“GODDAMMIT!!!!!”

BOOM!

A heavy punch landed on the ground. Cracks that looked like spider webs unfurled in all directions with the punched ground as the origin. His breathing grew haggard as he did his best to hold back his urge to yell out with all his strength. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he silently lay down the unresponsive body of his sole companion. His sole hope. He once again stood up and used his blood-stained sword to tear the earth with just a flick of his wrist, and then proceeded to bury the corpse gently in the earth. His eyes filled with all the despair and gloominess of the world, his faint smile so dark and agonizing that it could send a cold chill down anyone's spine.

“They are finally out!!! Archers and Snipers at the ready!!! If they make even the slightest malicious movement, kill them!!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The world outside the cave was warm and breezy, soft wind brushed past their cheeks as the students stood dumbfounded as the shout of the man penetrated their ears. Currently, for the group of students who had just left the cave, two things were holding them back from reacting to this immediate and dreadful threat which they couldn't even comprehend.

First, they were barely able to stand. Not in the sense that they were physically weak and unable to maintain their posture, rather, it seemed like there was an invisible force applying pressure on them from all sides. Some people on the weaker side of things had already been reduced to a kneeling or even sitting state, there were only a handful of people who were still able to withstand this pressure, and even for them, it was quite difficult because of their starvation and fatigue. The painful sensation of heavy rocks pressing down on every part of the body made the students unable to even look up and register their current predicament.

Second, the students couldn’t understand what the man had said. They were unable to ascertain the meaning behind his words, to them, the words that the man had spoken seemed to be incomprehensible gibberish. Even the international students among the group had clueless faces. They just looked at each other with clueless faces, none of them could provide a translation, and this was enough to make them pity their situation.

What lay bare in front of the students was a wide world with air so fresh that it was scary. The land was plain for as far as the eye could see, at some distance, a few trees stood tall and proud. However, directly in front of the students, only the figures of a countless number of people standing still with their eyes glued to the students' every movement could be seen. The people had their various weapons pointed in their direction, ready to bombard at any second. Behind the crowd of men, the sun was beaming with all its might in the sky above, signifying that it was indeed a bit later in the afternoon.

Aki, who was half-kneeling on the ground finally managed to muster enough strength to lift his head and observe his surroundings. Unlike his body which was being suppressed by the invisible pressure, his mind was already formulating many different theories to make sense of their current situation. Around a thousand men riding on unknown mounts, weapons pointed in their direction, overbearing invisible pressure, the chaotic condition of his classmates… There were many things he had to consider before concluding anything. While Aki was busy thinking how to avoid this situation, the incomprehensible gibberish entered his ears again, and this time, the one speaking was a man who was sitting on his mount which was just behind the man clad in an armor which radiated a majestic luster.

“Sir! They seem to be weak and barely standing! Shall we go and initiate conversation!”

He was holding a small and ancient telescope in his hands. Aki was quite intrigued by this as this particular variant of the telescope could be classified as ‘retro’ at best. He didn't understand what was said, but he sensed that they weren't going to attack them any time sooner.

“Hmph! They may seem weak now!”

The man with a wide mustache and a heavy face raised his head and said in a loud voice. His white robe over his armor fluttered with the wind, revealing his armor which at first glance seemed to be constructed from silver or platinum.

“Heed my orders! I will personally go and receive them! Do not forget to show respect to them! Do you understand!?”

This man was probably the leader of these thousand or so men, even if Aki couldn’t understand what he was saying, his attitude and presence were enough to justify his position. His voice reverberated and managed to reach all of the soldiers.

“Sir. Yes. Sir.”

However, to all the students who were ignorant of the workings of this world, they were stupefied by the roar of the man clad in a white robe. Aki had finally managed to assume a standing position, however, he felt like he was being suppressed by all sides. The pressure exerted on his body was akin to the pressure that the ocean exerted on a human as they reached deeper into the ocean.

