The other three died.
The healer and the A-rank hunter made it. Aaron found Zxara on the floor, crouched down, and the last Venom Core appeared in his hand from inventory. He placed it at her lips.
Her throat moved.
He waited.
Her eyes opened.
She looked at him, at the cut on his face, at the daggers, at everything that said the fight happened and he was the one standing at the end of it.
"So you did it." Aaron looked at her. "Three didn't make it."
Silence.
"Yeah." She closed her eyes for one second then opened them.
"The exit," she said.
"Right there," Aaron said."Move." And he was already walking.
They came out carrying the ones who didn't make it.
Cameras everywhere. Live feeds running his own face on three screens at the same time.
*Theren is watching this right now*, he thought. *And Rei has been staring at that same feed for two hours. I need to go immediately.*
Chief Leo Park and Leader Jude Kwon walked toward them.
Chief Leo Park stopped in front of Aaron.
"That barrier was S rank clearance only," he said. "I have been here three hours and not one person got through without clearance. Not one. And yet here you are with no rank no clearance no identification coming out of that dungeon. So I need you to tell me who you are and how you got inside."
Aaron looked at him.
"Before anything else you should be thanking whoever went in there," Aaron said. "Because the team members who made it out are alive because of what happened inside. That is what matters right now."
"I appreciate that," Chief Leo Park said. "But that does not answer what I asked you and I need actual answers. Who are you and how did you get past that barrier."
Leader Jude Kwon stepped forward.
*I'm not here to cause problems. But people died. I need answers.*he said.*I have a responsibility to understand what happened. All of it. So I am asking you to tell me everything."
"That conversation will happen," Aaron said. "But not tonight tonight I have somewhere I need to be."
Leader Jude Kwon looked at him.
"Alright," he said finally. "But it will happen soon."
Aaron looked at Zxara once. She looked back and said nothing, with a thankful face.
He activated Stealth.
KABOOM!
Chief Leo Park moved immediately. His hand reaching out to grab Aaron's arm before he cleared the space.
He caught nothing.
He stood there with his hand still extended and empty.
"He is faster than me," he said quietly. Like he still did not believe what his own hand had just told him.
Leader Jude Kwon looked at him slowly.
"He is faster than you," he said.
"Yes," Chief Leo Park said. "By a significant margin."
Neither of them spoke.
Leader Jude Kwon turned to Zxara.
"Start talking," he said. "From the beginning. Leave nothing out."
Zxara looked at the empty space where Aaron had been.
"I genuinely don't know where the beginning is," she said.
Aaron knocked on Rei's door.
The door opened and Rei looked at him, at the cut, at the clothes, at all of it.
Aaron walked past him and sat on the sofa.
Rei closed the door.
"I have been sitting here for two long hours man," Rei said. "Two hours Aaron. I had the live news running and I watched them bring people out and some of them weren't moving and I kept telling myself you were fine you are always fine. And then I saw someone on that feed with no gear no badge and I thought that looks like Aaron but that cannot be Aaron and then that person disappeared on live television and you knocked on my door looking exactly like that person. So tell me what happened."
"Moon called me," Aaron said. "Instructor Moon I mean, It was urgent so I have to get there."
Rei stared at him.
"Moon called you urgently," he said. "And that is why your face looks like that and that is why your clothes look like that."
"It was a very serious meeting," Aaron said.
Rei sat down on the floor across from him.
"I watched them carry bodies out of that dungeon tonight," he said quietly. "And I didn't know if you were one of them."
Aaron looked at him.
"None of those were mine," Aaron said. "I'm okay Rei."
Rei let out a long slow breath.
"Okay," he said. "Okay good." He leaned his head back against the wall. "I genuinely hate you though and also you are being more mysterious, Right now."
"Understood I got it," Aaron said.
"Thank you," Rei said. "Okay."
Aaron came home and Theren was in the kitchen.
He looked up and his eyes moved over Aaron once the way they always did. Taking stock of what was there and what wasn't. Twelve years of active portal work had made that look automatic.
He opened his arms.
Aaron crossed the room and held on.
Neither of them said anything.
The Academy was loud the next morning. New Awakened hunters everywhere, assessment wing packed and running nonstop.
Aaron walked through it with Rei.
"Splendid isn't it," Lena said stepping out from the assessment corridor. "Awakening rates tripled from the Third Opening. Assessment is running right now if you want to see."
Rei looked at Aaron.
"We are literally here," Rei said.
Aaron said nothing which Rei took as fine.
The hall was half full with new hunters at the consoles. Rei looked at the line and then at Aaron.
"I am trying again," he said.
"You know what I was going to say right," Aaron said.
"Maybe something changed," Rei said. "The portal exposure accelerated awakening rates across the whole sector and i am still trying."
He got in line.
The worker looked at the result and smiled at Rei.
"Congratulations, sir. You got a D Rank."
Rei turned around with the biggest expression Aaron had seen from him in a long time. Rei turned, grinning. For once, nothing else was behind it.
Aaron got in line after him.
He placed his hands on the console.
Nothing happened.
The display stayed dark. The worker looked at it, and then looked at Aaron, looked back at it.
"Nothing is registering," the worker said carefully.
Aaron stepped back and walked away.
*Everyone the Third Opening touched got pushed toward awakening*, he thought. *That is why the numbers jumped. And I still say nothing. Because what happened to me was never awakening. It was something else entirely maybe.*
Rei caught up with him.
"Hey, "I just wanted to know what happened."Rei said.
"Please don't ask me. " Aaron said.
"I know what you are going to say Rei," Aaron said. "It doesn't matter so don't worry atleast you got a D Rank and this card."
Rei walked beside him quietly.
"Okay," he said. "Okay."
They were crossing the main corridor when Lena's phone went off.
She looked at it and her face changed.
"North Lemurian," she said. "Multiple portals opening are being reported recently and Monsters coming through in. A rank teams are already there and they are not holding it but still they are not enough." She looked up. "Marcus went twenty minutes ago. People are dying up there."
Rei looked at Aaron.
Aaron looked at the exit.
*A-rank teams are failing.
This isn't normal. People died I need to go right now.*Aaron thought.
"Go back to the dorms," Aaron said to Rei.
"Rei take care of yourself," Aaron said. "Please go back I will be back soon."
Rei looked at him for a long moment.
"Okay," he said quietly. "Okay i am going."
Aaron turned and walked toward the exit and in a monment on the top of the building with the daggers in his hands.