CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36: REVELATION[1][GTG]

"Ugh," I groaned, stepping out into the light.

It seems I was in the basement of a hotel all along.

"Damn... Just what the hell went down here?" I thought, gazing at the sight before me.

Utter carnage—there was no other word to describe it.

Blood in every corner; it looked as though everyone here was killed...

...but why?

Sigh.

I can’t understand how psychos think, no matter how much I try.

I then rushed forward, up to what I assumed was the exit.

I kicked it open, and just then, I was outside.

"What?" I muttered, as everyone... everything was gone.

"Where... where the heck is everyone?" I stuttered, feeling a growing unease building up.

It was sunset, with only a few hours or minutes before the world went completely dark.

But the whole place was so... quiet.

As quiet as a graveyard.

[You... Where do you even want to go next? This is it. Die and let it all be over.]

"I... can’t believe it. I refuse to believe it."

No...

NO!

I rushed out and headed toward the direction I originally came from.

I had to find a way out of this cursed place one way or another. I can’t keep repeating this damned cycle. Who knows when next I will be able to realize the true face of this world.

I ran down the street, back to the place I had initially come through.

The portal.

"It’s still here," I said, gazing at the swirling mass of mana circulating around a device.

But just as everywhere else...

It was empty.

The guards I saw here before... they were all gone.

I gulped down a mouthful of saliva, then reached for the portal.

I came in contact with it, and the next instant, my hand passed right through.

"Alright... it still works," I noted, then closed my eyes, rushing into it.

"Haa!" I gasped, looking around as clarity returned to my vision once more, but...

"Just where the fuck did everyone go?!" I screamed, but there was no reply.

There were buildings just as before; in fact, everything was as I recalled it to be, except that I couldn’t spot a single soul around.

"No... this can’t be happening! This has to be a freaking nightmare!" I screamed, but then... I remembered.

"Anna...! Maybe she’s still there," I said aloud, then rushed into the portal once more as it led to the city.

I ran down the eerily vacant street, my heart pounding in my chest, my breathing erratic as I realized just how dire the situation was.

BOOM!

I burst in through the door, but what I saw...

"Where... are the corpses?" I asked, walking one step at a time as I tried to steady my breathing.

[You should have let them kill you. At least it wouldn’t have come to this point.]

I heard but ignored the voice. No, I wasn’t going to believe any of it.

This whole thing has to be a freaking nightmare!

It has to be a nightmare!

"That’s right," I remembered, then ignored the hall altogether and rushed down to the basement, but then...

"Hehehe," a crazed chuckle escaped my lips, and I crumbled to my knees.

"No... WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!" I cried out in confusion.

Gone.

She was gone, just like that.

And so was Jayden’s corpse.

"TELL ME, YOU FUCKING SYSTEM, WHAT IS HAPPENING, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" I asked, feeling as though I was going crazy.

It was too much for me.

I couldn’t live like this. I couldn’t live in a world where I was only a puppet, trapped to forever replay a certain role.

[YOU DO NOT DESERVE AN EXPLANATION. ALL YOU SHOULD KNOW IS THAT YOU SINNED. AND YOU WILL PAY DEARLY FOR WHAT YOU DID!] I heard, and I could feel the malice behind its words.

I was done for.

Was this world all an illusion? Was it all in my head?

Haah.

I refuse to believe it.

No.

I won’t accept this.

I will escape this cursed place, I will escape!

[You are free to try~]

"Wait..."

That’s right.

If I can just leave Terum Nexus as a whole, then maybe...

With that thought just crossing my mind, I found myself already running up to the main hall. I reached there, then aimed for the door.

BAM!

I rushed out and, without stopping, kept running toward the other portal, which I knew to be opposite the portal that led to the standard zone.

Sigh.

Can I even trust this information in my head anymore at this point?

What if everything I’m doing now is just exactly what that bastard wants?

I could be playing right into their hands for all I know, since the knowledge of this world was probably given to me by them.

I ran for a long time, and after some hours or so, I spotted it.

"The portal," I mused, then halted, panting desperately.

I walked up to it, and just like the other, I placed my hand through the swirling mass of mana, and it passed through. I closed my eyes and, just like before, walked into the portal.

I don’t know if I can trust this, but according to what I know, the portal that led to the outside world was this one, and if I am right, then I should find myself in the Capital of the Elven Kingdom.

I opened my eyes, hesitantly, and then...

No...

....No!

NOOOOOOO!

I shouldn’t be here.

I shouldn’t be anywhere near here!

I was back where I started.

I was in class, the very seat where this all started, only that there was no one in the class except me.

[You don’t get it, do you? This part of the academy and the city is all that really exists. There is no one else left, and definitely nowhere else to go.]

Was...

...was it all pointless?

Was all my effort to survive all a joke?

"Hehehehehehe!" I clutched my head and laughed out loud.

I hate my life.