Are we in the ocean? No, it shouldn’t be possible… Is this… Atmospheric pressure? But why is it so overbearing? 1.3 bar... or is it 1.4 bar? I can breathe just fine, so it must not be too high. Muscle expansion and contraction are fine as well. Also… The language they’re speaking... It’s not Japanese, English, French, Chinese or German... However, by looking at their white complexion and big eyes, they look to be from the West.

The pressure was high, but it wasn’t high to the point where it would be hard for them to survive, and as such, they had already started to somewhat adapt to their new surroundings, Not everyone, but the ones on top of the strata had already begun discussing their next move. Asashi stiffly moved toward Chisa and spoke with a rather cheerful tone.

“So, Sensei, what do we do?”

Asahi had an amused look in his eyes as he looked at the group of soldiers walking towards their group. Asahi wasn’t fazed by the increase in atmospheric pressure and adapted to it in mere minutes. At this point, his body pressure was already in sync with the outside pressure and he was standing without any problems.

Chisa, on the other hand, was in a dire situation as she was barely able to keep her back straight. Her breathing was haggard and her back was drenched with cold sweat, but because of what Aki had instructed her to do, she couldn’t possibly let her position as the head crumble, so she gritted her teeth and persevered. If she were to let Aki down, it didn’t matter if he chose to forgive her, Chisa would never be able to forgive herself.

“We’ll see what happens. Let them come.”

Chisa tried her best to sound as calm as she could, but her shaky voice betrayed her. Asahi clapped his hands and said in a cheerful voice.

“Ok~! Hayashida, Tsun-chan, Misaki, and Yoshida come here, we’ll be talking with them.”

After the many bitter battles they had to go through, these five people had become their hope and emotional support. Only they had the power to resist the gorilla-like figures, and thus, they were held in very high regard by the others, especially the girls.

Aki had his arm on Vinayak’s shoulder as he stood up straight with Vinayak’s support and observed the situation with a grave expression.

“What do you think?”

Vinayak asked Aki using a rather anxious tone.

“Did you notice that everyone is moving according to that man’s words. It seems like he is the leader of these people. If he is coming to talk to us then that would mean that he has come to talk…”

“You seem uncertain?”

“Look at those people, at first glance, they seem to be soldiers. However, they are wearing metal-armors and carrying swords, bows, and guns which seem to be from the 1800s. No matter how primitive civilization is, this scenario is quite unprecedented. Also, their language… Look at them…”

Following Aki’s gaze, Vinayak turned his neck and glanced at one of the four big groups of his class; The international group. Initially, Vinayak would’ve been a part of this group as well, however, due to him committing the ‘sin’ of talking to Aki, he was never reached out to by the international group.

The position of the four, or rather, five groups in class is something like this.

The Asahi-Akio group >> The Masahiko group > The Orihime group >>> The International group >>>>>>>>> Aki and Vinayak.

“What about them? All five of them are on the ground… There’s nothing unusual about them.”

“Vinayak, how many languages do you know? Or rather, how many can you recognize?”

“Hmm… Japanese, English, Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Urdu-”

“Stop. And now, think of those five. All of them come from different parts of the world and they specialize in the languages, even so, they’re as clueless to what the other party is saying as the others. Now, do you understand?”

Vinayak realized what Aki had meant and asked in an inquisitive tone.

“The problem is the language barrier, right?”

“Yes. Understanding the intentions of the other party is very important in these situations. Especially in our case where the other party has an advantage in every aspect. Be it numbers, weapons, or field knowledge. We are barely able to stand under this pressure, but those people are seamlessly carrying weapons and wearing armor.”

“Oh~ I understand. If there are any misunderstandings between us, then we could very well die~”

Vinayak spoke in a bland and indifferent tone which startled Aki.

“Hey! Value your life more! You’ve still not confessed to Ohori-san!”

Aki touched Vinayak’s single sensitive spot in an attempt to rouse his will to live.

“You’re right, can’t die before confessing. Let me fix my hair and revise my lines.”

