"Kyle!" Varian finally remembered.
He looked up at the black sky. Three space shuttles were already above the city.
The flying seats descended and picked the candidates. There was a chance that some candidates were too injured and would be left behind. But the best they could give was ten minutes.
Fighting with Abyss Duke to get secure everyone? Abyss Duke was level 6 and the fight of two level 6s would decimate the place. The casualties would only be far higher.
Sending a Level 8 to take care of things? Abyss will would inform a Level 8 Abyssal to confront the human awakener and nothing in the radius of a few kilometers will remain.
The management knew any fighting between high levellers would only aggravate the situation.
That was also the reason the space shuttle left immediately after dropping them. The highest awakener in the space shuttle was Colonel Reina. She was at least a Level 5 Awakener.
If she space shuttle approached the city anymore, the Abyss Will would've informed the nearby Level 5 or Level 6 Abyssal and there would've been a massive fight instead of the entrance.
So the space shuttle always maintained a safe distance and didn't linger.
Now since an Abyss Duke, a level 6 is coming for them, it wouldn't matter if a Level 5 approached the city.
'So I can't hope they'd stay longer because one student is missing.' Varian concluded and ran to the city at an insane pace.
He passed by the candidates who were flying back to the space shuttle. They looked at him with one of two emotions: disdain or envy.
Some viewed his actions to be seeking death. Others thought he was going to kill the injured Abyssals and get points.
Even though the announcement said Abyss Duke would take 10 minutes to arrive, unless one was an elite, no one was stupid enough to stay out till the last minute.
"Faster!" Varian channeled the chi to his legs and sped up. Dust kicked into the air and he moved like the wind.
"Hey comm! Can you check where Kyle Kismat's comm is present? It's an emergency!"
{I'm extremely sorry. You do not have the permission to locate other comms.}
"Fuck your permissions." Varian cursed under his breath and reached the goddamn city. It was in utter chaos. As far as eyes could see, there was only fire, death and destruction.
Some candidates who failed to kill Abyssals now found weakened Abyssal Knights and tried to get the points for the test. But most of them were instead killed by the Abyssal Knights alive.
"Die. Hahaha! Trash." Varian heard a familiar voice and glanced in the direction. His black eyes turned red, and he felt rage threatening to burst.
He saw the young man who nearly pushed him and Kyle to death — Narcis Xander.
If System was the conspirator, Narcis was the executor.
Narcis was having fun as he killed humans and Abyssals alike with no regards to the impending danger.
'I'll pay back in full.' Varian vowed revenge once he got stronger. Fighting Narcis at this point had no advantages.
And Kyle…
Varian entered the city and instructed his comm "At full volume, yell 'Kyle'. Don't stop till I instruct."
{Understood.} The comm replied and yelled in Varian's voice.
"Kyle!"
"Kyle!"
The city was in ruins. Red and Green blood dyed the ground in strange patterns. Corpses of Humans and Abyssals were scattered everywhere.
The Abyssal citizens already seemed to have evacuated through secret methods. Now the only one left in the city were Abyssal Knights and candidates.
'Why is he not responding? Is he…'
Varian used his Greater Human eyesight and checked the corpses he could. There was no Kyle in them.
"Phew" He patted his chest in relief and the comm continued to yell in Varian's voice as he ventured deeper into the city.
{7 Minutes remaining. Please return to the Spaceship immediately.}
'He must have at least gotten closer to the city after exiting the hill.' The comm continued to yell but instead of Kyle, it succeeded in gaining the attention of the Abyssal Knights.
The Abyssal Knights had given up on any hopes of living. Whether responsible or not, only one fate awaited them after their city was destroyed and their Lord killed — Death.
So they let go of all inhibitions and attacked humans in frenzy. They had only one wish. Bring a human down with them. And many of them did.
"Aaah"
"Save"
"Help!"
The pleas of humans reverberated across the city as more and more fell to Abyssal Knight's suicide attacks. Those who came to attack the weakened Abyssals and gain points had the most deaths. Even a few elite candidates fell to these suicide attacks.
Of course, Varian got his share.
"Kill this bastard!" an Abyss Knight yelled and a dozen Abyssals charged at him.
