Shadow Author

[Present time]

Wishing for the sword to materialize it only took a fraction of a second for it to appear in my hands. Then before the second could come to pass I dug the sword deep into the walls of the elevator.

The next bit of time that came to pass was extremely hectic.

I felt my stomach drop and I instinctively closed my eyes to brace for impact.

It was then the elevator jolted to a sudden stop, throwing everyone inside to the floor all at once.

Panic immediately set in for those who were unable to protect themselves as more screams started filling the small space.

The lights flickered once before going out completely, which left the elevator in absolute darkness. Luckily the emergency lights started flickering on and off with each passing second.

The moment it smashed into the ground floor an explosion rang out dealing considerable damage.

Glass, metal, and debris flew everywhere as it cut, stabbed, and pierced any of the nearby passengers. The machine that once served as a means of transportation was instantly turned into a death trap. The ride would without a doubt be the last for some of them.

Even those outside of the elevator who were waiting on the ground floor or standing nearby the entrance waiting for it to arrive were not spared from the destruction.

Friends who were chatting with each other, grabbing a bite to eat, or leaving to head to their first class were killed without remorse from the tragic event.

For those who were trapped inside things went far worse than I had expected.

The layer of people who were unlucky enough to fall down first looked like they went through a blender.

Pultruding bits of scrapes impaled and killed the lucky ones while the others were flattened by the impact.

Others were crushed, injured, and killed as most of the students were unable to protect themselves like I expected them to be able to do.

Meanwhile, I on the other hand survived without so much as a scratch. All in all, it was quite anticlimactic, the moment we got to the apex height I stabbed my sword into the corner of the top of the wall.

That meant when everyone else dropped down and sustained the most injuries I was perfectly fine hanging by the sword near the ceiling.

Nightfall did its job perfectly as it remained gauged in the wall without moving a hair which allowed me to hold onto its handle with one hand while holding up Evelyn with the other.

As we dangled from the top we looked down on the destruction caused by the impact.

The entire bottom bit looked like it exploded outwards. It was as if it had been crushed by an immense force from a hydraulic press which resulted in the bits of it bursting out and creating a thin, flat, disc.

The blood of my peers was splattered everywhere and their corpses filled the bottom to create a scene out of a horror movie.

The room was in total and utter chaos. Bodies were scattered everywhere and blood was pooling on the floor.

The metallic smell of blood filled the room as blood somehow managed to spray on Evelyn and me even though we were so high up.

I could hear the crying and screaming of the people outside the crash site but I didn't hear anything coming from the people below.

This surprised me as I didn't expect all of them to die but it seemed that the outcome was unavoidable. If they didn't have the strength to protect themselves from such a pathetic danger they would have no chance of surviving what was to come.

However, my expectations were revitalized when I heard the groans of someone down below.

"Oh, there's a survivor?"

I voiced out my curiosity to Evelyn in an attempt to take notice of her emotions during such a moment.

"That's all?"

The response she gave was up to par with my expectations and I couldn't help but reveal a slight smile.

"Why don't we see?"

Recalling Nightfall Evelyn and I dropped down into the carnage.

It was at this time that I finally let go of her and broke away from her body after being so close for a long period of time.

Landing on a dead body some more blood shot up to cover my uniform and drench my shoes.

Evelyn landed gracefully nearby also on top of a body however she didn't get a single drop of additional blood on her.

Thanks to the years I spent mastering Mana Breath and it was incredibly easy to tell who was breathing and who wasn't. Although it wasn't too hard to tell in the first place because half of them had deadly wounds that only took one look to realize that they were long gone.

Passing over the bodies I didn't feel any bit of sadness, remorse, or care for them. After all, they were already gone. There was no point in caring for a bit of decomposing flesh.

Using my senses to search for the survivor I looked over some of the people I passed. I saw that the first two girls who joined us seemed to get it the worst.

They were flattening and had chunks of metal all through their bodies due to them being stuck in the corner which has the most amount of projectiles when compared to being in the center.

I saw other girls who had ligaments cut off, metal poles protruding through their chests, and heads that were cracked open.

Finally, after passing five confirmed dead people, I arrived in front of one that was still breathing however, it wasn't the original person I was expecting.

Her method and form of breathing were completely different from what I heard when I was hanging from the ceiling.

"Here's one, though she won't be for too much longer."

Dropping down to my knee which landed in a puddle of blood I lowered my head to hers to listen to her breathing.

It was extremely light and I could barely make it out.