“...”

Aki was speechless for a while, but after he saw what the people at the front were doing, he raised his voice again.

“Looks like Arashiro-san has figured it out.”

“Hm… Isn’t she coming this way?”

“Yeah.”

Aki instructed Vinayak to leave him alone, Aki stumbled for a bit, but he managed to stand up on his own. Misaki came over and stood in front of him, the distance between them wasn’t even a full fifteen centimeters, and due to Misaki’s small figure, her head barely reached Aki’s neck. Misaki herself was barely holding on, she even placed one of her hands on Aki's chest for support.

“What do we do, Muranaka-kun?”

Five minutes ago, this was the question that had bombarded Misaki, and she just asked the very same question to Aki with a straight face. If the others were to hear this, it would certainly result in a huge commotion. Misaki was their hope and they blindly trusted her judgment and intellect, but she, their benefactor, was asking someone else for advice in an overly reliant and helpless tone.

“I believe you’ve figured out the situation?”

While the rest of them revered and relied on Misaki’s intelligence, Aki conversed with her in a way befitting of a teacher or a senior. Both Misaki and Aki were unaware of this, but during their friendly relationship, Misaki had started to consider her intellect inferior to Aki’s, and as such, she would often seek his advice as her mentor. This gradual development, however, was hidden from both of their eyes as it came to them as natural.

“Yes… This pressure sure is a problem, I can barely stand. Also, their language, I’ve asked around and nobody recognizes it. Should we talk with them?”

Aki placed his index finger and thumb on his chin as he spoke.

“I don’t know if you noticed this but when we initially came out of the cave, their weapons were pointed in our direction, however, after that person shouted, they withdrew their weapons. And now, the very same person is coming towards us with his people. They should be coming here to talk because if they wanted to harm us, it would’ve been as easy to crush a group of ants considering the situation. They have the advantage right now and we lack any sort of information. Everybody is afraid, only you all can do something. There will be a language barrier but be as cautious as you can. Make sure they understand that we have no ill intentions or I think we may lose our lives.

Misaki’s body shuddered, but she calmed down after breathing deeply a few times. She showed an obedient and understanding expression. She had not noticed what Aki had, she had not comprehended what Aki had, and she clearly couldn’t decide on a definite course of action like Aki could. She was clear on Aki’s position, she was clear on Aki’s weakness, but she couldn’t help but admire, no, revere his intellect.

“Understood. I will try my best. However, if it gets out of hand, please break all the shackles which bind you and come assist us, I promise that Akio, Umi, Nikki and I will take care of all the consequences.”

‘Especially Akio’, this was something that she kept within her heart. Aki’s eyebrows twitched for a second, but he replied right after.

“Okay.”

He gave his consent, and when Misaki had returned to her position in the front after accepting a few more instructions, Aki muttered to himself with a melancholic voice.

“‘Break all the shackles’, huh? You don’t know the weight of the shackles that bind me…”

At this point, even I don’t know their weight either…

Near the front of the student group, ten people approached them while riding on an animal that resembled some sort of four-legged domestic animal, but it didn’t look like a horse, donkey, or even other such creatures, it’s appearance could be said to be… different?

As they approached their location on foot after demounting, Chisa, Asahi, Hayashida, Misaki, and Nikki took the stage with the others behind them. The presence of the four people except Nikki was completely justified, but the only reason Nikki was in front was because of her refreshing, friendly, and warm temperament. Nikki was the type of person who could arouse familiarity and gentleness in even the fiercest of people. She was exceptionally beautiful with the personality of a pure princess. This was one of the things Aki had instructed Misaki to do, and she complied without questioning his intentions in the least.

Twenty-six people in dire straits faced the ten people who were standing with clear pride in their eyes. From the student’s side, Chisa and Asahi stepped up with the rest standing just behind them, while from the other side, the ‘commander’ and another person with a crooked and thin body strode and stood in front of the two.

Uwaaah~! He’s so tall~! So scary~! I want Aki~~!!

