Bottom of the Fissure.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Astra opened his eyes.

“Ugh...What happened?” Astra groaned. He looked down and saw that his clothes were stained with red.

“Finally,” Dahlia said irritatedly. She walked up to the dragon and gently caressed its snout.

“Farewell...I will not forget what you have done. If we ever encounter your kind, they will be greatly rewarded.

Astra got up and examined his body. Despite being covered in blood, his body felt light and relaxed. He turned towards the dragon and felt that its oppressive aura was diminishing rapidly.

What’s wrong with it?...Its aura is getting weaker and weaker…

Noticing the standing Astra, Dahlia motioned for him to come over, “Say your goodbyes.”

Astra looked at the dragon dejectedly and knelt down, “I thank you for saving my life and sacrificing yours to help me.

The dragon looked at Astra closely. The violet light in its eyes slowly dimmed as his life force faded away. The dense mana around them began to disperse and scatter.

Dahlia hesitated for a moment,“...Use your space ring and put the body inside,”

Astra put his hand out and sucked the dragon’s body into his ring. The space within the ring was immediately filled up.

As the dragon’s space-time distortion began to fade, rocks and debris began falling down the fissure.

“Let’s go, it won’t be long before the dimension collapses,” Dahlia walked up to Astra and disappeared as a green glow enveloped her body.

“What the? Where’d you go?” Astra looked around.

“Inside the pendant, you idiot. We don’t have time, use Tempest Bolt and climb!.” Dahlia said.

Astra nodded and shouted, “Lightning Shura, first step! Tempest Bolt!”

Astra could feel the soft crackles flaring up within his body. His skin glowed blue as a light shade of electric-blue glossed over his onyx colored eyes. Astra exhaled as he firmly clutched the ground with his feet.

Boom~!

A sonic boom echoed throughout the fissure as a shock wave formed behind Astra as he ran up towards the fissure. In an instant, Astra already ran a hundred meters up the wall. He managed to run a couple more meters before gravity slowed him down and made Astra resort to climbing up the fissure with his hands.

As Astra looked above him, instead of endless darkness, a tiny glimmer of light could be seen.

“I see light! I’m close!” Astra grunted as he climbed up the wall.

With Tempest Bolt strengthening and increasing the agility of his body, Astra was like a monkey in the jungle, easily scaling the last couple hundred meters of the fissure in several minutes.

As Astra climbed out of the fissure, he took a deep breath and looked around him. There were broken trees scattered all around and the sky seemed to have small cracks. Astra looked around for the exit portal.

“Your left! Quickly!” Dahlia shouted.

Astra did as he was told and quickly started running to his left. A couple of minutes later, Astra saw a small purple dot off in the distance.

“The exit portal!” Astra said happily as he continued running.

Before long, Astra was a couple meters away from the portal.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and shake. Cracks appeared as the ground began splitting apart, creating a massive cliff. Once again, Astra stood at the edge of a cliff. The portal was fading in and out and was about to disappear at any moment.

“You have to jump!” Dahlia yelled.

Astra gritted his teeth as he bent his knees and leaped forward.

Without warning, the portal disappeared right in front of Astra’s eyes.

“Huh?! WHAT!? FUCK!” Astra began flailing in mid-air as he fell down the cliff. What kind of shitty luck was this? To disappear right before me? Anger rose from within as Heath’s arrogant laugh came to Astra’s mind.

Out of nowhere, the portal appeared right beneath Astra as he continued to yell obscenities.

A wave of nausea assaulted Astra’s head as he fell through the portal.

“Ugh…” Astra groaned. Did I burst a blood vessel from being too angry? Astra’s eyes grew heavy as his body was exhausted from the strenuous use of Tempest Bolt.

In a flash, Astra appeared at the entrance of Sloveus’ Dimension and fell face first onto the ground.

“...What the fuck? Is this the kid? He’s actually alive?” A male youth shouted.

“Is this him? This must be Astra Gale, correct?”

“Thank god, I thought I was standing here for nothing.”

A group of people clamored over to the scene as the portal faded away.

“Take him, we have to report this to Streth immediately. Heath’s men, you can go back,” said a muscular youth with an arrogant tone. It was apparent that he was the leader of the group.

Several of the crew nodded as they diverted from the group. Two people held up Astra from his sides and carried him off.

…

..

.

Ascelyn Academy: Meeting room.

A skinny tall man with no hair on his head that seemed to be in his forties slammed his fist on a table.

