CHAPTER 164: FINAL MOMENTS

Daniel wasn't the only one who had witnessed Rachel's actions. How could the principal, who had been focused on saving as many of his students as he could, have missed that sight? Yes, his main attention had been on Elena, who had erupted with shocking might that night, but he himself had caught Rachel's deeds.

In the end, he hadn't said a thing. As for why, he wasn't sure. Perhaps it was because he blamed himself for the many deaths of that night and had felt he had no right himself to blame another? Or perhaps he simply wanted to protect the young girl, hoping that she hadn't strayed too far down the wrong path, that there was still a part of her that could be saved.

Seeing Rachel's figure slowly disappear, he arrived at the same conclusion as Daniel when they both heard Sophia's response.

As for Daniel, the reason why he had never made a move on Rachel despite being a pedophile was bacause of the deadly edge to her he had witnessed. And while he remained cautious of the little girl, he also recognized she had the potential to surive in this apocalypse, which was why he had allowed her to join their group for a while. Because he appreciated her ruthlessness, and cunning.

Daniel had seen the deep indent where his brother's head should have been, but he had been so lost in his anguish that he hadn't even considered the implications.

But now?

BOOOM!

A shocking pressure exploded from him, as his body was soon covered by a silver haze. And deep within them, his two eyes churned like two pools of blood.

"Mr Daniel, wait a moment. Let's not jump to conclusions."

The principal tried to stop him, but Daniel only shouted:

"Get out of my way!"

Seeing the old man refuse to move, Daniel's eyes flashed with madness, and he summoned his soul weapon.

Alas, he could barely swing it before the old man summoned his own.

A purple ring flashed before him, and Daniel tried to get out of the way. But, the purple ring expanded before swallowing him whole. Soon after, Daniel found himself almost two hundred meters away.

He screamed in anger and rushed forward once more.

Elena looked at Rachel's slowly disappearing figure with a conflicted look in her eyes, but she soon shook her head.

Ignoring the chaos behind her, she turned towards the others and asked a question that had been boggling her since she woke up.

"Where is Kael?"

She was surprised to see the person she had turned to look towards another person. Soon after, she found out that no one could answer her question.

Alas, what they didn't know was that the only person who had any chance of answering their question was just about to disappear from their vision.

Many thoughts quickly swirled in Elena's mind. Her heart raced as she tried to make sense of everything. Rachel had run off. Kael had suddenly disappeared. The principal was still trying to stop Daniel, and several of their companions remained unconscious. There were too many unanswered questions, too many things going wrong at once.

But she knew that their priority should be escaping from this place. She didn't know how much time had passed, with the dark clouds rolling through the skies and the moonlight barely able to pass through.

If it wasn't for their strengthened bodies, which allowed them to see somewhat even in the dark, together with the use of their enhanced perception, they would have been rendered completely helpless in the suffocating darkness.

The point was, she didn't know how much time remained before this supposed last event ended, but she sure as hell wasn't counting on the beasts returning through the spatial cracks they had arrived from, like before. Not to mention, there was no academy to return to. And they didn't even dare to, with that abomination still there.

But they couldn't remain here as sitting ducks either.

She suddenly voiced out:

"We need to leave, now."

Claire hesitated before she pointed out:

"What about those still unconscious?"

Elena thought for a moment. She considered the prospect of abandoning them, but she also knew that surviving alone wasn't enough for her. Far from it.

If she wanted to get her revenge, she needed as much help as she could get. She had to play the long game here.

Moving towards Alice and Rose, who were her current best bets, she carried them each on her shoulders before turning to Nathan.

"Carry the rest."

Nathan's right brow twitched at her commanding tone, but he knew better than to argue. There was no time for that; they had to leave quickly.

He simply nodded and lifted both Natalie and Nathaniel.

With that done, Elena turned and left, uncaring about Daniel, who was still rampaging, and the principal, who barred his path and tried to reason with him.

Iris, Sophia, Nathan, and the quiet female teacher quickly followed her. Claire hesitated for a moment before calling out to the fighting duo that they were leaving, then hurried after the others.

The principal sighed as he watched Daniel shout with a manic light in his eyes.

"Die!"

The bloody summon was the one who rushed forward this time, swinging the chilling scythe at an angle to take his head, while the middle-aged teacher remained behind, one blood spear after another forming around him.

Knowing he could no longer afford to hold back, he unleashed his Order Imprint as well. A silver haze enveloped his old yet vigorous-looking frame, though the Order it radiated was far less intense than Daniel's.

The principal quickly teleported away to evade the summon's attack, but he had barely appeared when a dozen spears flashed before him.

Not having the time to teleport, he smashed his hands together, prompting his two soul weapons to merge and form a massive disc with a gaping hollow that revealed the darkness of the abyss.

Once again, all the spears disappeared without a trace. But by then, he was being pincered directly by his two opponents.

Sighing once more, he activated his teleportation skill, forcefully teleporting them both.

The trio appeared fifty meters above the ground, and before Daniel could react, the old man vanished.

The middle-aged teacher could only wrap his summon around himself and brace himself for the impact with the ground.

-Bang!

A cloud of dust swallowed his figure, and the principal appeared a short distance away.

"I understand your grief, Daniel." Dropping the formalities, the old man hurriedly tried to reason with the middle-aged teacher. "But you must have seen your brother's condition. He had lost his entire lower body. An injury like that wouldn't have been easy to heal, even under normal circumstances. And that's not even considering the signs of corruption spreading across..."

"I don't care!"

A scream tore through the air, and the cloud of dust was blown away, revealing Daniel on one knee. Tears streamed down his face as his eyes churned faster, like two pools of blood stirred by an unseen force.

"My brother... my only family is dead! What reason do I have left to keep..."

Before Daniel could finish, the System's voice suddenly rang through their minds, indifferent to the grief and chaos unfolding around them.

-Ding!

[The night event has reached its final moments.]