Interesting.

The thoughts of the two representatives were in complete contrast, but they stood with calm and composed expressions on their faces.

“Hello. My name is Shishidou Chisa. Very nice to meet you.”

Looking at Chisa’s beauty, the expressions of the ten men stiffened as they averted their gazes to calm down. However, they were unable to comprehend what Chisa was saying. Also, Chisa was aware that they won’t understand, but still, it was worth the try.

“Ahem!” The commander silently rebuked his men. “My name is Cali Buro, and I am a member of the Royal Army!”

“???”

Nobody was able to comprehend what he was saying, everybody looked at each other in utter confusion. Asahi stepped up as he made some gestures with his hands. One look at Asahi’s hands and anyone could understand that what he was asking was what was this place and how did they get here. Also, he made sure to tell the soldiers that they couldn’t understand their language. Finally, Asahi pointed at the sheathed sword on the soldier’s waist and crossed his arms, signifying that they didn’t want to fight.

It seemed as though the thin man was an advisor of some sort as he whispered something to the commander. After this, the commander placed his big and burly hand on Asahi’s shoulder and gestured him to follow them.

“Sensei... Should we follow them?”

“We have no other choice, Uenohabaru-kun. What do you make of this, Arashiro-san?”

“That advisor guy, I think he understood what Asahi was saying. The safest option for us right now is to follow them. There isn’t anything in view, it is a barren land. Except for this cave, we have no shelter to speak of, and I’d rather not sleep with those gorilla-like things.”

Everybody nodded in agreement. It took a while before all of them were ready to follow them. During this time, the students who were unable to stand were carried or supported by others. They followed the soldiers as they were led to thirteen mounts. Some of the soldiers had compromised and were sitting together with their comrades, and as such, two people from the student’s side could sit together as they traveled behind them.

Naturally, nobody would associate with Vinayak or Aki so they got on one of the animals together. This caused two people to be quite perplexed and have an uncomfortable feeling.

“I want to ride with him.”

Akio gnashed her teeth as she muttered to herself while sitting in front of Nikki who was firmly holding her waist. Nikki, on the other hand, softly giggled as she gently said.

“Nothing is holding you back, you know? Just go… I don’t mind accompanying Khavare-kun.”

“No,” Akio shook her head and said in a self-deprecating tone. “I’d just bring him trouble if I did that. And Khavare-kun would much rather ride with Umi.”

“Cough! Cough!”

“Hahahaha”

Some distance away from this group of four.

“I want to ride with Khavare-kun.”

“Orihime, you know that is impossible, right? Everybody would be pissed at you if you did that… Please hold yourself back.”

“Mn…”

Orihime’s eyes flashed and what surfaced was an inexplicable pain and sorrow. The school which she attended was different from all others. Their school was filled with scions of huge families, Mekangham Academy wasn’t just a mere school, it was a training ground for the future leaders of many world-renowned companies. Orihime was one of them, she was fated to be bound by shackles of society. Her friends were carefully chosen, not solely based on compatibility, the most important factor remained 'usefulness'. A teenage girl was choosing her friends based on their usefulness to her, so pitiful.

In the world where these students lived, betrayal, cheating, bluffing, killing, and other heinous acts were common occurrences. Especially for students hailing from families which could shake the balance of the nation with just a mere statement. Orihime knew that if she were to disregard everything and follow her heart, not only would she destroy herself and her friends, she could very well end up destroying the one she loved. Many other students in the class shared this sentiment, the shackles which weighed down on them were something that a common man could never understand, even being just seventeen-year-old youngsters, they had to scheme, plan, make use of, and manipulate those closest to them to survive. Truly, a cruel fate.

Their journey started with them in the middle of a huge and systematic formation of what seemed to be a cavalry unit. Due to Asahi’s and Nikki’s skills, they managed to inform the other party that many of the students were injured and they were practically starving, and as such, after a bit, they stopped to take a break and were fed quite extravagantly considering the circumstances. This roused Aki’s suspicion, he looked at his wristwatch as he muttered to himself.

