Chapter 335: The People Who Passed
The celebration continued. Hunters shouted through the ruined streets, some laughing, some crying, some simply sitting wherever they could, too exhausted to move. After everything they’d just survived, nobody wanted to go anywhere.
But while Mythal celebrated, not everyone could completely let go of the strange notification still hanging above them.
[Third Disaster Passed.]
It was impossible to ignore, especially for the people who understood how impossible it should have been.
...
Sera stood among the celebrating Hunters, watching the notification. Her expression was calm. Her mind wasn’t.
[Third Disaster Passed.]
She read it again, then again, her brows slowly furrowing. There had been no third attack. No new calamity. No monsters appearing from the sky. No strange phenomenon. Nothing. They had survived the Second Disaster. That was all.
Sera folded her arms. "...Could there have been a hidden condition?"
She quietly began going through the possibilities. Maybe the Third Disaster wasn’t supposed to begin immediately. Maybe the System had different requirements for each Disaster. Or maybe—
Her eyes narrowed.
Maybe surviving the Second Disaster was the requirement.
That possibility wasn’t completely ridiculous. The Second Disaster had been different from the First. It hadn’t been one enemy. It had been six calamities, six different ways for the city to die. Maybe the System wasn’t testing whether they could defeat a single opponent anymore. Maybe it was testing whether they could keep enough Hunters alive.
Her eyes moved across the battlefield. Hundreds of Hunters were still standing, some injured, some barely conscious, but alive. Her expression turned thoughtful.
Could that have been enough?
Another possibility came to her. Maybe the Third Disaster had a time condition. Maybe they’d had to complete something before a certain amount of time passed. But that made even less sense. They hadn’t done anything. At least, nothing they knew about.
Sera slowly looked toward Kai. He stood a short distance away, not celebrating as loudly as Raze, not laughing as openly as Mira, but he didn’t look surprised either. She watched him for several seconds.
Does he know?
Kai suddenly glanced in her direction. Their eyes met. Sera’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Kai gave her a small smile, nothing strange, nothing suspicious, just a normal smile.
She looked away. ...Probably nothing.
But she didn’t completely believe that.
She looked back at the celebration. A Hunter was currently carrying another Hunter on his shoulders while screaming that they’d defeated three Disasters. Someone else was arguing that the Black Flood had been worse than the Red Storm. Mira was laughing somewhere in the crowd. Raze was shouting loud enough for half the city to hear.
Sera’s expression softened. Whatever the reason was, it could wait. She quietly exhaled. "...We’re alive." A small smile appeared. "That’s enough for now."
And for the first time since the Second Disaster began, Sera allowed herself to simply enjoy the moment.
...
A short distance away, Lily was having considerably more trouble doing that. She stared at the System notification.
[Third Disaster Passed.]
She blinked, then blinked again. "...That doesn’t make sense."
Elden stood beside her, staring at the same notification. "I know."
She looked at him. "There wasn’t a third event."
"Not that we saw."
"Not that anyone saw."
He nodded. She crossed her arms, her eyes moving toward the destroyed streets. "The Second Disaster ended." She began counting everything in her head. "Red Storm." One finger. "Black Flood." Another. "Burning Earth." Another. "White Frost." Another. "Black Swarm." Another. "Falling Sky." She lowered her hand. "Six calamities."
Elden nodded. "Correct."
"Then it ended."
"Correct."
She pointed toward the System. "So where did the Third Disaster come from?"
Elden was silent for a moment. "I don’t know."
Lily frowned. "That’s bothering me."
"It’s bothering me too."
She looked at him. "Do you think it was something we did?"
He thought about it. "Maybe."
"Did you detect anything?"
"No."
"Any changes in the network?"
"Nothing unusual."
"Any environmental change?"
"No."
"Any abnormal System activity?"
He hesitated. "...Other than the notification?"
"Other than the notification."
"No."
Lily sighed. "Then we have nothing."
Elden looked toward the celebrating Hunters. "We have one thing."
She glanced at him. "What?"
He nodded toward the city. "We’re alive."
She stared at him, and for a moment she almost smiled. "That’s not an explanation."
"I know."
"It’s not evidence."
"I know."
"It’s not useful."
He shrugged. "Still true."
She let out a quiet laugh. "...Fair."
Her eyes drifted toward Kai, surrounded by Hunters now, someone talking excitedly to him, another thanking him. He simply listened.
She watched him for several seconds. "...Do you think Kai knows?"
Elden followed her gaze, watching Kai for a long moment. "Probably."
Her eyes narrowed. "That’s not an answer."
"It’s the only one I have."
"You sound suspicious."
"I’m not suspicious."
"You absolutely sound suspicious."
He sighed. "I’m curious."
She looked back at the notification. "Me too."
Neither of them approached Kai. They didn’t have enough information, and more importantly, this wasn’t the time. Mythal had just survived. The people deserved to celebrate.
Lily finally looked away from him. "We’ll figure it out."
Elden nodded. "Eventually."
...
Mayor Ko had been holding himself together since the beginning. Since the evacuation. Since the first reports of the Red Storm. Since the Black Flood swallowed entire streets. Since the Burning Earth tore apart the foundations beneath the city. Since White Frost crippled systems. Since the Black Swarm overwhelmed defensive positions. Since Falling Sky turned the heavens into a weapon.
He had watched the casualty numbers. He had listened to reports. He had ordered evacuations. He had approved emergency measures. And throughout all of it, he had refused to break.
