Chapter 913: Sweet Home
~FSHUUUU!~
The air was thick, heavy with ash and the acrid stench of decay.
"Huff... Ack!" Rey coughed as he pushed himself up from the hard ground, his arms trembling under the weight of his own body.
He blinked rapidly, his vision blurred, as though the world around him had been dipped in smoke and ruin. Slowly, his surroundings came into focus, and what he saw froze him in place.
Desolation.
Everywhere he looked, chaos reigned supreme.
Twisted metal, shattered concrete, and blackened earth stretched out in all directions. Fires burned in the distance, their glow casting an ominous light over the jagged skyline. The once- familiar shapes of buildings were now unrecognizable, reduced to skeletal ruins.
Above, the sky churned in unnatural hues-grays, reds, and streaks of sickly yellow lightning crackling in the clouds.
Rey staggered to his feet, his legs weak and unsteady. His head pounded, a dull, persistent ache that only added to the confusion swirling in his mind.
He took a cautious step forward, his boots crunching on shattered glass and debris.
"Where... am I?" he murmured, his voice hoarse and trembling.
The question felt absurd even as he asked it. A sinking dread settled in his chest as he surveyed the devastation. He recognized the terrain, despite its ruinous state-the curve of the road, the twisted wreckage of the guardrails, the charred remains of a nearby sign.
This was the highway.
That highway.
Memories surged, unbidden and cruel. The screech of tires. The deafening crunch of metal. The screams-his classmates, his teachers-all cut short in an instant.
Rey's breath hitched as his eyes were drawn to a particular spot. His legs moved on their own, carrying him to a scene that had seared itself into his mind long ago.
There it was.
The crumpled remains of the school bus lay half-buried in the earth, its once-bright paint now faded and scorched.
Surrounding it were bodies, or what was left of them.
Decayed, skeletal remains slumped in unnatural positions, their final moments frozen in grotesque stillness.
'The accident... and these must be the bodies.'
Rey felt bile rise in his throat as his gaze landed on a smaller frame—a student, arms still outstretched as if reaching for safety that never came.
"No..." he whispered, his voice barely audible. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, the weight of the sight crushing him. "No, no, no..."
He pressed his palms to his temples, his head shaking as if he could will the memories away. But they wouldn't leave.
They clawed at him, each image sharper and more vivid than the last.
"We were all transported to H'Trae right before we died, so whose bodies are those?" He asked himself. "Perhaps only our Souls were transported. That makes sense..."
But, with this realization came another that hit him like a hammer.
He was back.
Back on Earth.
But it wasn't the Earth he knew. T
his place was wrong-broken in ways he couldn't fathom. He forced himself to his feet, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"Emil," he called, his voice cutting through the oppressive silence. "Emil!"
No response.
He tried again, louder this time, his tone tinged with desperation. "Emil! Where are you?"
Still nothing.
Rey's chest tightened as a terrible thought began to form.
He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, searching for that familiar presence-the constant voice of the Familiar who would normally never shut up.
But there was nothing.
Just an empty void where Emil's presence should have been.
"Emil... no." His voice faltered, and he took a shaky step back. "You can't be gone. You can't!"
Panic began to creep in, coiling around his heart like a vice.
He felt weak, unsteady, as though his body was betraying him. His limbs were heavy, his breaths shallow and labored. Every step was an effort, every movement a battle.
"What's... happening to me?" he muttered, his vision swimming.
Instinctively, he spoke the command that had become second nature to him over the years.
"Status Information."
A translucent screen materialized before him, its familiar glow offering a momentary sense of comfort. But as his eyes scanned the data, that comfort was shattered.
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Name: Rey Skylar
- Race: Human
- Class: NIL
- Level: 1 (0.00% EXP)
- Life Force: 1
- Mana Level: 1
- Combat Ability: 1
- Stat Points: 0
- Skills (Exclusive): [Doppel]
- Skills (Non-Exclusive): NIL
- Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
[Additional Information]
Unknown... no information has been provided.
[End Of Information]
Rey's heart dropped. His hands shook as he scrolled through the information, hoping—
praying-that he had misread something.
But the truth was undeniable.
His stats had been reset. His level had been wiped clean.
He was back to the very beginning.
"No... this isn't real," he whispered, his voice trembling. "This can't be real."
The screen flickered before disappearing, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Alone with the crushing weight of reality. He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms hard enough
to draw blood.
"Adrien..." he growled, the name escaping his lips like a curse.
He didn't know how he was able to do all of this, but he knew the culprit.
'Adrien is behind this.'
Adrien had betrayed him, stolen Emil, and left him to rot in this wasteland.
"Why?" he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why would you do this?"
That question no longer mattered to him.
"I have to get back somehow... and once I am, I'll make... make sure..."
The world around him seemed to darken, the oppressive atmosphere closing in.
His body felt like lead, his strength drained not just physically but emotionally. He stumbled forward, his vision narrowing as exhaustion took hold. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was the decayed remains of his classmates, their empty eye sockets
staring back at him as if mocking his failure.
And then, he fell. Rey's body hit the ground with a dull thud, his consciousness slipping away.
The wasteland around him remained still, silent, uncaring of the lone figure lying vulnerable
amidst the chaos.
... Almost as if it recognized the events that were to unfold.
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[Conclusion Of Arc 6: The Dragon Academy Arc]
~Notice: Prepare Yourselves For The Next And Last Adventure Of Our Beloved Extra-
The Final Arc is Upon Us!
{The Last Frontier Arc will now begin...}
A/N: I know this Arc was slow at times, and many readers left at this point, but to the ones
who remained... Thank you. The story will conclude in Arc 7, and I hope you all have a wonderful time as you read.
Cheers!