Beginning of the Dark Period

At noon, just after we had lunch and were about to go and idle around, the soldiers finally opened the shutters of the shelter. Their faces were marked with blood and signs of overfatigue, covered in large beads of sweat, but the smiles on their faces were enough to lift everyone's souls.

"Good news! The monster invasion has officially ended; we have managed to push them back!"

As the soldier announced this, after a brief pause of confusion, wild cheers soon followed. Even I, who was mostly unaffected by mob mentality, was unable to stop a smile from appearing on my face. After all, now that the threat is gone, this means...

"So now, everyone can finally leave the shelter. Take note, though, that the damage around the entire city is severe. Be careful out there."

"YEEEEEAHHHH!!!"

Another cheer, louder than before, echoed. Others were jumping around or kissing their loved ones to celebrate, while I, on the other hand, silently went out and slipped away. We're free already; anyway, what's wrong with going first? I'd rather not wait for them to swarm the exit later while I inch my way out.

As soon as I left the underground area, reaching halfway up the stairs, my phone suddenly rang... almost endlessly. Dozens of notification pings rang from my phone, telling me of unread and unreceived messages that suddenly flooded in. The underground shelter was blocking all sorts of radio signals, so we couldn't receive or send messages before.

"Let's see..."

I read the messages as I slowed down my walking pace, starting from the oldest messages up to the latest. The first message was from Father, telling me that he was safe in the shelter near his office. Since they have high-level military personnel there, it was easier to defend their location.

My Sister didn't go to the shelter immediately but rather participated in the defense. As her level was pretty high, she was pretty active in fighting the monsters back. However, Mother met up with my sister and scolded her, making them stay in the shelter together. It was the military's job to clear the monsters, after all.

"So all three of them are really safe." I closed my phone and sighed.

Other than their messages, there was nothing else. Well, I was half expecting a text from Toki, but there was none. I guess she forgot about the thing regarding the staff already... I should remind her later, yeah.

After I turned off my phone, preserving its last bar of battery, I ran back home. Along the way, the scenery greatly changed, though. Buildings that stood tall were destroyed, and homes were literally turned to rubble. I was worried that our home was in the same state—no, more like I was worried about my PC.

"Please be safe!" I prayed as I ran as fast as I could.

While running, I felt something amiss, but since I couldn't really figure it out, I just left it alone.

The distance from the school to my house was more or less three kilometers. It wasn't far, but it wasn't too close either—just the right walking distance. With me running at top speed, I reached our gates in less than a minute, panting as I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Oh no..."

The house... Was half-destroyed. I guess some monster landed on top of it or was slammed against it, as the roof, half of the walls, and the entire attic were destroyed. "My PC!" I shouted as I ran inside, jumping over the holes in the wall and reaching my room on the second floor instantly.

Without a single hesitation in my movements, I entered my now-destroyed room and scanned the place. The wall facing the road was gone, as was the roof, but other than that, it was relatively in one piece. I heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that my PC was still up and running, even now.

"..."

Curious, I moved toward it, dusted the keyboard, and leaned closer. The screen was slightly cracked, but the text could still be barely read. I quickly picked up the fallen chair and focused on surfing the internet, looking for information regarding the latest monster attack that just happened.

Information on it was a dime a dozen, unlike my expectations. It seems like the monster attack didn't only happen in our city, City B, but in other cities around the country... No, around the entire globe!

The main cause was apparently still under investigation, but there were already biases regarding the true reason for the invasion. Some were definitely just conspiracy theorists going wild, but some contained bits of information that sounded pretty plausible.

As I delved in deeper, the more nefarious rumors immediately caught my eye. Apparently, a certain group of people were blaming those who had the "golden border" display as the cause of this event. If not the main cause, then at least related to it in some way. After all, they appeared right before the entire monster invasion started.

"Wait, I'm one of them too..." I quickly recalled how I was able to remove the border on my status after I class-upped. "No... Rather than that..."

Memories, blurry as if they were of a long past, flashed past my eyes. The words on my status display and the description included after my class-up. The thing about the "World Opening" or something...

"... No way... Was I the cause of all this?"

It might be a little egocentric to think that the event happened all because of me, but looking back, that was the most likely explanation. After all, the invasion started shortly after I gained my new class, World Breaker, a completely new and unknown class, together with that weird last sentence on the popup window.

I quickly shook my head, dismissing the thought. After all, even if that were true, I have no proof right now. And even if I have proof, why would I announce to the entire world that the monster invasion was caused by my class-up? This information should be kept to myself and locked deep in my vault of secrets.

"...?"

I tilted my head as I suddenly recalled something important. I wasn't the only one who saw the weird last sentence on my popup. There was QUEEN back then too!

"... I doubt she's snitching on the military regarding that one... but..."

Looking at it objectively, if she did tell the military about it, then I wouldn't even be able to leave the shelter. They would surely filter all shelters, looking for me, and then present me to their higher-ups as the cause of this tragedy.

"Well, no... I doubt that'll really happen." I lightly laughed, but the shivering of my voice was pretty unsettling.

*CREAK!*

A loud sound echoed, prompting me to turn around and lower my stance. In one swift motion, I pulled Kyouya's spear to my side and held the scythe knife in reverse grip, preparing to attack whatever it was that I could feel approaching.

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

Rhythmic footsteps echoed, slowly approaching the door of my room. Then, without any warning, the door flew in as it got kicked out of the way.

"MAHIROOOOOO!"

A familiar voice echoed before my vision was blocked. Two soft bulges poked my eyes as I was unable to close them in time. This woman is even faster than my blink?!

"*Mmmmm* *mmm*! (Geeeet offf!)"

I raised a muffled voice as I tried to pry her off of me. Rather, I was surprised I wasn't sent tumbling down as she literally jumped straight to my face. Was it because my stats got a boost?

"...?"

"...?"

Unlike what I expected, however, I was able to easily pry her off of me. This surprised the two of us, of course. Me for not expecting to achieve such a feat, and her for not expecting such strength to come from me.

After the realization hits her, a frown covers her face. Slowly, a bloody aura was released from all over her body as she activated her body-strengthening skill.

"Wait, no stop!" I quickly backed away, cold sweat running down my forehead.

After all, behind me is my one and only treasure! If she continues, I'm afraid my PC will get damaged, if not straight-up destroyed. 

"How dare you defy your sister! You need a beating! Chyuuuu~!"

She lunged forward, her lips puckering as if about to kiss something. I quickly moved out of the way, but as expected, she had great control of her body. She didn't miss a single instance and followed my movements. Her face approached mine... And stopped.

"OWOWOWWOOWOW!"

She was screaming in pain as her hair was pulled back. I turned to look behind her and felt my blood run cold. Mother was standing behind her before I could even notice, tugging at the long hair that was dragging behind her as she moved. Her face was pasted with her usual smile, but the aura she was releasing was beyond what I could ever imagine coming from her... What the hell is her current level?!

"Kaaaeeeedeeee...?"

Her words were like a death sentence to my sister, as her face immediately turned blue. Without any resistance, she quickly quieted down and knelt before her, kowtowing. "I apologize, Mom! I won't do it again, I promise! So please lower that fist!!!"

"As you wish," Mother said with a smile, bringing the fist that she was curling down onto Kaede's head. I hope her brain's still okay after that resounding strike... Wait, does she even have a brain anyway?