Legendary Architect of Apocalypse

"We are returning to the Academy."

The Professor summoned a large canvas and carved a single brush stroke upon it. The stroke opened a portal back to the Academy. He stepped through, carrying Rey's body, the other professor following close behind.

The children, along with their contracted Soul Beasts, followed. They stepped through the portal, leaving the strange, unsettling calm of the forest behind.

The portal slowly closed and disappeared from existence, leaving only rustling leaves and the faint scent of death.

Once the portal closed, the brush stroke also disappeared from the canvas, which fell to the ground like the most ordinary object imaginable.

After twenty minutes of their departure, the rustling of the wings became louder, and a person fell from the sky, landing in the center of the forest, right where the others were previously standing. However, no one was here to see him.

"Don't tell me they left?" Elias started searching around the entire forest, but he couldn't find even a single person.

He even called out to the professors, but the end result was the same. No one was left here, except him. He was truly late and left behind.

He sat down on the dark grass, next to the large canvas, almost feeling at a loss. Even though he had become stronger, he still didn't know the way back.

He checked the canvas with his analysis, but there was nothing extraordinary in it either.

Was he also trapped here like the other fables, until the next batch of students arrived the next year? That was the biggest question in his mind. He didn't want to stay here for a year. It was too long.

"The Guardian of the Forest..." He mumbled, thinking about the beastly existence that had eaten them to bring them here. If there was no visible passage back, he thought that it might have something to do with the guardian.

He called out to the Guardian as loud as he could, asking to be sent back. But there was no answer either. The forest of fables felt just as lifeless as ever, even though each of its leaves held a life in a sense.

"Guardian of the Forest!" He called out again, but things didn't change. He only heard the rustling of the leaves, and nothing more.

"If you don't send me back, then I will be forced to create my own path! If you can hear me, then please don't force me to do it! Open a path for me!"

The results still didn't change though, which made Elias reach the end of his patience.

He brought out a gem, and placed it in the middle of the grass.

"If you can hear me, then please open a passage!" He said one last time, having some hope. After his plea, he waited for close to five minutes, but nothing changed at all.

He glanced at the ordinary black gem on the ground, making up his mind. If the guardian of the forest couldn't listen to him, then he was going to make it happen himself.

"Confirm Merger."

...........

Please select the materials for Merger.

...........

"The glass orb," Elias tapped the gem lightly, before moving his fingers over the canvas. His finger moved past the canvas and touched the grass, "And the forest of fables."

...........

Materials selected for merger: Glass Orb, Forest of Fables

Material Compatibility: 0 Percent

Merger Success Probability: 0 Percent

Would you like to proceed?

...........

"Proceed." Elias said without any hesitation.

...........

Warning. The possibility of success is really low. A failure will result in destruction of all selected materials. Would you like to proceed?

...........

Elias took a deep breath, before mumbling, "Proceed."

The guardian of the forest was the door that led to this place and kept this place sealed. If the door didn't open itself for him, then the only other way he could think of was to make the closed door disappear.

He didn't know if the disappearance of the door would open a passage back, but as a last resort, he had already thought of another option.

In his destruction spree, he could destroy the entire Land of Fables in a similar manner. If the Land of Fables, as a space itself, didn't exist, then everything in it would naturally be tossed to the nearest space, which was the Academy itself.

As for freeing the fables, he didn't care about it. That was something for the Academy to worry about.

The two professors returned to the Academy with the children. Even though quite a few days had been spent inside the Land of Fables by them, but as the time itself worked differently in both spaces, only a few minutes had passed in the Academy itself.

The children returned to the same passage from which they had entered the forest, the door now right behind them.

"This should be enough for their first day at the academy. Can you guide them to their rooms?" Grey asked the Painter.

"Why do I have to be the one? You lead their class, not me," the Painter retorted sharply.

"Fine. Then you can be the one to go and inform management about the two deaths," Grey answered, frustrated. "I will guide them back."

"I just remembered. I was going in that direction as well. I will lead them to their new residence," the Painter quickly changed his tune, having no interest in dealing with the aftermath of the two deaths.

He quickly led the children away, with Grey watching him enviously. If only I weren't leading this class, I could be just as free.

'Now, how do I justify it so the blame doesn't fall on me?' Grey scratched the back of his head and walked away as well, not paying any attention to the door behind him, which was still trembling for some reason.

He also disappeared, leaving the corridor completely empty. Not long after he left, everything started changing as the trembling of the door intensified.

It tried to call for help, but it couldn't. It could only watch as small cracks started forming on its surface.