[Moments Later]

"1

Rey and the other survivors sat in silence on the beach, none of them in the mood to speak.

They had nothing to say, even if they wanted to speak.

O'jog had perfectly dispatched the enemies, and he ended up encasing the corpses of the hundreds of students in what appeared to be a cube of ice.

He didn't say much after that, but he did congratulate everyone for surviving while giving the cheerful smile that he was mostly known for. Perhaps if this was a much different situation, the students would have been very excited to see it, and they would have probably even gushed at the sight.

But... that didn't happen here.

They all expended drearily and gave tired smiles.

They were indeed relieved to be alive, but so much was going in their minds that lightheartedness was the last thing on their mind.

'What a weird guy...' Rey looked at O'jog with a slightly careful stare.

'He's stronger than I am... at least, in base.'

Rey knew things would change if he utilized the arsenal of skills he had at his disposal, and if he copied the other Skills that O'jog possessed, but something about this whole thing felt a little eerie to him.

He couldn't help but feel insecure.

"We're alright now..." He heard a whisper from beside him, and felt the warm touch of Cyn'dy's hand resting on his.

"Yeah. Yeah... we are."

Rey's smile was interrupted by the sudden distortion in the space right beside O'jog.

It didn't take very long for space to undulate, and those from the other side to appear right in front of the seated ones.

"T-those are...!" Rey's eyes slightly widened as he watched two more Generals from the Frost Squad appear, accompanied by the surviving students from Group 2.

Just like those of Group 1, they were about fifty in number too.

'H-hold on...'

Rey swiftly sent his mind to work and counted the number of survivors from both ends.

Each side had exactly 53 survivors, leaving a total of 106 students left.

'Is this a councidence or did he do this intentionally? Just how meticulous are you, Ater?' He wondered to himself as he sorted through the students that appeared until his eyes met Lucielle.

He saw her brighten up the moment she saw him, and he found himself going through the

same.

'It's only been a day, yet why does it feel like it's been a lot longer than that?'

Either way, he was more than glad to see her again.

"Alright, everyone! Now that you've reunited, you can go see your friends. I can only imagine how much you need to say to them." The one who said this was O'jog, and despite this words of consideration, his tone showed none of it.

He still had the usual cheerful smile, even as the two sides of students rushed to the other with tear-filled faces and strong emotions.

Following everyone's example, Rey rose from where he sat and rushed to Lucielle's side. Right behind him was Cyn'dy, who seemed to be desperately searching for her twin brother among the small crowd of fifty-three.

Rey already knew his fate, but he left it to her to find out.

"R'ai! You're alright!"

Lucielle rushed towards him, hugging him very tightly-much tighter than expected.

Rey felt slightly squished, but he didn't complain.

Why would he?

"I'm relieved to see you're fine too, Luc'ia. You had me worried sick." He smiled while winking at her.

She giggled instantly, punching him on his shoulder.

Their reunion was far more lighthearted than that of most students.

"W-where is my brother?"

"No way! She's dead? How can she die? NO!!!"

"J-just how many of us... were killed?"

"Did they suffer?"

"How many were you able to kill?"

"Did she say anything about me? About... us... before she died?"

There were many words dancing in the air, and they were filled with melancholy and downright berevement.

Both Groups had suffered only the worst of horrors, and while they were indeed relieved to see that more of their comrades survived, it was no secret that they were also scarred by the

occurences they had to witness.

Life... life was bad to them.

"U-uuu..."

"UWAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Tears flowed down the cheeks of the Newts as they finally broke down after nearly a whole day

of constant horror and tragedy.

None of the three Generals said anything as they watched all of this.

They simply watched in silence.

"Only five of us in Class 1-A survived... what a tragedy." Mi'ja whimpered as she hugged Adonis, who reluctantly wrapped his arms around her.

'Bold move...' Rey said as he watched this happen.

His eyes met Adonis, and the two nodded at each other in something of an understanding.

He could already tell that Adonis kept his end of the bargain and did his best to constantly watch and protect Lucielle at every given moment-though there really wasn't any need to. Rey and Lucielle hugged once again, partially to keep up appearances as close buddies, but also because Rey couldn't get enough of the fresh aroma that she was giving off.

'It was really smelly in the shelter, and everyone stinks from all the gore and sweat. How did she manage to stay fresh?' He wondered to himself.

"Hey, Lucie... I mean, Luc'ia, how did you manage to-" He was about to ask her the secret to her perfect hygeine, even when she was under scrutiny, when he felt the chest of someone

press behind him and sobs echoing into his ears.

Rey instantly understood what this was about.

"H-he's dead, R'ai... Man'dy is dead!" It was Cyn'dy sobbing about the death of her twin

brothet to him.

'Damnit...'

He let go of Lucielle and paid all his attention to the girl, going as far as fully embracing her

and sighing.

'... What in the world am I doing?'

He could see the slight frown on Lucielle's face as he did this. He knew she didn't approve of him growing a heart for the Dragons, but this frown seemed to be a little different from

simple disapproval.

As if to further affirm his suspicion, he got a message from his [Link] with Lucielle.

-You know she's intentionally using sympathy to win you over and steal you from me, right?~

As soon as Rey heard this, he couldn't get over how absurd it sounded.

'But... we're not together.'

- She doesn't know that, does she? At least... not for sure.~

'She just lost her brother, Lucielle.' Rey sighed internally. 'I think romance would be the last

thing on her mind.'

~You really believe that? Okay then!~

"Hmph!" After this message, she scoffed and walked away not long after.

Rey couldn't understand why Lucielle was acting in this manner, though he had a few guesses.

The strongest one was that she simply couldn't stand the Dragons, and she felt somewhat

disappointed after seeing his approach with them.

'She could also be jealous... though that makes no sense.'

Lucielle was the type to make other men jealous, not the other way around. Though, since she was stuck in a teenage body, it was possible that her emotions were getting the best of her.

'Whatever it is... I'll have to talk to her once this is all over.'

They were friends, after all.

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Thanks for reading! What do you think about the development with Lucielle so far? I'm curious...