Chapter 253: Where the hell am I?

Nathan drifted through an absolute and suffocating abyss.

?There was no sky to anchor him, no ground to catch him, and no light to pierce the infinite expanse. He was suspended in a sensory vacuum, floating like a forgotten leaf on a perfectly still pond.

?Time had lost all meaning. Had it been hours? Days? Weeks? He had checked his phone until the sheer repetition felt like madness. The screen remained violently cracked and completely black; no amount of frantic tapping or desperate praying could coax it back to life. Initially, he had tried counting the seconds to maintain his sanity, but his focus had unraveled somewhere past the first thousand, leaving him with only a hollow emptiness.

?Three weeks. That was his best theoretical estimate.

Three weeks.

That was his best guess. Maybe. Possibly.

The last clear memory he had was reaching for the throne. The blinding light. Smithy’s hand inches from one armrest. Goliath’s hand inches from the other. His own hand touching something cold. Something pulsing. Something that pulled him in.

Then nothing.

Then this.

He had tried to move. Tried to swim. Tried to scream. Nothing worked. The void didn’t care. It just held him. Suspended him. Kept him floating like a leaf on a still pond.

He was alone.

At least, he thought he was.

Then he heard them.

’Master!’

’Summoner, where are we?!’

’Young Lord, what is this place?’

’Master, I cannot see anything.’

Nathan’s eyes widened. The link. The mental link. It was still there. Weak, flickering, but there. He could hear them. All four of them. And they were panicking.

’Calm down,’ he sent through the link. ’Calm down, all of you. I’m here.’

’Master!’ Mirko’s voice cracked. ’Where are we? What happened? The last thing I remember is the light, and then—’

’I don’t know,’ Nathan admitted. ’I don’t know where we are. But you’re safe. That’s what matters.’

’Safe?’ Kuro’s voice was sharp. ’Summoner, we are floating in a void. There is nothing here. No mana. No light. No gravity. This is not safe. This is—’

’I know.’ Nathan cut her off. ’I know. But panicking won’t help.’

He took a breath. Or at least, he tried to. He wasn’t sure if he was actually breathing anymore. The void didn’t seem to care about things like air.

’you guys will be safe within the summon space,’ Nathan said. ’You’ll be safe there. I promise.’

’What about you?’

’I’ll be fine.’

But truly, he didn’t know if that was true.

---

Time passed.

Or maybe it didn’t. Nathan couldn’t tell. The void was the same. The darkness was the same. The silence was the same.

Then something changed.

A light.

It was small at first. A tiny pinprick in the distance. But it grew. Slowly. Steadily. Until it was the size of a human. An oval of glowing light, pulsing softly in the darkness.

Nathan stared at it.

[Ding!]

The system notification appeared in his vision. The first one he had seen since the void.

[Fifth Summon Slot: Occupied]

[Perfect conditions met. Fifth Bunny Girl summoned.]

Nathan blinked.

[Status Panel: Fifth Summon]

[Name: ???]

[Race: Demi-beast???]

[Rank: ???]

[Level: ???]

[Class: ???]

[Skills: ???]

Every field was a question mark.

Nathan stared at the panel. Then at the oval. Then back at the panel.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

The oval pulsed. Once. Twice. Like a heartbeat.

’Master?’ Mirko’s voice came through the link. ’What’s happening? The summon space just... shifted.’

’I think...’ Nathan paused. ’I think the system just summoned a fifth Bunny Girl.’

Silence.

Then, from all four of them at once: ’WHAT?!’

---

Nathan explained. The oval. The system notification. The question marks.

’That doesn’t make sense,’ Kuro said. ’The system always shows the summon’s information. Name. Class. Skills. Level. It’s never been blank before.’

’I know,’ Nathan said. ’But it’s blank now. Every field.’

’Maybe it’s a glitch?’ Ororo suggested.

’Maybe.’ Nathan looked at the oval. ’Or maybe whatever’s inside isn’t ready yet.’

’What do you mean?’ Shiro asked.

’I mean...’ Nathan paused. ’I don’t know what I mean. I don’t know anything right now.’

The oval pulsed again. Brighter this time. Warmer.

Nathan felt something. A pull. Not like the throne. Not like the void. Something gentler. Something that felt... familiar.

’Master,’ Mirko said quietly. ’Whatever’s in there... it’s waiting for you.’

’I know.’

’Are you going to open it yourself?’

Nathan looked at the oval. At the pulsing light. At the question marks on his status panel.

"Not yet," he said.

’Why not?’

"Because I don’t know where we are. I don’t know what’s happening. And I don’t know if whatever’s in there is going to help us or hurt us." He paused. "I need to think."

---

He thought about Lucy.

She would be worried. She would be scared. She would be making toast and leaving notes on the counter and pretending everything was fine.

He thought about Elise.

She would be searching for him. She would be reading every Tower record. She would be refusing to give up.

He thought about Garrett and Dillon.

They would be training. Fighting. Taking their anger out on each other. Waiting for him to come back.

He thought about Smithy.

Was he awake? Was he still in the coma? Was he alive?

He thought about the other teams.

Kaito. Arthur. Han Seo-jun. Long Wei. Amara.

Had they made it out? Had they escaped the Tower?

He thought about the civilians.

The thousands of people who had been trapped. The ones Amara had saved. The ones who hadn’t made it.

He thought about all of them. Every single one.

And then he took a breath. A real one. Or as real as he could manage in a void that didn’t have air.

"I’m going to figure this out," he said quietly. "I’m going to figure out where I am. And then I’m going to get back to them."

The oval pulsed. Warmer now. Brighter.

Nathan looked at it.

"One step at a time."

He closed his eyes. And waited.