She gritted her teeth as she felt the heat in her body slowly dissipate, the amount of mana in her core just fizzling out.

The further she reached within herself, she felt her very life at risk. To think that Zeke reached the end of his Mana pool not once, but multiple times spoke volumes of how incredibly resilient and incredibly stupid he was.

Even now as he looked like he was about to die while trying to help Valorie survive. It’s only been a few minutes, but the tension was rising ever higher as Cloud was losing his mind while creating a very elaborate and extensive rune array.

At this point, Val was surrounded by every piece of leather scrolls and small but shimmering metal bars inscribed with intensively complex runes. Every single one was formed into a circle with Val as the center point.

Cloud was losing more and more of that calm and composed look, showing a raging lunatic trying to do the impossible. At first, Mikella wanted to kill this man for forcing Zeke to nearly kill himself to save his wife.

Now, she wanted him to stop for his own sake. Looking at him now filled her with dread, as though he was ready to sign a pact with the devil, and the rune array he was making was really leaning towards that conclusion.

The others didn’t fare any better. It was obvious in their minds and hearts that saving Val was important. She was their captain, and clearly they don’t want her to turn into a zombie for several reasons, one of which was important since she might kill them all if she did.

But they clearly showed signs of fear and doubt at both Cloud’s losing control over himself, and the horrific state Zeke was in. For Mikella, her heart cried out in pain to find Zeke like this.

He looked like he already died, his eyes were just staring blankly at Val, or somewhere farther away than they all realized. His face was pale and he was already cold to the point that his body was stiff frozen, like a corpse. She had to constantly remind herself that he still lived, his heart still beating.

Even worse, blood was dripping from his face. They started profusely from his nose, then his ears. So when his eyes began to bleed from the pressure of losing so much mana from this clearly hardcore casting, Mikella knew she was out of her depth.

She couldn’t do a thing, and Myra was working overtime to make sure that she didn't lose herself in despair. Zeke was still alive, but it was like watching a man being tortured while being forced to watch it all. Was he even present in all this? She can’t even tell, and her special status was not mentioning anything.

Zacharia was apparently the one trying to stop all this madness at first, surprising her a little. But as the moment passed, he recognized the danger of leaving Val like this. Eventually, Cloud stood up, breathing heavily as he finally finished his preparations.

The array was done, and now it was time for it to start. The other soldiers separated from the circle, leaving Val and Zeke behind. While Zeke doesn’t necessarily have to be in the circle, it was hard to distance himself away from his venture into the spell. Mikella could only pray that things go well, and for once, she regretted not getting into magic.

“Cloud, are you sure this will work?” Zacharia asked. His tone was filled with doubt and worry, contrary to how he usually is.

“If not, we’re in for a pretty shitty evening,” Cloud said, his voice harsh and rough. He pressed his hands together in a sort of prayer sign, each index finger pressed together as he closed his eyes.

Mana started swirling around, something that even Mikella could tell as they were all converging onto the array circle. The runes inscribed into each item and medium glowed with powerful light that encompassed the entire hall they were in.

They were finally able to get through this nightmare of a scenario, but Mikella realized something was wrong. The mana–it was turning wild, almost fluctuating at a random pace. Even Cloud noticed the disturbance as he surveyed the room, trying to scope out the source.

Then the entire room, no, perhaps the dungeon itself began to rumble. The soldiers panicked as the room shifted like there was an earthquake, and some even fell over to their hands and knees. It was then that Mikella remembered something that she truly wished wouldn’t happen.

If this tower is the same as the last one, then isn’t it possible that the tower could disappear into some void and be crushed into dust like before? Was it possible that by killing Alex, the tower is instigating its ‘fuck off’ procedure?

“Cloud!” Mikella shouted, her eyes widening into saucers. “The tower! It’s starting to fall apart!”

“What?!” Cloud shouted in shock and horror. It was already bad enough that Val was about to turn, but it was even worse to find the place they were at was about to break apart.

“The last time this happened, there was a portal that led us out of here. But…” Mikella searched around, then through her memories. The portal should’ve been there when they reached the exit. “It’s not here…”

“Shit!” Myra shouted. “Then what do we do, leave?!”

