Chapter 22 - Sudden Return

A few days later.

Ayumu opened his eyes in a daze, his shallow sleep being broken by the cries of birds outside the window. He moved his gaze toward the window on the wall beside him and remained apathetic to the glorious sun that shone through.

He kept silent for a short while as if a huge boulder weighed on his heart. Mustering up the strength and will, he blinked and placated his turbulent emotions before standing up and getting out of bed.

The silent and depressing room echoed with his footsteps until he arrived at the door. Waving his arm, the door opened on its own and he was greeted with the same repressing hallways that lacked any hint of warmth.

Even though it was nearing summer already, Ayumu felt the world around him was freezing cold and lacked any form of warmth. It was gloomy and somber as if it was missing the sun that illuminated the world in its joyful sunshine.

However, he doesn't have the time to be dilly-dallying like this. He knew that if he wanted things to take a turn for the better, his efforts were required.

So, he continued to walk through and remain strong amidst the hard times.

He went down the stairs with each of his footsteps creaking the glossy steps. Even though there was plenty of house staff around, they also exuded a gloomy and repressed aura just like Ayumu.

Upon arrival at the manor's living room, Ayumu was greeted by the sight of his wife holding a glass chalice of wine on one of the living room's numerous couches. In front of her, a bottle of blood-red wine stood beside a floating hologram.

Ayumu sighed upon seeing his wife like this. His beautiful, lovely, and dazzling life now seemed like a dull gem that lost all its luster. Her usual vibrant aura was now replaced by a melancholic mood.

He walked up to her with slow and steady steps. Then, he wordlessly sat down beside her and grabbed his own cup, and poured his own wine.

Putting the cup near his mouth, he inhaled the sweet aroma of the wine and sighed. He opened his mouth wide, and with a turn of his hand, gulped down the entire cup of wine and felt a warm sensation spread down to his entire body.

That moment of warmth seemed to have spurred him on as he looked at the hologram floating on the table ahead of him. On it, the picture of a happy family was reflected in his eyes—his family.

A family that was once complete was now shattered and broken.

Their son was now missing from a sudden ambush by an unknown organization. Even with plenty of the government's resources being poured into trying to find traces and clues, it was as if all forms of leads were erased and lead to nothing but more unknowns.

Even the best minds of the government were stumped by this strange conundrum.

The start was clear. They were ambushed, and due to the scythe of death, five students decided to risk their lives for others and went on to fight against the villains that appeared.

Due to various reasons ranging from accidents to moments of wanting to live, they all killed all the members of the unknown organization for their guaranteed safety, after all, a dead man can do no harm… unless someone can revive the dead of course.

But the main reason for all these deaths was due to one person, Dolian Tatori. He spurred them on with the usage of his quirk, and through the government's analysis, they confirmed that Dolian planted the idea of killing into their minds because of good intentions.

Dolian remained cool-headed till the end. He took the lead and minimized any forms of risk to near zero. The killing was, even though they don't want to admit it, more effective than capturing them alive or knocking them unconscious.

In a way, the sins of all the killing the five have done rest on a single pair of shoulders. Dolian knew what he was doing and did it for the safety of a hundred other students.

Because of this, the government decided to pardon the veritable crimes the five have done and instead was now trying to locate the missing Dolian and uncover what mysterious organization behind this sudden twist of events that occurred all throughout the country in numerous schools at the same time.

But of course, they were also doing this because Dolian was the country's lifeline on the sanity of two certain powerhouses. If they aren't careful, then chaos and strife might very well spread throughout the nation and bring about a disaster.

The clock was ticking, and two certain depressed masters of the mind stared at their family picture in a daze.

…

Inside Glory Woods, the forest belonging to the Glory Family.

A group of four students trained hard within the forest with gargantuan trees that rose up to the sky like giants. The girth of each tree is comparable to three grown men spreading their arms and grabbing each other to fully hug the tree.

With shadows cloaking the gloomy woods, Alastor mustered up strong winds and waved his arm. Deep scars appeared on the trunk of the tree as his eyes crackled with vibrant electricity.

He took a deep breath and stopped himself from further letting his anger cloud his mind. He instead turned to look toward the others and saw them training hard just like him.

Aleksandra struck deadly blows with each of her moves. A simple boxing job, at her level and expertise, tore through the entire thick trunk of a random tree and the air pressure even carve a deep crater in the tree behind it.

Luke was creating tons of complex pieces of technology. His bio-metal body squirmed and shimmered as floating metallic balls hovered around him.

Pindle on the other hand sat down on the ground and scribbled down on her holographic notes. She wore a white gown and fiddled with the chemicals in front of her. Numerous vials were filled to the brim with colorful liquids, and some clearly appeared hazardous as they shimmered with a mystical glow.

They were all focusing their focus on training. This was a direct result of the events that transpired a few days ago.

In that traumatic and dangerous event, a period wherein their lives were put on the line, they stared at death right in the eye, only to then be greeted by the despair brought by powerlessness.

