Chapter 62: 59: Lapse.
Inconvenient.
The collapse of the entirety of reality, inconvenient.
Edward had the sudden urge to pull his hair out.
He stared at Raum, his eyes growing hollower as time passed despite his best effort to cope with everything that was currently going on.
"I’m gonna... kill everything?"
Raum gave him a lighthearted shrug.
"That is one way to put it."
Edward opened his mouth, closed it, took a deep breath, and opened it again. Only to inevitably end up speechless.
Instead, the tears that started flowing down his cheeks did the talking for him.
There was this knot in his throat, an incredibly painful one. No matter how much Edward tried to suppress the pain, the tears that were welling up in his eyes—he just couldn’t.
What kind of cruel fate was this?
What sort of unfair punishment was this...
He was...
"I’m gonna kill them all..."
It was more a statement than anything, acknowledging the gravity of his situation.
Raum didn’t say anything, giving him time to process all this information.
A long time passed. Edward’s mind was racing for answers—any answers. His thoughts kept looping in circles, crashing into dead ends. The meadow around them swayed gently under the fractured sky, as if mocking his panic with its quiet calm. Every breath he took felt too shallow, too sharp, like the air itself was rejecting him.
He dug his nails into his palms.
There has to be something. Something I can do.
But no matter how desperately he searched through his thoughts, all he found was a wall—a blank, suffocating wall where hope should’ve been.
It was... hopeless.
He was going to cause the collapse of everything that had existed in this world.
He looked at Raum through his blurry vision.
"Is there no way?"
The old man gave him a meaningful look.
"The leech." He shifted in his seat, folding his hand neatly on top of the table. "That system of yours—Even I can’t be sure of what it can do."
A moment of somber silence stretched between them. Raum might have been a eldritch entity, but for all that mattered, even that thing was being kind towards Edward right now.
Then, out of nowhere, a deafening groan erupted from the sky, drowning the world with a noise so intense that Edward felt his bones rattle.
Raum turned his gaze toward a particular crack in the sky, studying it for a long moment before finally speaking.
"It seems that our time here is finally up."
"But—!"
Raum stopped him.
"Enough, child. It is time for you to leave. I will try to lessen the burden for you as best as I can, but even I cannot say how long I can keep the information at bay."
Then he snapped his fingers.
The world ceased to exist.
Next moment, Edward was back in the familiar cave, holding Selene’s hand as he blinked away the confusion in his eyes.
He tilted his head slightly.
"Raum...?"
Why was that name in his head?
Then, when his mind finally caught up with time, he jumped in surprise, whipping his head around the cave to look for his companions.
Rowan was the closest—crumpled near a boulder, one hand clawed into the dirt, his nails glowing faintly with leftover mana. His chest rose and fell steadily, but his brow was furrowed so tightly it looked painful. Like he was fighting something even in unconsciousness.
Calen lay half-buried under rubble that must’ve fallen during... whatever dragged them here. Edward crawled toward him, ignoring the throbbing in his skull. The moment he reached out, Calen’s fingers twitched.
"Calen—Calen, are you okay?"
A pained groan escaped him, but relief washed through Edward. Alive. Bruised. But alive.
Aria was farthest away, slumped against a pillar of glowing stone, her blade still clutched in her hand even in unconsciousness. A crackling aura flickered around her fingers—like her mana had tried to shield them at the last second but failed.
Edward took in a shaky breath, then turned back toward Selene.
She looked like the least hurt out of all of them except Edward, having only a small cut on her cheek, which looked like it was already healing.
He tried to shake her awake.
There was no response.
Edward bit back the panic that was rising within him.
Then he shook her again.
On his second try, her eyes tore open, alarm flashing through them as she sucked in a terrified gasp.
She sat up in a hurry, breathing heavy as she let out a groan. Still clutching Edward’s hand as she steadied herself.
"Are you okay?" Edward asked in a low voice, his concern apparent in the shakiness of his speech.
Selene took a moment to reply, but when she did, she gave him a nod.
"I’m fine... where are the others?"
Then she finally registered the place they were in.
"Where the hell—Whoa! Calen!?"
She flicked her hand, and her wand materialized into existence. She whispered something, and then waved the wand. The rubble on top of Calen started floating in the air with a light sheen, creaking as the titanic weight of it all moved upwards.
Calen crawled out from underneath the rubble, letting a low groan as he finally reached a safe distance away.
The rubble fell back into place with a loud noise, and Calen sat up, rubbing the back of his head as he spoke.
"Thanks." He breathed out.
He let out a couple of coughs, blood spraying out of his mouth as he did so.
Selene moved toward Rowan next, who was already starting to stir.
She took his hands, holding it on her palms before sending a wave of mana through his body, which Edward was barely able to sense. Rowan startled awake as well.
Aria was still out cold, her sword made out of ethereal light blinking and flickering, most likely from how unstable her condition was.
They all quietly huddled around Aria, waiting for time to pass as they waited for their leader to wake up from her slumber.