“There are way too many things wrong here, and if the most troublesome of them all comes to pass then it may be an incomprehensible situation…” He looks at his wristwatch again as he sighs heavily. “I just hope that my hypothesis is wrong.”

They were given a portion of rice and some fruits. However, their circumstances were so dire that even the students coming from extremely powerful backgrounds wolfed down their portion without any regard for their dignity.

As they traveled towards wherever the soldiers were leading them, all they passed were barren plains, the students were very fascinated by this spectacle as they hadn’t seen such a large area being barren and unused. All their lives, they have seen huge buildings and luxurious facilities, never had they come in contact with the ‘outside’ world.

The sun had set long ago as they ventured for about eight hours before stopping. At this point, the barren lands unexpectedly began to show signs of vegetation. They all got off and after receiving instructions from the soldier group, they just stood around as the soldiers constructed what seemed to be a temporary shelter for spending the night out in the open. It wasn’t a conventional tent, but it wasn’t much different from one. They had pierced four rods of similar length into the moist ground and threw a huge cloth over it to make it a makeshift residence.

As the night fell, there was no effective source of light except the bright moon which seemed to be reflecting the sun’s light better than it had ever done before. The moon’s light was enough to provide a bare minimum level of visibility even though there wasn’t a candle or other such illuminatory objects anywhere close to them.

Aki sat on a rock a considerable distance away from the camp. Each tent could house three people, but there were only Vinayak and him in his tent as the last person decided to compromise and sleep in his friend’s tent rather than sleeping with them. To any other person, this would be very offensive conduct, but for these two, it was a very common occurrence.

There was only one huge rock in a Five-hundred-meter radius, and it was currently occupied by Aki who was in deep contemplation. He raised his head and looked at the moon which hung in the air, the brightest Aki had ever seen it shine.

“Dust particles in the atmosphere are near non-existent… The air is way too pure… The composition seems about the same, but the carbon-di-oxide content is much lower… There seems to be something in the atmosphere that is ‘keeping’ all the layers in this planets’ atmosphere clean. One thing is for sure, this is not our planet. There is way too much evidence to just disregard this line of thought… Just way too much proof…”

Suddenly, Aki sensed someone approaching him as he turned his head cautiously, but he relaxed soon after. He looked the person who approached him in the eye and said with a heavy tone.

“What are you doing here?”

This person lowered her head, she grasped the hem of her already dirty skirt as she bit her lips. She knew that what she was doing was wrong and contradictory to Aki’s wishes, but she…

“I-I… That… I… Ple-”

“Did someone see you come here?”

Aki had already turned his head around and resumed his stargazing session.

“N-N-No…”

Her voice turned extremely soft. Her head lowered to the point where her chin was touching her neck. She didn’t dare disrespect the person in front of her even a little.

“Is that so? What is it, say it quickly… If someone sees you here, we will both be in a lot of trouble.”

“I… I…”

Aki could hear the sounding of teeth-gnashing from behind him, however, he just closed his eyes and endured the seventeen different kinds of pain assaulting his heart.

The girls’ hands were curled into fists, her nails digging into her soft skin, it was clear that she was enduring something painful as a few drops of blood could be seen dripping down from her palm. She tried her best to hold herself back, but honestly, the situation was too grave to do so. She threw caution into the wind, she knew what could be consequences of her next actions, but when her feet moved, they just couldn’t come to a stop.

Pomph

Aki felt the sensation of two impressive mounds touching him on his back, but he had no reaction, rather, his eyes and expression turned terrifyingly calm. Sounds of hoarse sobbing came from his shoulders. The girl's face was pushed against his shoulder and her tears drenched his shirt.

“Don’t hold back.”

He said with a rather gentle tone, to which, the girl’s body shuddered. After this, Aki had to place his hand on her lips to stop her loud crying from leaking out.