Extra's Descent-Chapter 159: Brandon Locke [1]

On the day of the calamity, the moment Evelyn realized Brandon was in the changing room, the room was nothing but rubbles.

Mirrors shattered as shards scattered on the ground.

But what truly caught her attention was the strand of hair and the sight of blood on the ground.

"...!"

Clearly, the hair belonged to Brandon. Meaning, the blood could only be his.

But for some reason, his body was missing.

Then…

Was he crushed under all the debris?

That shouldn't be the case.

Though mages with a tier 2 to 3 mana core would still suffer significant damage from impacts…

He was Brandon.

Brandon Locke, the man she had specifically chosen as her protégé.

He should've had the means to survive.

At least, that's what should have happened. But when she saw Raven's state…

Then…

Evelyn ruffled her hair.

Nothing made sense.

Bang!

She slapped the desk in front of her.

Two months had passed since the calamity, and yet she had never forgotten that day.

With no signs of Brandon's whereabouts, and the chaos that ensued, he was deemed missing.

But everyone in the continent knew it was nothing but to sugarcoat the fact that someone was dead.

In other words, Brandon Locke was deemed dead.

For whatever reason he disappeared, Evelyn couldn't even begin to think of a reason as to how or why.

But in the first place, leaving the city was akin to suicide.

So where did Brandon go on that day?

How would he be calm enough to leave the city, under the sheer destruction of the calamity?

And why would he leave?

There were so many questions regarding Brandon's disappearance.

But after several months of pondering, for the sake of her peace, she decided to believe that he was dead.

Though she had never seen his corpse, it was the only logical conclusion.

Brandon Locke was dead.

His friends believed that. Even his own sister did.

She pinched her brows.

The stress that came with being a general was weighing down on her.

"Haa…"

Breathing out a sigh, Evelyn stood up and gazed upon the window.

Fixing her attention outside, she looked ahead at the ongoing construction.

Last month, humanity poured their resources on reconstruction.

She looked ahead even more. A wall was being built.

Along the reconstruction, came the plans of constructing a wall.

It was too dangerous to venture out. Only the Imperial Army was allowed to cross the barriers.

It was one of the main reasons why Evelyn decided to join the ranks of the Imperial Army.

Shortly after joining, she was immediately promoted to General status.

After all, her feats and accomplishments were known throughout the entire world.

Due to the lack of control, there was no point in calling the land they lived in 'a continent'.

And calling it a city seemed too much, when they didn't belong to a continent anymore.

Whatever land they would take control of, they decided to call it part of the human domain.

"Not like we had managed to take control of any of it."

It was the truth.

The army was currently assessing what the other races would do.

But it seemed like nothing was happening at the moment.

As if the other races were still settling down.

But Evelyn knew the peace wouldn't last long.

"Peace… Haha."

She stifled a laugh at the thought.

Sure, the other races hadn't done anything. But they were the least of their problems.

Crime was happening all over the human domain.

And it was up to the Imperial Army to regulate these instances.

There were also several groups who would help mitigate these occurrences.

The Special Force.

And there was one such member in the Special Force she was well acquainted with.

Raven Blackheart.

***

December 1, 2148.

Three months had passed since the calamity.

After the system's…

"No."

Raven shook his head.

It wasn't a system anymore.

After the Sovereign's Will integration, Raven underwent several changes.

One of them was the system.

It was now called the Sovereign Fragment.

He didn't even need to mutter the words 'system' anymore.

All he had to do was focus on the thought, and the familiar interface materialized itself.

——[Sovereign's Will]——

[Name: Raven Blackheart]

[Mana Core: Tier 3]

[Status: B+]

[Innate]

∟ Sovereign of Creation — Level 14

∟ Experience — 23%

[Skills]

∟Eye of Time

∟Adrenaline Surge

∟Shadow Step

∟Vital Strike

∟Contract Expertise

∟Envenomed Mind

∟Reflection

∟Shadowflame

∟Recall

[Inventory]

———————————

After a day, Raven woke up and the integration process finished.

For some reason, the entire stats interface disappeared, as well as the leveling feature.

He was unsure why it happened.

But in the first place, it didn't matter.

He had come to realize a long time ago that the system was somehow unreliable.

Especially the stats interface.

The stats made no sense.

It was as if it was only there for a moment. But there were times when Raven found a surge of power.

And in one such fight, he had noticed that his stats rose up to the B+ category.

Then that could only mean one thing.

His stats were always ranked B+.

But the system would correct itself, as to what his body was able to handle.

However, after his body had fully integrated with whatever the Sovereign's Will actually was, this was the result.

And as to how he would progress from this point forward, he was quite unsure.

But from what he knew, mages were always assessed as to what their mana core tier was.

So that meant, his current progression had to be focused on his mana core.

"That should be the case."

But at the moment, it was not the right time to peer around his newfound power.

He was currently chasing a perpetrator.

Swoosh—!

Jumping from roof to roof, he continued to chase the perpetrator.

Running, the man turned his body and pointed his gun at Raven.

Bang! Bang!

Swiftly dodging the bullets, Raven bolted from his position and extended his hand to grab the man.

Realizing his pursuer was close, the man jumped down from the roof and landed safely on the ground.

Bang! Bang!

Before he sprinted, he fired several bullets at Raven.

The bullets grazed some of the rooftiles and missed their mark.

Raven immediately jumped down and continued his pursuit.

He was now part of the Special Force.

One of the organizations assigned to regulate order in the human domain.

Extending his hand forward, he activated his skill.

[Recall]

The familiar sight of his dark-purple dagger materialized in front of his palms.

Clenching the dagger, he blinked forward.

[Shadow Step]

Appearing behind the man's shadow, Raven lightly grazed the man's shoulder.

"Akh!"

The man stumbled down, and Raven subdued his arms.

The crime rate was high. But this was especially so in the rural areas of the human domain.

Which is why he roamed the slum areas of the city.

That was when he had caught sight of the man, seemingly holding a civilian at gunpoint.

Whatever his motives were, Raven didn't care.

He wasn't the same Raven Blackheart from three months ago.

After Brandon's death, something changed within Raven.

On that day, he was the last person to have seen Brandon,

And after finding out he had died in the changing room…

He felt deep regret.

Regret in having not done anything to save his best-friend.

But there was a lot of mystery regarding Brandon's death.

One of them was Evelyn's claim that Brandon disappeared.

It didn't make sense.

Nothing made sense.

However, it was the truth of the matter.

Three months had passed, and there were no signs of Brandon anywhere.

That could only mean that he was dead.

But Raven…

He couldn't accept that fact.

There were a lot of mysteries regarding the calamity.

Maybe it had something to do with Brandon going missing.

However, it was nothing but a wishful thought.

His best friend was dead.

And that was it.

The cold truth of the matter.

Had had to move on.

"...I have to."

For the sake of humanity.

"But still…"

His expressions cracked and he clenched his fist.

Despite wanting to move on…

He missed his friend.