“My son is dead, what will the academy do about this!” The man said angrily.

Uriel sat at the head of the table with composure. He glanced around the table. There

were several adults sitting next to him with anger and anxiousness on their faces.

Sherry said softly, “We are currently waiting for the dimension to close before we make any final decisions.”

The man glared at Sherry, “Final decisions? If I heard correctly, the kid should be in a fissure right now! He’s dead! Quit wasting time!”

Out of the blue, there was a knock on the door.

Uriel’s eyes narrowed as he thought to himself. Every time that there was a knock, something unexpected would happen.

“Come in,” Uriel said.

The doors creaked open as a muscular youth appeared. The youth bowed slightly as he quickly walked next to Streth and whispered into his ears.

Streth’s eyes widened as he turned to Uriel, “He’s alive. They brought him back.”

Rage appeared in the forty-year-old man’s eyes as he quickly got up, “He’s still alive?! And he’s here!?!”

The man ran out of the room as he shouted, “My son! I’ll avenge you right now!!”

Flora chuckled as she followed the man, “This should be a good show.”

Everyone in the room got up and exited the room.

…

..

.

Ascelyn Academy Plaza

Astra was laying down on the ground as several people watched over him. A crowd began to form out of curiosity.

“Who is that?” A girl asked.

“Didn’t you hear? He’s the one that killed all the nobles in the expedition!” Someone in the crowd replied.

“Him? But he’s so young!”

“What is going to happen to him?”

“Who knows?”

Suddenly an angry yell was heard throughout the plaza.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” An angry man shouted from the back of the crowd.

The man forcefully shoved several students out of his way as he slowly made his way through the crowd. The man began to fume as he finally got to the front and saw Astra lying on the ground.

“Wake him up!” The man yelled.

The group of people watching over him stared at each other. They didn’t even know this man, why should they listen to his orders? But a few moments later, the Elite Assembly appeared behind the man. The group of people noticed Streth’s nodding head as they slapped Astra’s face a couple of times.

Astra woke up instantly.

Where am I? Huh? ...Isn’t this Ascelyn Academy? I’m out?! I made it out!

Astra smiled in relief as he stood up but furrowed his brow as soon as he noticed the crowd around him and the angry man glaring him down.

The man took out his wand and released his aura of a White rank mage. The Elite Assembly quietly watched as the man prepared his attack. Dio sneered and thought to himself. Thanks, old man. Now we won’t have to get our hands dirty.

“Wait!” Sherry shouted. The man ignored her and continued channeling his mana.

“Pay for your crime! My son won’t rest in peace knowing that you’re still alive!” The man shouted as a stream of water burst out from the tip of his wand at a frightening speed and flew straight at Astra.

In an instant, Astra realized the danger he was in and quickly activated Tempest Bolt which allowed him to see the beam of water that was coming straight at his head.

The surge of water grazed Astra’s cheek as he twisted his neck forcefully in order to dodge the attack. A trickle of blood flowed down his face as an inch long cut appeared on his right cheek.

“Wha-What the fuck? A kid who hasn’t even broken through to White rank dodged my attack? Impossible!” The man was baffled.

“In that case, take this!” An immense amount of mana began to gather at the tip of the man’s wand.

“I’ll be sure to kill you-” The man stopped talking as he stared above him.

What happened?

Astra tilted his head and traced the man's line of sight.

There was a man standing in mid-air as a yellow glow surrounded him. An oppressive aura came from the man. Having felt the oppressive aura of a real dragon, Astra wasn’t flustered and kept his composure. Astra looked closely at the man.

It’s him!

“Principal Knoxon,” Uriel quickly kneeled down.

Noticing this, the entire crowd began kneeling down.

A murderous intent came from Knoxon and kept the man in front of Astra standing.

“I...Th-this boy! He deserves to be punished!” The man stuttered as he tried to explain himself.

“Are you trying to kill one of my students? In MY academy?” Knoxon’s voice echoed through the crowd.

“N-No, I would never…” The man whimpered.

“Enough, DISPERSE!” Knoxon commanded.

The crowd immediately began to thin out as everyone left the plaza.

Pinned down by Knoxon’s aura and killing intent, the man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground.

Knoxon descended from the air and landed on the ground. He glanced at Astra, “Come with me.” Knoxon began to quickly walk away.

Astra released Tempest Bolt as he followed behind Knoxon.