“We can’t!” Cloud shouted. “Not without Val!”

“It’s too late!” Zacharia shouted. “I know it’s hard, but think about the others! Are you truly willing to abandon them all?!”

“Don’t you do this to me, Zacharia,” Cloud hissed, almost growling at the general even as the tower still continued to rumble. “Don’t make me choose.”

“You bastard!”

It was clear now that the two have lost themselves. Zacharia wanted to leave and preserve their lives, and Cloud was willing to make their choice whether they wanted to or not. At this point, Mikella was full on ready to drag Zeke out of there and leave. She hated the idea, but she can’t leave Clara alone, not in this horrible world where death could be anywhere and everywhere at once.

But just as the soldiers were losing to despair, and the leaders were ready to fight to the death right here and now, something changed.

The world shifted.

A feeling of weight ensued all around them. A pressure unlike anything they ever felt before fell on top of them. The ground began to crack, small spider web-like cracks forming on the stone from the pressure. The soldiers and even the leaders were left to their knees.

Another wave hit them, Paul and Philip falling unconscious to it. Jackie still groaned in pain as his face was planted on the ground.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Myra, Piker, and Mikella were the ones who managed to stand, but barely, and the leaders looked on in awe at a single direction.

They were staring at the circle, but not at Val. They were staring at Zeke. When she saw Zeke herself, she was at a loss.

Zeke’s eyes turned bright blue and green, the two colors swirling together in an eternal harmonious dance. Then they turned bright blue, covering the eyes entirely as if a presence had taken over. She felt it–the pressure. This power… it was all coming from him.

But how?

Zeke opened his mouth, and a strange, almost otherworldly roar escaped his lips. It was his voice, but it transcended.

There was weight in that roar.

Whatever it was that happened, the rumbling immediately stopped. Or rather, it failed to continue, as if it was denied access to whatever it was about to do, all thanks to Zeke. It was left there, just hanging in the air.

Almost as if he stopped the tower from beginning to fall apart.

Cloud immediately took this chance. Whatever it was that happened, Zeke once again saved the day by stopping the destruction of the tower. He pressed his hands and closed his eyes once again, his own Mana beginning to churn the array to restart again.

The runes glowed bright once more and the circle slowly became encased in that light. As Zeke’s mouth hung open, his eyes still blue, both he and Val were covered in the bright white light of the array.

Then Cloud roared as he pressed his hand on top of the circle. His eyes grew frantic as a wave of dominant white light emanated from the circle all throughout the room.

Another wave exploded outward, and unlike the immense pressure of Zeke’s aura, this one cleared away whatever impurity Mikella had. She didn’t even know what it was, but the passing pure energy pushed straight through her soul and towards whatever void it headed into.

She soon saw all sorts of murky, black mana coming out of everyone, particularly from Zacharia as he began to look immensely better compared to before. Even more importantly, every single iota of that murky mana from Val’s body was burned away as the main centerpoint of the ritual, and even Zeke, in all his power, was blown away from being so close, landing far away from the circle like a doll with no will of his own.

The energy diminished in its glow, and as the bright light faded, nothing but extremely goopy black sludge covered the area where the ritual circle was once at. Val stood right at the center of it all, in the only clear spot where there was no sludge whatsoever.

Cloud ran through the sludge without a care, the sludge being nothing but gunk at this point as he hugged the still blank Val tightly.

“Val!” Cloud shouted. “Val, it’s me, Cloud. Please, please, wake up. We need to go home!”

It took some forceful tugs and push from Cloud, however gentle it was, and soon it finally came into fruition. Val’s blank look slowly returned, and consciousness returned to her eyes.

She looked back at the now practically withered Cloud, and her mouth opened wide. “C-Cloud…”

Her voice was harsh and almost gravelly, and her complexion was desolate, but there were clear signs of life in her.

“Val!” Cloud almost cried out as he hugged his wife, his eyes turning red-brimmed and his breath short and haggard.

“G-Geez, Cloud, take it easy…” Val said, her voice struggling to speak, but she smiled wryly. “I’m still hurting in places…”

The other soldiers could only smile at the sight, but Mikella was currently in full panic mode as she ran towards the downed Zeke along with Myra.

“Zeke!”

