Chapter 57

"Calm down sis! He is the one that freed you."

"Calm down? What do you mean calm down? Here I was perfectly fine waiting for someone to show up and save us, and we have this kid who is managing to bypass every bit of the cage that contained us." The new voice said to sir Greenwald who was trying to calm her down.

"You two hold him while I find out who he is. He must've been sent by the one who trapped us in the first place." The dark figure disappeared and reappeared in front of Alex.

"Cheater?" Alex muttered as he was still trying to wrap his head around everything that was said.

He nodded his head as he came to a conclusion.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion was heard as the figure was slammed into the ground.

Alex looked at his hands. Even in this pitch black environment he could see the outline of his hands. The dark mana around him was rich and vibrant, what would have made normal humans feel like they were suffocating made him feel, empowered. A dark aura surrounded Alex, and made his figure seem to glow in this dark environment.

Greenwald and Sam walked to the sides of the third figure and watched in silence as she groaned under the pressure Alex's spacial energy was putting her under.

He knelt down and asked in a quiet voice. "You called me a cheater. Any normal being would be happy with being released, and yet you were upset. It's as if you had taken part in placing this trap and got upset that I didn't follow the beaten path."

Alex had realized from just one word that something was being unsaid, but as he scanned those in front of him, they had the look of people who wouldn't give an answer.

"Who are you guys really? Do you take me for an idiot? You've already let loose that this was planned, and yet you are looking at me with these unwilling expressions as if admitting it would be a bane."

Sams lips parted slightly as he hesitated on speaking, but closed shortly after. He hadn't expected Alex's mood to flip around. Not only had he matched the violent and angry aura that his sister had shown, he had also overpowered it.

Alex released his energy and disappeared from the plane without speaking a word.

"That was… intense." Sir Greenwald said as he sat down from where he was standing.

"It was." Sam said as he turned to his sister.

"What were you thinking of? he could have killed you like you were a fly in this place where we have no power." Sam asked before weakly falling to the ground and sitting as his legs felt like noodles.

"Besides he was right. Why were you so upset that he didn't open the cage in a normal way?" He further questioned.

"I don't know."

"It just felt wrong. You saw it didn't you? He had full control over everything and anything within the memory. He even took control of a person that shouldn't have even existed. In all of the universal restarts, this hasn't happened and it feels so unnatural."

"When he returns tell him your name is Gwendolyn. Even now me and Greed still aren't sure he truly is the awakening dark one. He is several centuries ahead of the dark one, I mean just look at the stars in his memories, ????? Hasn't been extinguished yet and his soul was powerful enough to be pulled here."

"Then you agree, why didn't you question him yourself then?"

"You saw what happened, even if he isn't the dark one, he has the same traits, but they're more refined. It's like looking at a scarier version of the dark one." Sam said to Gwendolyn.

"You're free to try again, but until then I'm going to bed, this was way to much work for me."

——————

Out in the scorching sun, Alex sat unmoving.

'Every time I breakthrough with my dark affinity another one of those strange memory fragments appears. According to what I've learned, I'm supposed to watch them and learn the ugly parts that humanity tries to hide. I'm supposed to feel terrible emotions and feel helpless by the end of it, and wake up just to not be able to do anything.'

'But when I fight against it and use a powerful light mage technique, I don't have to feel any of those bad emotions and the memory is replaced by a dream. It does feel like a cheat.'

'So… it's some type of trial, but why am I being pulled into it. They act as if it had happened many times before. Are there others going through it at this moment?'

Alex looked up as he felt a tremor, and a rush of heat came his way. 'Somebody is further in than I am?'

He stood up and started moving in the direction of the tremors he could feel every so often.

He suddenly dove to the ground as a fast moving beast came into his view. The beast flew over him and skidded in the sand for a while after landing.

'A vulture. They are even uglier than their description.' Alex thought as he looked at the big bird that screeched at him.

'But even if you are a master class beast, you are a scavenger and like to avoid conflict, so why are you here?'

Alex's body twitched lightly and his eyes slightly widened before looking above to where he was headed. Several dozen bird-like creatures were circling around a area far away from Alex.

'There is no time for fighting.' Alex thought before surrounding the vulture with his spacial mana.

He held out his hand and caught a beast core before sprinting full speed in the direction of the dead or nearly dead mage. The vulture dropping to the ground as it had died instantly.

At this point Alex was traveling so fast that he was in the air longer than on the ground. A trail of sand was kicked up into the air behind him as he ran while being pulled by a propeller made out of spacial energy.

He looked to his sides as he noticed several other beasts heading in the same direction as himself. He once again caught some beast cores and continued moving.

Alex's eyes moved upwards as the screeching of all of the birds above grew loud. After looking ahead for a moment Alex's eyes widened.

'A lion, here?'

While keeping his pace Alex approached the motionless lion at full alert. Only stopping when he had scanned it and realized it had been killed. It's killer was a young mage that was hiding behind a rock and wincing as he applied pressure to a large wound across his chest.

Alex went through his bag for a moment before pulling out a vial and moving in the direction of the mage.

He paused as he recognized the mage in front of him. "Cameron."

The mage looked up as he heard Alex speak. Confusion filled his face for a moment before a flash of recognition replaced it. "A, 'cough' Alex right?"

Alex nodded and walked up to the injured Cameron. He helped him drink a healing potion as he turned to watch the swarm of flying creatures attacking the lions corpse.

After waiting for Cameron's condition to stabilize he spoke up. "So what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Huh? You haven't noticed? there was a malfunction with the portal and I was ejected at the edge of the danger zone. I'm pretty sure everyone was separated when sent through."

Alex took a moment to go through what he had been told. He hadn't even thought that there were others that were split off from the rest.

"You don't think there are others further in do you?" Alex asked.

A grim expression filled Cameron's face. "The portal usually doesn't send students there and is restricted, but instructors often use it to gather resources in more dangerous areas. If it has malfunctioned, then those restrictions could have been brought down."

Alex looked to the north as he watched the vultures with full stomachs flying away.

"I wouldn't go. There's no need to play hero, look at the state I'm in, if anyone was left further in, then they're dead. Just one beast was enough to bring me to this state, and there are hundreds over there."

"How long do you think it would take for help to arrive?" Alex asked.

Cameron thought for a moment. "It should have already arrived, or at the very least our watches would have been given a notification. From how it looks, we only have to hold out for three hours before we are pulled back."

Alex looked back to the north, before standing up. He handed Cameron another potion and some supplies.

"Head back to a safer location when you can. Most of what I passed was weaker than the master class lion you just defeated."

"Oh and here is this, I managed to fish it out before those birds snagged it from your kill." Alex said while handing him the lions beast core.

"A master class?" Cameron looked at the core in front of him, and gulped as he realized how big the threat had been. His hand held the core tightly as he grabbed it. This was the first master class beast he had defeated, and just defeating it would give his school a huge boost in points.

"Wait! You're going further?" Cameron looked at Alex as if he was a madman.

Alex sighed as he untied a bag at his waist before shaking it. The sound of marbles colliding resounded as he shook it.

"I'm a bit of an experienced hunter, and even if things turn sour, just surviving shouldn't be a problem."

"Whatever, just don't get in over your head, and whenever we get back I'll repay you for the potions, and also for saving my life."

Alex chuckled. "Even if your wound was pretty bad you would've lived until being pulled back to the school."

"Maybe, but it still would've hurt like hell."

"That is very true." Alex said while packing all his belongings up. "Alright stay safe and good luck."

Cameron watched as Alex moved toward the danger zone. A look of understanding filling his face as he watched Alex move at speeds he could only hope to reach.