Michael walked beside me as he escorted me back to the dormitory, but my mind was elsewhere. I was busy replaying the conversation I just had with the principal.

  I knew something was wrong about her, yet I could not immediately identify what it was. As I walked, I began to deconstruct the meeting piece by piece.

  I thought about the subtle way she positioned herself and how she used nature as a visual aid to lure me in. She had turned my own logic against me. It felt less like a discussion and more like I was being groomed.

  Then there was the atmosphere in that office. I had felt a strange displacement in the air around her. Was she using active magic to influence my cognition? That would explain why Michael vacated the room.

  And this Vitalist Individualism encouraged me to break social norms, which directly contradicted Michael's earlier kill threat.

  I slowed my pace, analyzing Michael's unguarded back. He is the real anomaly here.

  Who was he really? And what game were he and the Principal playing?

  Hypothesis one. The Principal is the bait. She encourages me to lose control so Michael has the justification to put me down. Hypothesis two. They are not aligned, and I am being influenced by Seraphina’s emotions to exaggerate again.

  Either way, her philosophy was dangerous. It was essentially Social Darwinism dressed up in academic rhetoric. By claiming the wolf eats the deer solely out of necessity, she stripped away moral agency. If I accept that, I will become a monster who strangles oaks to reach the sun.

  But I knew better than anyone.

  A society of wolves and strangling ivy doesn't last.

  Civilization requires the very hedges she mocked. Laws, manners, and restraints are not shackles. They are the only things stopping us from tearing each other apart.

  I knew firsthand that this philosophy was pathogenic. I saw the infection spread in my old world. The so-called heroes who rose to protect the weak were nothing but arrogant tyrants.

  They held godlike abilities, yet they used them to profit while the helpless suffered.

  They were traitors who bit the hand that fed them. Whether it was before or after the nuclear war, they remained a plague on society.

  That’s why I never felt any guilt killing all of them.

  I clenched my fist as rage boiled deep inside my gut. I managed to hide it only by reminding myself how much better the world became once those heroes were gone.

  By the time we navigated the corridors and stopped outside my dormitory room, It was time to execute a social maneuver.

  I stopped and turned to face him, widening my eyes just enough to look innocent.

  “Thank you for looking after me today, Michael,” I said, my voice dripping with practiced sweetness. “You really are a wonderful caregiver.”

  I paused, letting a look of contrite realization wash over my face before looking down at my shoes.

  “And... I have learned from my mistakes. The Principal explained things to me. I understand my position now, so I won't cause any more trouble.”

  And with that, I offered a polite curtsy before quietly slipped into my room, leaving my caretaker away.

  I stared at the blood smearing my palms, realizing just how easily I had been provoked. I wiped my hands clean and took a slow, deep breath to steady my racing heart. Once I was calm, my gaze shifted to the bed. Someone had left another note and a heavy drawstring bag.

  I grabbed the bag first to examine it. It was filled to the brim with gold coins. I set it aside and picked up the envelope. It was from Mother. I broke the seal and read:

  To my daughter, Seraphina,

  I trust you are upholding the family name in your studies. As communication with the academy can be slow, I am sending this ahead of time to ensure you are well-equipped.

  Consider this gold a tactical asset. We have learned that the Crown Prince possesses a distinct weakness for confectionaries. Use these funds to exploit that. Whether you buy sweets to bribe his circle or to curry favor with the boy himself, I leave the strategy to you. Remember that in our world, generosity is just another weapon. Use it well.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  With high expectations, Duchess Isolde D'Arden

  Ugh. Why is she so obsessed with the Crown Prince

  I noticed a smear of red transferring from my palm to the paper. I shoved the letter back into its envelope and tossed it onto the desk.

  I closed my eyes and focused on the injury. I had dug my nails in deep enough to hit the capillaries, and the bleeding hadn't stopped. It was a nuisance, but also an opportunity. It was time to test my magical aptitude for self-repair.

  I focused my will onto the wound. I imagined the clotting cascade, the aggregation of platelets, and the rapid division of epithelial cells. I commanded my body to knit itself back together.

  When I opened my eyes, the wound was completely sealed. However, a slight sudden wave of exhaustion hit me.

  Ah… so that’s how it works. The fatigue was the price of the magic. Forcing my cells to heal that rapidly required a massive amount of physical resources.

  I let myself fall back onto the mattress, lifting my hand to the light to examine the newly healed skin.

  This world was an anomaly. It adhered to standard physics and biology, yet it was polluted by the illogical existence of magic and monsters.

  My gaze shifted to the sack of gold next to me, and I fished one coin out. It featured a carving of a woman. Is this Dyssia?

  As I examined the coin, I couldn't help but see the parallels between this place and the world I used to inhabit. In both cases, there were three primary factors that led to the erosion of society.

  Variable one: Religious Fanaticism. This goddess, Dyssia, reminded me of the Armored Ranger back on Earth. He was the icon who rose during the Invasion, the hero who martyred himself to stop an extinction-level threat.

  But his death didn't save us the people but broke humanity. They called him the Second Coming and treated anyone with superpowers as divine beings.

  That hysteria was the soil that grew the IDIO.

  The second variable was the universal shift toward Machiavellianism. In the ashes of the nuclear war, society evolved to reward those who used people as tools.

  The IDIO was the pinnacle of this corruption. They claimed they existed to save mankind, but their desperation justified every atrocity. Phase one of their research was simple hardware, like exoskeleton power suits. But metal wasn't enough. They shifted to wetware, tampering with genetics and cognitive function. This research produced the first successful prototype: Korrin Albrecht.

  However, the formula was incomplete and inefficient. To successfully create just one super soldier, thousands of trained mercenaries had to die in the process.

  Korrin looked at the numbers and found a solution. He suggested we stop using adults. Children were cheaper and their minds were easier to break and reprogram for absolute obedience.

  With that proposal, Korrin seized power. Korrin was promoted to Lead Researcher, granting him total control over the new child experimentation division. He ground through thousands of children to find the few who could survive.

  The final nail in the coffin was the apathy of the masses. Trust in the system had evaporated. Why believe in a government that allows the world to end?

  People retreated into tribalism, caring only for their immediate circle and leaving the rest to rot.

  Father Mikhail was the tragic example of this reality. He was loved by the community and did everything in his power to uplift them. Yet, in the end, those same people turned their backs on him. They let him die in the snow with my own bullet…

  sat up abruptly on the bed, my eyes fixed on the blank wall as my mind churned.

  Even though these three philosophies triggered the collapse of my old world, there were still valid lessons to be learned from them.

  Take religion. It was the original operating system for human morality. It used the carrot of divine love and the stick of eternal damnation to keep the masses in line. The elites mocked it, but they failed to understand its utility. Religion wasn't built for the thinkers. It was built to control the people who needed simple binaries to keep them from eating each other.

  Then there is Machiavellianism. It is dangerous, yes. But a society that suppresses its strongest members is doomed. If you force a lion to act like a sheep, you don't get a peaceful flock. You get a starving lion and a defenseless herd. Competence must be allowed to conquer.

  Finally, there is Individualism. It is often condemned as selfishness, but consider the alternative. If one tree thrives while the others struggle, is it obligated to wither? Should the strong tree starve itself to water the others until it dies of exhaustion?

  The world wants to see things in white. The world wants to see things black.

  But perspective changes everything. The person I once loved could be seen as a dog by another. The monster you despise with all your heart is still someone else’s beloved child.

  This leaves me with one question... Am I the hero? Or am I the villain?