Looking at the incoming spears and arrows, Varian shrugged: 'I don't have time for this.'
He glanced in the hill direction and channeled his space power. He felt his body being pulled into darkness and the next moment; he stepped onto the ground a few dozen feet away from his previous position and in the direction of the hill.
He teleported with ease!
'A Level 3 can perhaps teleport directly to hill.'
He gave up conserving aura and teleported multiple times and reached the hill.
"Kyle!"
The comm continued to yell as he circled the hill.
{5 Minutes remaining. Please return to the Spaceship immediately.}
Varian saw that even the elite students started to leave. Even the most active ones moved to the entrance. There was no one in deeper areas. Except the dead and him.
The Abyssal Knights went mad and gave the final push. This spiked the death toll in seconds.
The only fortunate thing was that there were neither Abyssals nor Humans near the hill.
'Let's be honest, I'm in the most danger now.' Varian searched for any living human in the corpses around the hill.
He was glad that none of them were Kyle but disappointed he had no clue where he was gone.
In the end, Varian went back into the streets.
"Kyle!"
It was absolutely the worst timing.
"There's a human!"
"Kill!"
"Damn humans! They destroyed our city!"
Varian showed the Solar peace sign — a middle finger and teleported away from them.
{3 Minutes remaining}
'System, if all the danger I encounter is because of you, why did Kyle have to face it?' Varian questioned in frustration.
[People still die. Not everything is your fault.]
'Of course it is my fault. I lose everyone.' Varian clenched his fist and continued teleporting to cover more areas.
His comm kept yelling but time was running out. He didn't see any hope but he just kept going.
He could chose to believe that Kyle already got into the spaceship and returned. Maybe he did. But the chances were low. According to his character, he'd wait for Varian outside the city.
Did he die? Varian didn't know. Maybe. But Varian checked most of the corpses and found none resembling Kyle. Maybe he missed. Maybe…
Now everything came down to his choice.
Would he give up his mom's last wish and continue the suicidal searching or would he abandon his only friend and fulfill his mom's last wish?
His dream was important, and it brought him out of the darkness. But Kyle was also important to him.
In the past year, when he isolated himself from the world and just tried to survive, Kyle came into his life. He tried his best to cheer him up and despite Varian's continuous cold shoulder, he persisted and made him "more normal".
In fact, there were days when Varian had panic attacks from nightmares of his mother's death. He even had dangerous thoughts about his life. Kyle spent time with him and saved him from his own darkness.
Kyle was also the one who requested Maya to introduce him to their family friend Gareth. That was how Varian got out of the darkest period of his life. Kyle was a person who didn't like asking for favors, even if the other person was his girlfriend.
However, he asked one favour despite his practices. He asked Maya to introduce Varian to her family's friend, Gareth. That was also how Varian became a trainer in the Leon Training Hall.
Varian at that time wasn't in a state to even think of these things, and Kyle never brought them up.
But when he finally knew the truth, Varian was both grateful and guilty. It was an irrefutable truth that Kyle saved his life.
Now he had to face the tough choice: Best Friend's life or mom's last wish?
Varian was torn inside.
After a moment, he sighed "Comm, stop yelling his name."
{2 minutes remaining}
He looked at the spaceships in the air and at the hill in the distance.
"Fuck!"
He gritted his teeth and ran to the hill.
His eyes turned red, and he yelled his heart out, "Kyle! You sick bastard! Where are you!"
"Son of a...! Where are you!"
Varian searched everywhere he could find and finally entered the one area he didn't enter.
He entered the facility inside the hill. With an attitude of last try, he focused his vision and hearing as he passed through the broken ceiling blocks and damaged paths.
He gave his 150% and hoped for a miracle.
The miracle didn't happen, but the clock continued to tick.
{1 Minute remaining}
"Kyle!"
{55 Seconds remaining}
Varian felt his entire body go cold and the scene of his mother's final moments played in his mind.
'Save Sia'
"Sorry…" Varian muttered in a muffled voice.
He exited the facility and was about to rush towards the city outskirts. His focused hearing caught an almost inaudible sound:
"V..Va..ri.an"