It was chaos.

The beach that once smelled fresh and sweet now reeked of blood and gore.

The innards of the students were placed on full display, as the Undead Army and the battalion of machines relentlessly hunted them down.

"Kyaaah! H-helpm-!"

~BOOOOM!~

"S-save me!"

~SQUISH!~

"S-stop! Please stop! Pleashhe shtawp! Pwea-!"

~SQUELCH!~

It didn't matter what the students tried to do.... It ended in death anyway.

Resisting only made the pain last longer, and pleading was equally as ineffective. Despite the Undead and Automatons being lifeless agents of destruction, it still seemed like they relished the pleas of the dying Dragons.

It motivated them to come up with more diabolical ways to kill.

Many Dragons were torn from limb to limb. Some were roasted alive in flames, while others were simply impaled or beheaded.

Those were the lucky ones.

Those who resisted were forced to suffer even more cruel means of execution-too cruel to properly describe.

In no time at all, so many of the Newts had been culled, and the only ones left were the rather capable ones who could somewhat hold their own against the adversaries.

~SWISH!~

In one deft strike, Rey-still maintaining his R'ai persona-easily sliced through an Automaton, securing himself yet another victory and a few more seconds to live before the next opponent came after his life.

Looking at Adrien, he saw the boy was also resorting to the same means-using the bare- minimum Magic to attack the enemies.

'I initially expected Adrien to be more proactive in his fights, since the Storm Dragon would want to know why he wasn't going all-out when it would be in the best interest of the Empire if he did... but I guess this works best.' Rey thought to himself.

Adrien already said he would tell the Storm Dragon Lord that his powers were being distorted in the Southern Continent, so he could hardly access any of his true powers.

Since there would be very luttle reason to suspct Adrien of carnage reaching such proportions, he would only be lightly investigated and eventually let off.

'It wasn't like he chose the Continent for the Excursion, the time, etc. He also couldn't have rallied so many enemies of the Empire while still studying at the Empire: all of these things would be to his benefit when pleading his case.

The only real damning thing about the whole situation were the Undead being utilized, but one look at them made it clear that they weren't Adrien's creation.

As a result, he was truly off the hook.

'Other than Adrien, it seems like a few students are holding up pretty well...' Rey thought to himself as he kept up his pace and looked around.

He could barely see any of his classmates still standing.

From what Lucielle told him, only she, Mi'ja, and Adonis survived in their class. The rest of his classmates in Group 2 were dead.

'Haa...' One proper scan of the entire area showed a similar fate befalling the ones in Group 1.

'Looks like only a few of us are left, and more are going to die.'

It was doubtful if anyone in the group would even make it out alive, except maybe...

"Kyahhh! Save me, R'ai!"

... Yeah, the girl that clung tight to him during the entire crisis-Cyn'dy.

'I can choose to act cold now, and it would still not jeorpadize my identity, considering the current situation. But...' Rey sighed, recognizing full well how hypocritical he was being.

He ended up protecting her against the Undead and Automatons that came at the both of them in droves.

He noticed a few other people saw this and tried to run towards him so he would protect them, but they were all stopped by the savage enemies... paying the price for letting their guards down and clinging to hope for even a second.

Their deaths weren't pretty at all.

'Now what, though?' Rey couldn't help but think as he kept fighting and looking around him.

He wasn't tired at all, but he had to pretend to be.

"Haaa... haa..." He even leaked out heavy breaths as he began to get sluggish in his movements.

He had to stick to his persona... no matter what!

'I see less than a hundred students left now. What will happen? Are we all going to die? It's

your call, Ater...'

Since he decided to trust his Familiar's judgement, he simply played his role well.

And that led him to getting his first hit.

"Guark!" Coughing out fake blood created by Magic, he threw himself towards the ground, while vibrating his body to make it seem like he was trembling from the recoil.

"R-R'AI!" Cyn'dy cried as she rushed to the ground where he was.

She appeared genuinely worried for him, as well as scared.

'Poor girl...'

She stood right in front of him, spreading both her hands apart in order to protect him despite trembling violently herself.

'Ahh...!' Rey's eyes widened as he saw this.

The Cyn'dy he knew was timid in the face of real adversity. That was why she constantly clung

to him in the fight.

He expected her to run off and find someone else to trouble for protection, but she wasn't leaving his side. Instead... it seemed like she wanted to protect him too.

Tears fell from her face, and her small, feminine body seemed to constantly shrink as the massive Automaton raised its blade for a swift execution.

It wasn't too late for her to escape, but she maintained her ground.

"R'ai... you've been so kind to me..." As she spoke, her stuttering voice shivered due to the

fear.

"You constantly assured me in the shelter, and even now... you protected me till this point. I'm sorry I couldn't do much for you in the end, but... it's my turn to protect you." Rey's eyes widened further as he found her turning to him, smiling with sheer sincerity.

"Because... I love you."

The blade fell at that exact moment.

~SQUISH!~

*

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Thanks for reading! This is so sad, though I know many readers don't care for poor Cyn'dy.