"Dammit, dammit, dammit...! This is the worst, the absolute worst...!!"
A week had passed since the Insect Museum Incident, and peace was slowly returning to the academy. In the midst of this, Egos—whose life had been upended by the disaster—sat in his room, endlessly spitting out curses.
His situation was the definition of "the worst," and there wasn't a single sign of him climbing back out of the pit.
Losing the students' trust and Lamy's support had been devastating enough, but over the last seven days, Egos had learned the hard way that those losses were merely the beginning.
The phrase "losing everything" felt as if it had been coined specifically for him.
The Insect Museum Incident had acted as a catalyst, dragging the truth about the previous Cooking Club Expedition into the light as well. Egos was now permanently branded a coward—a despicable man who would sacrifice a child's life for his own ends and force others to do the same. His reputation hadn't just hit rock bottom; it had tunneled straight through into the negatives.
Naturally, no one wanted to follow such a person. Egos's party members had formally severed ties and abandoned him.
The other Reincarnators weren't about to play the Good Samaritan, either. Far from it; they saw him as a wounded animal to be kicked while he was down and went about their business without him.
His former teammates had already been snatched up by the other so-called Hero Candidates. The chance of them ever returning to his side was absolute zero.
Even Cyan, his erstwhile partner, kept his distance. He had suffered enough reputational damage just by being associated with Egos.
With no superiors to protect him, no friends to lean on, and no power of his own, Egos was well and truly cornered. He was effectively out of the game.
"Not yet... It’s not over. I can still claw my way back...!!"
Despite his predicament, Egos refused to surrender. He clung to the belief that his game knowledge and personal ability were enough to salvage things. In a way, his resilience was almost impressive; despite everything, he still attended the periodic Reincarnators' Gatherings.
The hottest topic at the most recent meeting had been the sudden spike in difficulty: the Level 2 Evolution of the Magic Armor Beasts encountered during the event.
Naturally, this shift had sent shockwaves through the Reincarnators' plans. They were being forced to overhaul their entire strategy from the ground up.
Luminous History was an open-ended game with countless avenues for progression. Beyond simple leveling and gear upgrades, gathering allies and deepening bonds were core mechanics.
Until now, the Reincarnators had relied on their meta-knowledge to stay ahead of the curve. They had dismissed previous hiccups as minor irregularities caused by Zenon’s early interference with the story.
But this was different. Despite being fully prepared and engaging the enemy head-on, the parties led by Egos and Cyan had been soundly defeated.
It meant that monsters were now appearing that even their Reincarnation Bonus stats couldn't overcome. For a group that had spent their time effortlessly steamrolling mobs, the realization was a traumatic wake-up call.
Cyan’s party hadn't been weak by any standard. Under normal circumstances, they should have had more than enough power to handle a Magic Armor Beast.
Yet, even with Egos lending his support, they had failed. This cold reality had terrified the complacent Reincarnators, forcing a drastic pivot in their priorities.
There was no more time for harem-building or petty backstabbing. If they couldn't clear the game, the promised rewards of this world would remain forever out of reach.
The meeting had ended with a pact to share information and focus on retraining, but Egos knew better. These people were too selfish and eccentric to ever truly cooperate.
He expected them to fall apart soon enough, and he planned to use that chaos to orchestrate his return. However, one thing weighed on his mind more than anything else: Yugo and Ryuga.
While he and Cyan had failed even with a full party of elite members, those two had taken down the evolved beasts single-handedly.
Some argued that Egos and Cyan had simply softened the targets, but that explanation felt hollow.
The other Reincarnators had rationalized it as a "scenario correction"—the game system stepping in to fix the plot after the Protagonists lost. But Egos wasn't buying it. They were just too damn strong.
He had kept his mouth shut to avoid being mocked as a sore loser, but he knew this anomaly was worth investigating.
Was there a secret behind their power? If he could uncover it, he might be able to seize that strength for his own.
"I'm not finished yet...! Just you wait, Scum Yugo...!"
Blaming Yugo for his fall and nursing a bitter grudge while completely ignoring his own culpability, Egos spat the words with pure venom.
Looking at the darkness in the man's eyes, it was clear that the hero’s path would be plagued by more than just a passing storm.