She knelt towards Zeke and pulled him up to her side. Checking his body, he was absolutely cold, but there was still a hint of his heart beating when she pressed her ear to his chest.

Myra offered to heat him up by using her hands charged with her Fire aspect mana and surrounding Zeke with a wave of heat. As though that was enough, Zeke fluttered his eyes open to find the two girls looking down on him.

“Zeke, are you okay?” Mikella asked, rubbing his cheek and other parts of his face to find anything that could prove detrimental.

For a moment, Zeke just watched as though he wasn’t even there. Then, his eyes darted around, as though noticing something.

Without answering, Zeke forced himself to pull up, his head wobbling left and right as the other soldiers finally noticed him. Then he raised his hand upwards.

It was weak, and it kept trembling as though he was using every ounce of strength he had left. But something happened when he did so.

Another tremendous wave of pressure emanated from beyond them, forcing the others to look back to find a swirling white portal right where the giant zombie was crashed into. As though everything around it was getting warped, they all headed straight through the portal, the suction alone enough to bring in rocks and pebbles straight into it.

Mikella could only gape as she can’t imagine how on earth Zeke was able to pull that off. But when she looked back at him, Zeke looked incredibly dizzy and then turned his head to the side and barfed. The contents was nothing but blood as it nearly drenched his side into a small puddle.

Everyone stayed absolutely silent at the sight, then when Zeke stopped and looked back at it, he finally spoke up.

“Huh… that’s new…”

He then promptly fainted right on top of the puddle, zonked out of consciousness.

“Zeke!”

Mikella picked him up instantly and wiped off the blood covering his face while trying to ensure he was still alive. Despite literally barfing what looked like a half-gallon of blood, he still managed to breathe and stay alive.

“Come on! Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Zacharia called out, immediately getting everyone’s attention as he pointed at the portal. “Carry the boy over and let’s leave!”

The reason for the urgency is that the rumbling was once again restarting, causing the ground to shift and the walls to shake.

Everyone got the picture immediately as they all picked themselves up and ran over to the portal. Jackie and Piker helped pick up Philip and Paul as they were still knocked unconscious from the pressure Zeke emitted.

Meanwhile, Mikella and Myra helped carry Zeke, while Val and Cloud held onto each other as they walked. Val looked incredibly weak, but it wasn’t surprising to find Cloud utterly devoid of energy after the array.

Somehow, one way or another, they all managed to leave the crumbling tower behind through the portal that Zeke managed to summon, leaving everything behind that wasn’t of importance.

…..

The group watched in awe as they all stood in front of the tower from the gateway that looked similar to how they entered from the inside.

Several minutes passed, and the sudden breath of fresh air from the outside world was like a wakeup call for some. Not only have Philip and Paul woke up, but any hint of exhaustion left their bodies.

That is until Mikella shouted again.

“Let’s get as far away from the tower as possible,” She warned the others. “We do not want to be here when it happens.”

“When what happens?” Piker asked, sounding more interested in how she said it.

“Trust me, you want to stay away,” Mikella didn’t offer anything else other than a shake of her head. She then prodded Myra to move with her as she gladly helped carry the still downed Zeke away.

The others quickly followed her as they looked back to find exactly what was about to happen.

The rumblings ensued once again. The portal began to destabilize, warping in and out of existence.

In that instance, the tower that looked like it could pierce the sky suddenly started to crumble and break apart piece by piece. The roaring sound of the destruction was equal to a raging storm as everything within close proximity broke and shattered. Even the ground itself couldn’t withstand the force as everything was getting absorbed into the portal.

Soon the tower, the portal, and a good portion of the ground ceased to be, disappearing into the void. Nothing was left behind except a giant circular crater on the ground.

Everyone around them froze at the sight. Even the leaders, including Val, Cloud, and Zacharia stared in wonder at what they saw. Then, as though unified, they all looked back at Mikella who watched with a mild expression.

After all, she had seen it before. And she couldn’t help but be dissatisfied. The last time this happened, a giant ghost knight was sucked in and gave them a rather morbid message about fate or something.

So she just looked back at the rest with a shrug and responded: “It was actually not that bad.”

Nobody could really comment on that, so they decided to leave it at that.