CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 53 – ETERNAL NIGHT (PART 10)

Chapter 53 – Eternal Night (Part 10)

The interior of the building was hollow and lifeless, like a shell abandoned by time itself. Jack and Evelyn moved through it floor by floor, their footsteps echoing faintly in the silence. Nothing remained but corpses strewn across the halls, slumped against walls, or piled in corners like discarded trash. The ruins carried no warmth, no sign of movement, not even the faintest pulse of a living soul.

By the time they reached the top floor and descended again, their expressions had darkened. Neither spoke. The silence weighed heavily, broken only by the soft crunch of debris beneath their boots. Jack had immense tolerance to death and dead corpses in general as he saw them as nothing but an empty vessel of a past existence, but even he found it difficult to stomach. This wasn’t a battlefield where soldiers clashed with the expectation of death—this was a massacre. Families, staff, students... their end had been merciless.

The stench lingered thick in the air, clinging to their throats and burning their lungs. It was enough to make an ordinary person collapse, gag, and empty their stomach. Yet somehow, they endured. Not without strain—Jack could feel his chest tighten, Evelyn’s hand kept brushing against her lips as if to hold herself steady—but they managed.

"...No one," Evelyn finally whispered as they stepped outside. Her eyes swept across the devastated landscape. "So many faced their end here..."

"Yeah," Jack replied quietly. He leaned against the doorframe, letting the icy wind wash away the suffocating odor. Evelyn’s voice carried a tremor—grief, exhaustion, perhaps guilt. Jack knew she wasn’t built for sights like these. Her strength lay elsewhere, and forcing her through endless fields of corpses without pause would only break her spirit. She needed this moment to breathe, to gather herself before moving on.

Meanwhile, Lune hovered nearby, uncharacteristically restless. Her golden eyes darted from side to side, narrowing slightly as though she were listening to whispers only she could hear.

Jack caught the shift immediately. "You sense something, Lune?"

The ancient being tilted her head, her expression thoughtful. "...Kind of. With the surge of Time Essence in the air, I can extend my perception farther than before. Though, not perfectly—this essence is unstable, raw. It hasn’t settled yet, so accuracy is... unreliable. Still—something about this place is off."

Jack arched a brow. It was rare to hear Lune admit to uncertainty. "Off, how?"

Her tone dropped, cautious. "There’s something here... something absorbing essence at an alarming pace. Faster than any monster should be capable of. I can’t pinpoint its location, but the rate of absorption..." She trailed off, her eyes narrowing further. "It’s too high."

Jack frowned. "Something? Are you saying it might be... him?"

Lune shook her head faintly. "Sommeil? No. Even if it were him, this absorption surpasses what a Chronist is capable of. Whatever it is, it shouldn’t exist."

Jack’s eyes sharpened, his thoughts racing. ’Too high even for Sommeil? Then what the hell is feeding on the essence here...?’

The idea unsettled him. If Lune couldn’t track it yet, then it wasn’t just powerful—it was abnormal. Something that could outpace a being like Sommeil in raw essence absorption was not simply dangerous. It was catastrophic.

"In any case, whatever this is, it’s not hostile yet. I should be able to locate it once you two start moving again," Lune added, gaze flickering toward the distance. "It’s close. Very close."

"Alright..." Evelyn exhaled shakily, interrupting the heavy silence. Her face was pale, but her eyes regained some focus. "I’m fine now. Sorry—I just... needed a moment. That smell was unbearable."

Jack gave her a short nod. "Then let’s move."

The three pressed onward, circling around the ruined structure. Eternal Night’s dominion over the city had deepened, the sky an unbroken curtain of black. The cold bit harsher with each step, sharper than the natural winter frost. It was a cruel chill, the kind that could pierce bone and freeze marrow. Yet their evolved bodies endured. Essence coursed within them like living fire, warming them with every beat of their hearts.

Jack could feel it—not just strength, but clarity of mind, quickness of thought, even the faint easing of fatigue. It was as though his body had become self-regulating, tuned to perfection beyond natural limits. He wondered how far that limit could extend.

Their path led them first to the administration building, a compact structure not far from the main one. Searching through it was quick. Empty rooms, overturned desks, a few more corpses... but no survivors.

Leaving it behind, they advanced toward the sports complex. Open fields stretched before them, once vibrant with youth and games, now painted red with blood. Trails streaked across the snow-dusted grounds, chaotic patterns of desperate flight and brutal slaughter. Each crimson mark told a story—people running, stumbling, dragged down, fighting until their last breath.

"...Quiet," Jack muttered under his breath. The silence here was different. It wasn’t the heavy quiet of corpses, but the taut stillness of something waiting. His instincts prickled with unease.

As they approached the looming gymnasium, he noticed a pattern. The bodies littering the grounds grew fewer. By the time they reached the gates, the corpses had all but disappeared.

Jack stopped, squinting at the building. Its silhouette loomed ominous against the eternal night, yet unlike the others, it wasn’t torn to shreds. The metal gates bore dents and scratches, streaks of blood marred the walls, but the structure itself stood firm—whole.

"...Strange," he murmured. "Everywhere else is ruined, but this one... it’s intact."

The contrast was glaring. In a world broken by invasion, one fortress remained. His gut tightened.

He stepped forward and knocked on the gates, the clang echoing into the dead world. For a moment, only silence answered. He raised his hand to knock again—

"...W-Who’s there?"

The voice was faint, muffled through metal, but unmistakably human.

Jack’s eyes narrowed. ’A survivor.’

"Open the gates. We’re survivors too," he called back, his tone steady.

"What—? Survivors? No... no, that’s impossible!" the voice cried, thick with denial. "Everyone’s dead! There are no more people alive!"

Jack’s jaw clenched. "I said open the gates." His patience thinned. He could almost feel the paranoia radiating from the unseen man.

"How do I know you’re not a monster mimicking human voices?!" the man demanded, panic rising.

Jack’s knuckles rapped sharply against the gate again. "If you want to stay alive, open them. Otherwise, rot in there until you starve." His voice was harsh, deliberately so. Coddling this man’s delusion would do no one any good.

This wasn’t a total wipeout. No matter how catastrophic the invasion was, survivors existed. Pretending otherwise was suicide.

"...."

There was silence for a while, broken by muffled whispers—as though the man was speaking with someone else inside.

Finally, the hesitant voice returned. "...A-Alright. We’ll open it. But—stay back! At least a dozen feet away!"

Jack’s eyes narrowed further. "You—"

"Let’s just do it," Evelyn cut in softly. She touched Jack’s arm, her gaze calm. "We can afford to humor him for now."

Jack exhaled sharply through his nose, then nodded. "Fine. We’re stepping back."

The man shouted again. "Good! Hold there!"

They moved back as instructed. Moments later, metal groaned and the gates creaked open—just slightly. A narrow slit revealed a pale, wide eye peering out.

For a second, the gaze flicked over them in disbelief. Then it widened, tears brimming.

"M-My lord... People! There are people outside!"