began connecting the anomalies in real-time. The God of Nothingness had explicitly warned them that the human vessel would pay a massive price. The entity had mentioned the loss of emotions, the stripping of human senses, and even blindness. Haruto could clearly still see out of his mismatched eyes, but everything else lined up perfectly.
She replayed yesterday's victory log in her mind: When the 'Team Haruto Win' screen flashed, he hadn't cheered. He hadn't smiled. He hadn't even uttered a single boastful word after bringing down a monster like Kallen. He had just stood there, staring blankly, before collapsing onto the marble track.
Panic completely shattered Ivory's usual calm composure. She took a sharp step forward, her voice cutting through the noisy classroom chatter like a siren as she screamed:
"Haruto!! Your speech... your ability to feel emotions... they've been completely deleted by the system, haven't they?!"