Memory Reaper's Ascension

The silence in the empty house was deafening.

Ishiki knelt on the worn floorboards, his arms still curled around a space that was now just air. His tears had already stopped—not because the pain had faded, but because he was simply empty. There was nothing left to cry.

The whole house trembled as more and more violent tremors ran through the island.

For minutes Ishiki just sat there—His blue eyes were staring at something that no one could see. His mind was a blank slate, scrubbed clean by grief.

The tremors shaking the island felt distant and completely irrelevant to him.

Let the house fall. Let the island break into thousand parts. What was the point of surviving if the reason for his survival was gone?

Why was his fate so cruel? What had he done to deserve something like this? Why couldn't his mother be actually alive? What had she done to die that day?

Yeah... deep down he always knew, didn't he? He just didn't want to believe it. How could he simply accept that the mother who gave him all her love, even when she was being crushed by responsibilities, had perished.

He was glad that he felt that way actually... at least it defined that he was still a human. He still had the frail heart and mind of a normal human being.

He let out a long sigh... looking at the bigger picture, he wasn't alone in his grief.

If he understood it right, most of the players that reached this island had met their loved ones and they were only something created from their memories... and not everyone had met someone.

So, almost everyone had lost someone when the disaster happened on earth. He was just another person living through what most did... in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter much.

A sudden tremor made him loose balance and he was jutted back to reality as he placed his hands to support his body.

He looked up. The window frame was rattling violently as the rumbling intensified. Dust rained from the ceiling, coating his hair in gray powder. A crack zig-zagged across the plaster wall like a lightning bolt.

His mother had commanded him to live and so will he.

Ishiki slowly unfurled his limbs and stood up, wiping his face with a sleeve that was already stiff with dried sweat and tears. His eyes were dull, the light in them had dimmed.

He walked to the window and looked outside. Everything was in utter chaos as remaining players ran away from collapsing buildings. Some were heartbroken as they realized that their precious family members were just another illusion among many.

Another tremor followed, stronger than before. If it could be called a tremor... it felt as if god's hammer had befallen upon capital of Aethelburg.

Ishiki jumped the moment he felt the strong tremor start... He hit the ground with a roll that was purely instinctive and then burst into a sprint but he couldn't get far before a deafening sound rose and then whole island shuddered.

The floating Capital of Aethelburg had fallen to the ground.

The sudden collapse sent such strong quacks into the entire island that its slowly started to crack.

Behind Ishiki, the small house gave a final groan. The roof collapsed inward, the walls buckled, and with a roar of splintering wood and crumbling stone, the place where he had lived with his mother for a year turned into a rubble.

Ishiki watched it fall. He didn't flinch... He didn't even blink. It all felt comical... how cunningly had the system weaved all this. On earth he was below the floating islands and now he was above... witnessing the same ordeal in a different world from a different perspective.

The earth beneath his feet started to crack open as a shockwave tore through the Outer Ring.

He looked up toward the massive golden wall that encircled the city—the First and the largest Wall, the impenetrable barrier that had kept the horrors of the outside world at bay for centuries.

It was falling.

Multiple sections of the wall, kilometers long and hundreds of meters high, were crumbling here and there.

Massive blocks of golden stone, each the size of a house, rained down with apocalyptic force. The sound of their impact was a continuous, rolling thunder that drowned out everything else.

From one side, dust clouds billowed up like mushroom clouds, obscuring the Crimson Moon.

Not too far away the blocks fell into the red ocean... making the water level rise and reach the ends of the fallen city.

Ishiki stared at the destruction with wide eyes... everything was falling apart, just like once had said that they were a bunch of demolisher and not builders.

The statement was coming true right in front of his very eyes.

And then, through the haze of his apathy, something dark and ominous stirred in his gut as if an unseen weight has descended upon him.

He felt fear.

No... it wasn't fear exactly. It was terror—a terror that had made its place deep into his heart.

Ishiki stood up and ran towards the main street through the rubble and dust clouds. He gritted his teeth as his mind came back to present.

'Kaori and Nina... where are they.'

Soon, Ishiki reached the main street which now looked like a goddamned hellscape for the first time.

And he froze as his eyes took in what was happening... Through the massive breaches in the wall, movements flickered.

Shadows were pouring in continuously, some were massive and some were short and in all shorts of shapes.

They moved with jerky, unnatural speed and they raided inside the fallen city.

Withering Beasts made of rotted flesh and twisted bones... Creatures with too many limbs and not enough skin swarmed the city from all sides.

Ishiki soon realized what was happening. Aethelburg was situated in between five regions that symbolized death in different aspects.

These places were filled with Withering Beasts... but there were more dangerous powers at play during the Crimson Night that compelled the beasts to hide away.

Like... in the Crimson Canopy. The all devouring trees woe up during the Crimson Night. Just like that there were something in all the five regions.

The Withering beasts usually hunt during the Silver Night. Ishiki looked up and instantly knew why he had felt that terror earlier.

The Crimson Night was over and now the Pale and cold moon was illuminating the world. Now that Aethelburg wasn't protected by the wall... it was a perfect place for hunting and staying.

First... there was no evil power that could harm them here during the Crimson Night, they could hunt freely as long as they wished.

Secondly... There were around 800 players currently in this place to eat, making it a perfect target for the beasts.

'Holy hell...'

Ishiki summoned the [Aether Blade] and [Berserker's Effigy].

The black armor adorned his body as it turned solid from motes of light. Ishiki dismissed the helm and tightly gripped the bladeless tachi's hilt.

As Ishiki expected... things started escalating quickly and within minutes screams tore through the streets of Outer Ring.

The remaining players had no choice but to engage in with the monsters. Some who had not regained their composure before the chaos died instantly at the hands of terrorizing abominations.

Those who had pulled themselves out of the grief fought for their lives.

The Scenario had finally entered its final stage.

"To the gates!" someone shouted. "Get to the Secondary Ring!"

Ishiki ran to find Nina and Kaori.

Around him, the city became a battlefield. Players were engaging the beasts. Fireballs illuminated the dust clouds. Swords clashed against bone armor.

A massive wolf-like creature with exposed ribs lunged at a group of players near a collapsed bakery. It was intercepted by a whip of red liquid that lashed out from the shadows.

Slash.

The beast was bisected cleanly.

A man stepped out from the dust. He was tall, dressed in impeccable, albeit dusty, formal wear that looked strangely Victorian. He had sharp features, pale skin, and an air of supreme arrogance.

"Pathetic," the man sneered, flicking his wrist. The blood on his whip coalesced back into a floating sphere of crimson liquid above his palm. "These mongrels are hardly worth the Effort."

He looked around at the panicked players.

"Listen well!" he shouted, his voice projecting clearly over the din with a distinct British accent. "I am Arthur Sterling. If you wish to live, stop running like headless chickens and follow me!"

He pointed his blood-whip toward the Obsidian Gates leading to the Inner Ring.

"We push for the secondary wall. My group will clear the path. Once we are inside, I will seal the gates behind us. Anyone not through by then can rot with the beasts."