Now, he finally could.
Mayor Ko stared at the System notification.
[Second Disaster Passed.]
Then:
[Third Disaster Passed.]
His lips parted. He laughed quietly. "...It’s over."
His knees suddenly gave out.
THUD.
He dropped onto the ground, and the Hunters nearby immediately panicked. "Mayor!" "Are you hurt?!" "Someone get a healer!"
Ko raised one hand. "I’m fine."
A Hunter crouched beside him. "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "I’m fine." He looked at the ground, then slowly toward the sky, his eyes beginning to water. "...It’s over." He laughed again, this time almost disbelieving. "We actually did it."
The Hunter beside him smiled. "We did."
Ko shook his head. "No." He looked toward the ruined city. "The second is over." He paused, then looked at the strange notification again. "...And somehow the third is over too."
A few Hunters nearby laughed, and Ko laughed with them. He didn’t care, not right now. He didn’t care how it happened. He didn’t care why. He didn’t care what strange condition the System had used. Those questions could come later.
Right now, his eyes moved across the battlefield. One Hunter. Then another. Then another. They were exhausted, injured, dirty, some covered in blood. But they were standing. Alive.
His voice cracked. "They’re alive."
The Hunter beside him looked around. Ko swallowed. "They’re all alive." He covered his face with one hand, and for several seconds he said nothing. Then he laughed through the tears. "I was preparing myself to count them."
The Hunter looked at him. "Count what?"
Ko looked at him. "The dead."
Silence.
He slowly shook his head. "Instead..." He looked around again. "I’m counting the living."
The Hunter smiled. "Then keep counting."
He laughed. "Yeah." He wiped his eyes. "I think I’ll do that."
...
Farther away, Gabriel stood quietly, smiling, genuinely happy. Mythal had survived. That alone was something worth celebrating.
But her eyes remained fixed on the System notification.
[Third Disaster Passed.]
Her smile slowly faded. The Astral Church possessed records of civilizations that had faced Disasters before. The pattern was always different, but one thing was consistent, Disasters did not simply disappear. They had conditions. They had consequences. They had beginnings. They had endings.
But this was different.
What happened?
Her eyes moved across the city. The Hunters were celebrating. Lily and Elden were clearly confused. Sera was thinking. Mayor Ko didn’t care anymore.
And then Gabriel looked toward Kai.
He was calm. Too calm. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
You know something.
She watched him. Kai laughed at something a Hunter said. He looked completely normal. Her suspicion didn’t disappear. If anything, it grew stronger, because if Lily and Elden didn’t know, and Sera didn’t know, then who did?
Her gaze remained on Kai.
What happened while we weren’t looking?
But Gabriel didn’t approach him. Not yet. She had no proof, and there was no reason to ruin the celebration with questions she couldn’t answer.
Instead, she let her smile return. Whatever had happened, humanity had survived. For tonight, that was enough.
...
The celebration continued to grow, more Hunters gathering in the streets. Someone climbed onto the remains of a broken building and raised his weapon above his head. "MYTHAL!"
The entire street answered. "MYTHAL!"
He shouted again. "WE SURVIVED THE SECOND DISASTER!"
The response came like thunder. "WE SURVIVED!"
Another Hunter climbed beside him. "AND THE THIRD!"
The crowd froze for half a second. Then someone shouted, "WE DIDN’T EVEN FIGHT IT!"
Laughter exploded. The first Hunter pointed toward the System notification. "WHO CARES?!"
The crowd erupted. "WE PASSED THREE!"
Someone else shouted it. Then another. The chant spread, over and over, "WE PASSED THREE! WE PASSED THREE! WE PASSED THREE!" until Hunters across Mythal were shouting it together, from the damaged streets.
The defensive walls, the Hunter headquarters, the shelters, even from the wounded areas. The same words echoed throughout the city. "WE PASSED THREE!"
Mira joined in immediately. Raze threw one fist into the air. "THREE!"
Sera laughed. Lily finally stopped staring at the System. Elden shook his head with a smile. Mayor Ko laughed through his tears. Even Gabriel allowed herself to enjoy the moment.
...
Kai stood slightly away from the largest crowd, watching them. Lily. Elden. Raze. Mira. Sera. Mayor Ko. Gabriel. Thousands of Hunters. Everyone was celebrating.
Nobody knew. Nobody knew what had happened during those frozen moments. Nobody knew about Bahamut. Nobody knew about Tiamat. Nobody knew about the trial. Nobody knew about the warning. Nobody knew what waited for him in the Ruins of Aegis.
And for now, that was fine.
Kai looked at the System notification one final time.
[Third Disaster Passed.]
His eyes narrowed slightly. He remembered Bahamut’s words. The frozen world. Tiamat’s presence. The strange trial. The emergency summoning ability. The warning about what waited beyond Mythal.
He looked back at the Hunters, still cheering, still laughing, still celebrating.
Kai smiled. Let them celebrate. They had earned it.
He turned his eyes toward the distant horizon. The celebration continued behind him, but his thoughts had already moved beyond Mythal, toward Nexus, toward the Ruins of Aegis, toward whatever Bahamut had wanted him to discover.
His smile faded into a quiet, determined expression.
One disaster passed.
He paused. Then another thought followed.
Two more.
Behind him, the people of Mythal continued to celebrate.
And for tonight, Kai let them.