Even Alastor, a prideful boy that believes in his strength, was spat on the face by a simple trick of the enemy through one single use of a portal. He was baited in, and before he knew it, he was out at sea and was lost for hours on end.

Pindle, Luke, and Aleksandra faced the same.

After all of their endless bloodshed, they faced the same hopeless twist of events. A single enemy decimated them all, not through a strong quirk, but through experience and wit.

Even Aleksandra could kill Two in the blink of an eye if she was given the chance, but why would Two give her that chance in the first place?

It was a total beatdown on them, a straight-up hunt where he defeated them all in a row without pause.

They were so close to success. They gave up on mercy and pushed through with the killing. Their hands were coated in the blood of many as a pile of corpses stood below them, and yet, even after all that, they failed at the final moment.

Instead, Dolian took the risk and sacrificed his own safety for the others. He knew that by pushing the villains through the portal as the reports said, the safety of the students was already guaranteed.

His brilliance was indeed his downfall because he knew that by the time the villains can return back to the underground bunker through another wormhole, he would have stalled for enough time for the backup to arrive and give them plenty of security.

If he didn't know that, and if he wasn't so confident, maybe he would have taken on another approach that was less secure but still gave him a chance at survival, unlike this current situation of pure selflessness.

Alastor sat down on the ground and leaned back on the trunk of a random tree. He stared up at the sky in contemplation as his memories of that sudden ambush replayed in his mind.

He could remember it vividly.

The first explosion, the panic everyone felt except for one as they rushed through the camp and entered the underground bunker, the presence of their bleeding teacher, the blood-curdling speech, the feeling of facing death so closely, the way the blood coated his hands and feet while bits of flesh were splattered all around, the scarlet liquid creating a sea around him, and the way he was helpless while stranded out at sea.

It was so exciting, anxiety-inducing, and also depressing.

'If only I was stronger.'

'If only I trained harder.'

'If only I was smarter.'

'If only I was more like…' He clenched his fist to the point that his knuckles turned white. 'If only I was more like Dolian.'

His soul growled with irascible anger. His quirk yearned to release it all out and bring a cataclysm. He wanted to strike down lightning and create a raging storm. He wanted to bring a tsunami down on those who took Dolian away and on the villains that attacked them.

His blood boiled as he felt his anger resonate with his quirk.

The others felt the same.

Aleksandra stood silently in front of a broken tree. Her golden hair fluttered amidst gusts of wind as she bit her lips to the point blood seeped out.

Luke's blue eyes projected a floating hologram in front of him. The scene of Dolian throwing himself at the villains without a care for his life replayed again and again, a video he managed to gain from the hidden camera in the underground bunker.

Pindle held a vial of fiery red liquid as she felt her emotions seep out into the vial. She felt that if she were to drink it, a burning rage would swallow her heart and bring her an abnormal amount of strength.

Not a single one of them uttered a word.

The soft winds blew causing the roof of leaves above them to rustle, uplifting the mood by just a bit with the natural ambiance.

Alastor lifted his arm and looped the wind around his fingers.

Aleksandra floated up into the air and landed on a thick branch that could hold her weight. Her eyes broke past the barrier of leaves and stared at the dazzling forest all around them.

Luke went back to creating schematics and blueprints for his other advance gadgets.

Pindle moved on to deepen her theoretical knowledge and browsed through the thick book beside her.

Time continued to pass as the group of four guilt-ridden students stared at the darkening sky. One by one, they each started to tidy up and grabbed their respective belongings.

Another bout of soft wind rustled the leaves around them as Pindle's hat accidentally got carried away by the wind that came.

Just as she was about to run toward it and grab it, they all heard a strange sound and a gaping hole appeared in front of them.

Through the hole, they then heard a loud boom as three figures broke through the smoke and through the portal that appeared.

"Fuck!" A man with black hair and orange eyes held his hand that bled and stared at the portal in front of the trio that suddenly appeared.

"You okay?" Another man with dark purple hair and purple eyes asked as he tried to swiftly close the portal that opened up.

Lastly, the young boy between the two manifested golden scales all around his body as he growled, "The portal won't close! His authority over space is above yours!"

Just as the familiar boy said so, a hand pierced through the rapidly closing and tore it open once more. Through it, a man wearing a fluttering black cloak and a silver mask walked through the newly opened portal. His pair of piercing blue eyes erupted with immense bloodlust that made all of them shudder, even the group of four that were far away.

"Dolian?!" They all shouted in unison at this sudden twist of events.

AN: This chapter has 2103 words.

Next chapter is where things go from normal to opening the path of galaxy brain. Also, go read Soul of Negary because I took HEAVY INSPIRATION (a fancy way of saying plagiarism) from its super duper awesome power system and, surprisingly, it kind of blends well with LOTM's sequences, although the subject of Great Old Ones is still iffy because I can't really gauge their level of strength.

(April 14, 2023 - 505th day of writing)