The Blind SSS-Class Final Boss Is Obsessed With Me

"I am fine..." I may have said that but by mind took a few seconds to process everything that had just happened.

The soft pressure on my left cheek was already gone, but my skin still felt cold where her lips had touched me.

’A kiss...?’ I thought, staring at Seraphina in complete silence. ’Was that... a kiss?’

Seraphina was still close to me and her blindfolded face was tilted down toward mine.

Subconsciously, I rubbed my cheek with the back of my hand.

’No, wait,’ I thought, shaking my head slightly. ’Don’t get distracted by this. That’s not the main problem right now.’

I forced myself to snapped out of my sudden confusion. The strange, romantic moment dissolved as my mind rewound back to what had happened just a few moments ago.

Before the kiss... she had suddenly gone completely rigid.

Her aura had flared up so violently that it instantly dropped the temperature in the garden. She had felt something beyond the barrier. Something that made even her—the ultimate calamity of this world—instantly go on the defensive.

My eyes narrowed as I looked up at her blindfolded face.

"Seraphina," I said, my voice returning to its usual quiet tone. "Earlier... why did you react like that? What did you sense outside?"

Seraphina tilted her head slightly at my question. Her hand dropped away from the bench, but her the fingers of her other hand remained intertwined with mine.

She paused for a second, as if trying to find the right words to describe the intangible sensations in her mind.

"Outside..." she whispered. "Thick... heavy."

"Thick?" I asked and raising an eyebrow at her vague explanation. "What kind of energy was it?"

"Extreme negative emotions," she replied softly, her fingers tightening slightly around mine. "So much... killing intent. It was... sharp."

’Extreme negative emotions and killing intent?’ I thought, my mind racing through every single Chapter and detail of the original novel I had read in my past life. ’Who could it be for her to notice it so sharply?’

Seraphina was an absolute monster. Normal human hatred or the simple greed of bandit groups were like tiny specks of dust to her.

She didn’t even care about the terrified staff members hiding inside the Academy Building. For her to react so dangerously, for her dark mana to automatically form ice blades in pure self-defense...

It had to be something massive.

’Is it a high demon?’ I thought, running my hand through my hair. ’No... that doesn’t make any sense. According to the original storyline, the first High Demon isn’t supposed to breach until the middle of the third arc. We are way too early for that.’

’No, no...’ I thought, tapping my finger against my knee as a strange, uneasy feeling settled deep in my stomach. ’None of those things would make Seraphina’s mana flare up like that. She can easily slaughters S-rank monsters without batting an eye.’

Then, what was it? What kind of existence possessed a killing intent so foul and heavy that it could pierce straight through the academy’s black crystal barrier?

Suddenly, a horrifying thought struck my mind.

My body went completely still and my eyes widened as well.

’Wait...’

My breath hitched in my throat.

’No... No way...’

Cold sweat instantly broke out across the back of my neck.

’It isn’t... Is it?’

I stared blankly at the dark violet sky above the Sunken Garden, my hands beginning to tremble slightly.

’Don’t tell me... Don’t tell me it sensed Seraphina’s presence when she stabilized the Core?!’

When Seraphina had used her dark power to fix the academy’s Core earlier, a massive shockwave of pure mana had erupted into the sky.

To normal humans and weak mages, it was just a strange atmospheric pressure. But to them... to the ancient, hungry horrors sleeping deep beneath the earth... it was like a bright signal flare in a pitch-black night.

The Demon Crawlers. Or worse... a Demon Apostle.

"Shit!" I let out loudly, snapping my head toward the academy building.

Seraphina jumped slightly at my sudden outburst. "Cian...?"

’That can’t happen... She isn’t yet strong enough to fight against them.’

I stood up from the wide stone bench so fast that the heavy leather-bound Tome on the seat nearly slid onto the floor. I grabbed the book tightly in my left hand and turned to face Seraphina.

"We need to go!" I shouted, my voice laced with pure urgency. "Right now!"

