Chapter 530 Awake
[Moments Earlier]
"U-urgh…"
Rey felt a mild headache as he woke up from the realm of unconsciousness. The headache soon vanished, however, same with the last vestiges of pain that coursed through his body. It seemed all his Passive Skills were doing their work.
"R-REY!" The loud, relieved voice of someone familiar burst out as he felt the weight of someone fall on him.
It took a few seconds, but after Rey finally acclimated to everything around him, he was able to recognize the young lady whom he currently had in his embrace.
"Esme…" He muttered, his lips moving a little sluggishly.
The moment Esme heard this, she left his embrace and looked him straight in the face. Her two hands were still holding him, but they trembled a little as she stared at him.
Her moist eyes, and the relief that permeated her face told Rey that she must have been incredibly worried about him.
He understood that well.
"Thanks for looking after me, Esme…" Rey muttered, slowly rising to his feet as he held his head while closing his eyes.
Memories of the last thing that happened to him flooded his mind at that moment. He remembered the intense pain he felt right as he began losing consciousness, as well as the System's message to him moments before everything went dark.
"I remember…" Rey whispered, his face slowly darkening as he began making a complicated expression.
His eyes widened as soon as his mind processed everything—the implications of what occurred to him—as quickly as it could.
"What happened, Rey? Why did you suddenly—?"
"They're in danger! All my friends are in danger!" Rey yelled out loud, turning to Esme with a panicked reaction.
"A-ahh…!"
"Status Window!" He said hurriedly.
[STATUS WINDOW] - Name: Rey Skylar.
- Race: Human (Otherworlder)
- Class: Anomaly (A-Tier)
- Level: 70 (00.00% EXP) - Life Force: 73 (+231) {+900}
- Mana Level: 120 (+231) {+950}
- Combat Ability: 103 (+231) {+990}
- Stat Points: 75
- Skills (Exclusive): [Doppel]
- Skills (Non-Exclusive): [Fusion/Fission]. [Merger]. [Dead Calm].
- Alignment: Neutral Good
[Additional Information]
You are an irregularity to the world. Achieving the unbelievable, shaking the balance of reality… you seek to overturn what is and isn't.
Will you succeed? Or will your failure be miserable?
[End Of Information]
"D-damnit…"
It was just as he feared. "I really lost half of my Levels…"
Rey clenched his fist as he felt a wave of frustration shroud him. Rather unfortunately for him, he didn't even have the time to process what just happened.
"Y-your Levels? Why? How? I don't under—"
"How long was I unconscious for?" Rey interrupted Esme, not having enough time to properly address her confusion.
Thankfully, despite being completely disoriented by Rey's bombardment of new information, Esme didn't hesitate to answer his question.
"I wasn't really paying attention to the time, because I was worried about you, but… I'd say about an hour or so. It hasn't been very long."
"An hour? That's too long! I could be too late! What if I'm too late?!" Rey began to mumble to himself, looking at his Status Window again.
He violently itched his head, as if slowly growing insane. His widened eyes reflected the deep conflict and fear that ravaged his body.
'For my duplicate to have died, it means there's some kind of threat in the Capital, where I transported them to.'
A lot could have happened within an hour.
'W-what if—?!'
"Rey! If your friends are in danger, you should be on your way now." Esme's voice suddenly woke Rey from his indecisive bubble.
His eyes flashed in shock as he heard those words from the Half Elf.
The decisive smile she had on her face, the nod of encouragement that she gave him, and the glistening sparks within her blue eyes… all of those things snapped him out of the flurry of confusion that would have swallowed him whole.
"A-ahh… thank you, Esme." Rey said with a slightly worried, but more resolute expression on his face. "You're right!"
"Should I come with? I could help out—"
"No! No, you stay here…" Rey raised his hand to stop Esme, his voice reverberating in the air as panic spread from his tone.
"I-I have no idea what we're dealing with here, so it's best you remain here. Sorry…"
"I understand."
Upon seeing Esme's smile, Rey smiled back. His heart was pounding, and his body was trembling, but he put everything under perfect control.
"First…"
In a mere instant, his Ralyks attire appeared on his body, with the mask covering his face.
'I have no idea what happened in the capital, or what's going on at the moment. The safest option is for me to use this persona.'
Rey realized that he would probably have to go all-out in the upcoming conflict, so he had to be ready.
"Second…"
~VWUUUUUUUUUUUSH!~
Rey activated all of the Buff Skills at his disposal, making sure they all functioned at maximum power right before he arrived.
He didn't want to be caught off-guard, after all.
'Better safe than sorry! I could be overreacting, but I can't afford to let my guard down at this point…'
Once he was done activating all his buffs, all three of his numbers jumped incredibly high.
- Life Force: 60,000 (+231) {+900}
- Mana Level: 90,000 (+231) {+950}
- Combat Ability: 70,000 (+231) {+990}
'This should be more than enough for any enemy I could possibly hope to face…' Rey thought to himself.
If he hadn't been so badly affected by the death of his clone, the numbers would have been much higher, but he didn't have the time to mull over the little details like this.
"Alright… let's do this!"
Closing his eyes, he activated his Spatial Magic Skill, instantly allowing himself to be transported to the last known location of his clone.
However…
~ZZTTZZ!~
'H-huh…?'
Something interfered with the Spatial Magic, and while he was indeed warped away from the Grand Calamity Class Dungeon, he found himself in a completely different location.
'H-huh…?!'
Rey was thousands of feet in the air, feeling the winds brush past his face as he fell to the Capital right beneath him.
'W-what… what the hell?!'
His eyes widened as he saw the City in smoldered flames. A portion of it was completely destroyed, and other sides had been destroyed by massive debris or the spread of fire.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like the damage would extend any further, and there also wasn't anyone close to the site of destruction.
Despite the horror of this sight, Rey found himself more distracted by the wave of dense energy that covered a portion of the Capital, as well as areas in its outskirts.
'Is this what affected my teleportation?' That was the most likely answer.
He narrowed his eyes as he tried to pinpoint the source; which was when he witnessed the gory sight of Billy's death.
The way the monstrous beast—whatever it was—easily destroyed Billy with the sleight of its hand… Rey let it all burn into his mind.
He saw Adonis and the rest of his classmates scattered all around. Eric was nowhere in sight, but the current situation was so overwhelming that Rey thought he would be around somewhere. Lucielle and Brutus were also present.
'They're all unconscious. Except…' His eyes widened as he laid eyes on Alicia, watching as the Beast raised its hand to strike her.
'No…!'
~ZZTZZ!~
'... No way!'
~KKZZZTTZ!~
Rey pushed past the layers of energy and focused his energy, more than he had ever done before.
'[Domain Of The Lord]'
In that instant, space shifted, and he found himself instantly appearing right where he desired; holding Alicia in his arms as he stopped the Beast from completing its task.
'Haa… haa…!' His thoughts echoed in relief as he glared at the monstrous creature in front of him.
"Hey…" With a deep tone, and the powerful aura that he exuded, Rey furrowed his brows and gave a deep frown.
"... Back off!"
[System Notice: Enemy stronger than you has been detected]
~[Natural Enemy] will now be activated~
{Effect: When facing someone much stronger than you, your Stat Points will double}
~Good Luck!~