Silence enveloped everything as Adonis shouted out his thoughts.
No one spoke a word.
They all just stared at him--everyone having distinct, yet similar expressions on their faces.
There was mutual disbelief. None could believe that the Hero, the most upright guy they knew, would ever utter such words.
... And do so in such a crass manner as well.
Many faces fell after hearing those words. The students who tried their hardest not to think about it found themselves breaking down.
No one could deny the truth.
Adonis was right. Everyone here already knew that the likelihood of any human fighting such a creature of unrivaled power was nonexistent. Even Jet an Lux stood no chance, based on what they saw.
The Adventurers were more likely dead than alive.
"Adonis... what the hell are you saying?" Tears began to fall from Alicia's eyes as she looked at the rage-filled face of the boy before her.
He looked angry, but there was no one around who his anger was directed to. The anger was directed only at himself, and when he could not take it anymore, he let it out to those he called friends.
"I--" Adonis wanted to say something, but Alicia was much faster.
"Look around you! Look at your classmates. The people you lead. Do you think we're oblivious to the more likely theory?"
As Adonis heard this, he moved his eyes around and observed the disturbed expressions of all his classmates. Most were hurting, and others looked miserable.
A few were even crying.
"We all joined the Conquest to grow stronger, but also to help the Adventurers. We did our best, but all of us failed." Alicia said, her own face also growing crestfallen.
"In the end... even after everything... we could not win."
This was nothing like the Royal Dungeon Incident, when Ralyks came and saved everyone, and it certainly wasn't like their Dungeon Raid, where he constantly watched over them.
The Conquest was their first ever independent mission, and they failed.
"Do you really think we have no idea how much we messed up? That we screwed up, and people are going to die as a result?" Alicia took a few steps forward, anger now evident in her eyes as hot tears flowed out.
Everyone's bitter face reflected just that--the weight of failure that hung on their shoulders.
They were just teenagers, yet had to carry the lives of thousands on their shoulders. Living in H'Trae had made many desensitized to the heavy burdens they carried, considering it as normal, but Alicia could not.
As someone who desired to return to Earth, she knew full well that she was only sixteen, soon to be seventeen.
She was an adult in this world, but she didn't consider herself one. None of them were adults, no matter how they tried to pretend otherwise.
"It is at times like this that you're meant to offer words of support and encouragement... not spilling out more depressing stuff for us to swallow."
At this point, she was right in front of Adonis, only a few inches from his face.
"I don't care that you're our friend, our leader, or the goddamn Hero. Nothing gives you the right to say shit like that at this point in time."
"..." Adonis' head hung shamefully as he faced the ground.
He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth as he heard what she said. Nodding as he sniffed slightly, he muttered.
"You're right. I'm sorry."
The moment he said this, Alicia hugged him tightly, allowing his sunken head to rest on her shoulder.
"I know you are, idiot." She whispered, crying as she smiled as well.
Everyone was hurting, but the one who was experiencing the most pain was Adonis. No one in the room could deny that fact.
And so, the moment Alicia hugged Adonis, everyone began to leave their positions and draw close to the two. Before they realized it, they hugged each other—all with bittersweet smiles on their faces.
"I'm sorry, guys… I shouldn't have said it like that." Adonis' words were stifled as he did his best to hold back his tears.
Everyone was there to comfort him—and one another—as they kept up their group hug.
"We get it, man." Justin spoke up, his smile not as wide as it usually was. "We got you."
Then, Clark spoke up.
"It hurts me too. I get it, Adonis."
Billy muttered his own words. "You've been a great leader. There's no need to take all of this on alone."
"Yeah. Don't blame yourself." Alicia nodded in agreement.
"Yeah…" Trisha murmured.
"We did our best. It just wasn't enough. That's not on you, or on us. Life's just fucked up like that sometimes." Eric sighed.
This time, he did not flex his glasses. Instead, his arms were wrapped around the group.
"Sir Ralyks might have saved them as well…"
The feminine voice that uttered that needed no introduction. The moment she said this, though, the gloomy mood in the air lightened slightly.
Somehow, her words seemed to resonate with a lot of the people who now smiled and muttered in unison;
"YEAH… MAYBE HE DID."
As they gradually let go of the grief and guild that plagued them, embracing the possibility that their savior could have also saved the Adventurers, a certain voice echoed in the air.
"Hey, what's that?" It came from Rey, and he was pointing at dark clouds that seemed to gather in the distance. "Is it about to rain or something?"
Rey's choice of words, as well as his off tone tainted the mood among the students. Many would have groaned and glared at him if they didn't look in the direction that he pointed to.
Sure enough, there were eerily thick clouds that floated in the distance.
Something about its growing darkness seemed malevolent, and the intensity—even from where they stood—seemed chilling.
They felt it, cold chills running down their spine and spreading throughout their body. Was this merely rain, or was a storm brewing.
Despite all of these eerie signs, there was something else that made the students look at the faraway sky in concern.
"Isn't the Capital located in that directio—?"
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!~
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Thanks for reading!
Alright! Now things are getting fun. I hope you're all excited.
Hehe…