Seraphina tilted her head, her blindfolded face showing clear confusion. "Wh-what happened?"

"There is no time to explain!" I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along as I sprinted up the smooth stone steps of the Sunken Garden. "If my guess is right, we don’t have much time before everything falls apart!"

We sprinted through the quiet, grand hallways. My heart was pounding like a hammer against my ribs. I didn’t care about the confused looks from the few staff members we passed in the corridors.

My mind was completely focused on one thing: getting everyone organized before absolute chaos erupted.

Within five minutes, we broke through the heavy wooden doors of the main faculty wing.

"Lyra!" I yelled, my voice echoing down the corridor.

Standing near a tall stained-glass window, Lyra instantly turned around. Her face was pale with fatigue, but the moment she saw me running toward her, she straightened her posture.

"Cian?!" Lyra gasped, stepping forward. "What’s wrong? Did something happen to the barrier?"

"I need you to gather everyone in the Great Hall again," I demanded, stopping right in front of her. "Every single person. The students, the teachers, the staff, the wounded—everyone!"

Lyra blinked in utter surprise, looking between me and the silent, terrifying crimson-haired girl standing right behind me.

"W-What?" Lyra stammered, her voice hesitant. "Cian, we just finished organizing the defensive squads in the east wing! People are tired, scared, and resting. Why do we need to gather everyone in the Great Hall right now?"

I grabbed Lyra by her shoulder and looked straight into her eyes with an expression so deadly serious that her words caught in her throat.

"Do it now, Lyra," I said, my voice dropping into a low, chilling tone. "If you want them to live past tonight, bring every single person to the Great Hall in the next ten minutes. Do not ask questions. Just do it."

Lyra swallowed hard, a cold shiver running down her spine. She had seen me stay calm while dealing with high-level threats before, but she had never seen me look this genuinely alarmed.

"I... I understand," Lyra nodded frantically. "I’ll use the emergency sound runes right now!"

She turned around and sprinted down the hallway, screaming orders to the nearby guards to activate the central summoning bell.

Ten minutes later.

The Great Hall was completely packed with people.

Students were crowded together on the lower floor. Some had blood-stained bandages wrapped around their arms and heads, while others were clutching their wooden staves, their faces filled with anxiety, terror, and exhaustion.

The surviving teachers and academy guards stood along the edges of the room, their hands resting nervously on the hilts of their swords.

Whispers and murmurs spread through the crowd like a rising tide.

"Why were we called here again?" a male student whispered nervously to his friend.

"Is the barrier failing?"

"Look... up on the stage! It’s Cian!"

"Why is he standing up there? What is going on?"

"And who is that girl standing behind him? Her pressure is insane..."

"You don’t know?"

I stood at the very center of the elevated wooden stage at the front of the Great Hall.

The heavy leather-bound Tome was held tightly in my left hand, and Seraphina stood a half-step behind my right shoulder, her dark aura suppressed just enough so she wouldn’t crush the students with pressure alone.

I looked down at the sea of frightened, confused faces staring up at me.

They were tired. They were weak. They thought the danger was over just because the academy core was stabilized. They thought they were safe behind these tall stone walls.

They had no idea what was actually crawling toward us from the dark.

I took a deep breath, stepping closer to the edge of the wooden platform.

I didn’t raise my voice. I just spoke a single word into the silent hall.

"The reason..."

My quiet voice, amplified slightly by the natural acoustics of the high-ceilinged room, swept across the massive hall.

Instantly... the entire Great Hall went dead silent.

The whispering stopped. The nervous shuffling of feet ceased. The wounded stopped groaning. Hundreds of eyes locked onto me, wide with a mixture of fear, respect, and dread.

The absolute silence in the room was so heavy that you could hear a pin drop on the marble floor.

I swept my cold gaze across the crowd, letting the heavy silence linger for a few terrifying seconds before I opened my mouth to continue.

"The reason I gathered you all here," I spoke, "is because the nightmare you think you escaped... hasn’t even started yet."