Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 960: Signal Lost

I used to think dying would feel dramatic.

Like there’d be a moment where everything slows down. Where life flashes before your eyes.

A final line before the end.

It’s a lie.

Death is the end of everything. There was no glory in it.

People can find meaning in your actions but you don’t know what they choose in the end.

When monsters tear through your formation and your squad pushes too far past the outer barricade.

All because we saw someone screaming for help.

We thought we were better, we thought we could be heroes. Perform heroic deeds, gain recognition.

That wasn’t the case.

By the time we had arrived, he was already dead. His chest caved in from the weight of the beast pushing down on him from above.

I still remember the smell of iron and ash.

Stumbling over broken stone, turning around to flee only to see the death that awaited me.

It was then that I realised, death wasn’t glorious.

At least not for someone like me. I was simply going to be another statistic, another casualty.

Another mark on the record.

I was going to die without accomplishing anything.

My legs couldn’t move, my spirit broken. I simply stood there, waiting for the guillotine to fall.

Then something slammed into me from the side, I hit the ground hard.

The world spun, a spray of hot blood splattered against my face.

It wasn’t mine.

Captain Miki stood where I had been moments ago.

Her spear locked against the monstrous limb, boots digging into the ground as she forced the beast away.

"!!!" I saw the ghastly wound on her shoulder. A cut that exposed the bone.

She didn’t have enough time to block the strike cleanly.

And even though it tore into her body, she didn’t scream, she didn’t hesitate.

"Fall back! Now! The city doesn’t want heroes, stay put by the wall and make sure nothing breaches it!" She ordered through clenched teeth despite the blood soaking her uniform.

I ran.

I ran to safety while she stayed, covering our escape.

If the medics hadn’t reached to her in time...

Till this day, her back is imprinted into my mind.

It was the back of someone who willingly threw herself between a monster and a coward like me.

All to save my life because the city needed me.

Then the least I could do...

Was to stop being a coward. To repay Captain Miki for saving my life.

###

"What are you thinking about? Zoning out like that is exactly how you rack up needless deaths you know?!" A voice called out as a beast’s claw was parried off to the side.

A smile hung on the man’s lips as he adjusted his body, stabbing his sword into the beast’s torso before carving out a large chunk of flesh.

"Just thinking about our adorable Captain! This situation is just like the siege where I almost died." He laughed.

"Don’t let her hear you say that. The Captain will skin you alive for saying that!" Another laughed.

They were venturing deep into the Grand Cathia nightmare. A familiar battlefield only this time, it’s far far worse.

Monsters stronger than the beasts that invaded before, the ground fracturing with each hit causing unstable footing.

The fog rolled low across the fractured streets, thick and suffocating.

Grand Cathia looked the same.

And yet it wasn’t.

Buildings leaned at impossible angles, their upper halves fading into nothingness like unfinished sketches. Streets split and reconnected a few meters ahead, paths bending away if you tried to focus on them too hard.

From the fog, a beast lunged forward.

Quickly ducking down, he plunged his blade into the beast’s jaw, cutting it in half.

"Left!" Someone shouted.

Two moved to cover.

The four of them had been fighting side by side for a long time now, they were familiar with how each other moved.

Their habits, their flaws.

They moved as a squad but the wave was unending.

"Seems like this place is a dead end. I don’t see an end to this." One of his friends wiped the sweat from his face.

"Path to retreat?" He asked, pushing off a few beasts to make some room.

"If you cut through a wave or two I think we’ll be fine." Another chuckled.

They didn’t say it but all of them knew.

Taking a deep breath and letting out a helpless smile, the man gave his neck a massage.

"Who here can hold on for another death?" he asked.

No one answered immediately.

That was the unspoken weight of the Nightmare.

Each of them carried an invisible counter.

Each of them knew how close they were to Signal Lost.

Those closer to the brink would pave the way.

That was protocol.

The ones who could afford another death would take the risk so the others could retreat with the data.

No one raised their hand. They knew their limits.

"Really guys? And you say you’re my teammates. I got at least a few more left in me." The man shook his head with a hearty laugh.

"Protocol right guys? Pave the way to retreat. Get the data out, that is priority." He ordered.

The others wanted to say something, to protest. They knew this was false bravado and yet...

"We break through the left. The wave is thinnest there. I’ll hold of the horde here so don’t look back."

They gave each other a fist bump and moved without hesitation.

No dramatic farewell.

No drawn-out speeches.

Just trust.

He turned back toward the fog.

The wave thickened the moment the formation broke. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Of course it did.

The Nightmare wasn’t stupid.

It understood patterns. It understood sacrifice.

The creatures surged forward as if sensing the imbalance. Limbs scraped against broken pavement. Jaws split too wide. Eyes blinked sideways.

Once again, he was facing death. But this time the captain wasn’t around to save him.

He wasn’t going to run, he wasn’t going to hide. He was going to pave the way for his friends.

Not because it’s a heroic sacrifice, because he was simply another soldier for this city. Another worker gathering data so that this Nightmare can end.

He exhaled slowly.

"Alright then," he muttered, tightening his grip around his sword. "Let’s see how much I’ve grown."

The first beast lunged.

He didn’t retreat.

He stepped in.

Steel flashed. He pivoted under its strike, drove his blade through its throat and kicked it aside before the body even finished dissolving.

"COME AT ME!" He roared.

Another came from the right, he parried high, letting the impact travel down his arm instead of resisting it outright.

A lesson learned after too many broken bones.

He rolled to the side, brought the pommel up into the creature’s jaw and severed the spine.

Behind him, another beast lunged onto his back, its claws digging into his muscles.

Gritting his teeth, he slammed his body into the ground to force the beast off.

Above, two beasts jumped down, clawing away at his body.

But within this slaughter, he could hear his friends getting further and further away.

He grinned.

Good.

Keep moving.

Don’t look behind.

Take the data back so others don’t have to suffer.

He leaped backwards but a tail whipped out from the fog and grabbed his arm.

Razor barbs burst out from the tail as he felt the metal dig into his bones.

"ARGH!!!" Letting out a cry of pain mixed with anger, he grabbed the tail and pulled back, ripping the beast from the fog.

It didn’t matter what kind of wound he got at this point.

The more time he stalled the better!

The tail peeled flesh from bone but his goal was achieved.

Prying the beast’s mouth open with his foot, he jammed the blade into its mouth and snapped the head in half.

"WHO’S NEXT!?"

In the end... perhaps this was the kind of death he wanted.

A little selfish but can’t blame a dead man wanting to go out with a fight.

He panted, blood blocking his view.

He couldn’t feel his arms anymore and his body grew heavy.

The cries of monsters surrounded him but a smile hung on his lips.

He couldn’t hear his friends anymore.

They should’ve reached safety by now.

If Miki was here, he couldn’t help if she would be proud of the soldier he had become.

No one will remember him.

But as a soldier, as a cog in the system, their sacrifices combined will pave the way to the future.

A shadow loomed over him and a beast lunged from the fog.

Signal Lost.

###

Miki paused.

The Nightmare wind howled through the ruined plaza, carrying ash and whispers. Around her, her current squad held formation, blades raised, breaths ragged.

She didn’t look back.

She didn’t need to.

"...Captain?" one of the shadows beside her asked.

She tightened her grip on her spear.

"Formation doesn’t change," she said calmly.

The fog ahead churned.

She felt it then.

A surge.

The Nightmare reacting.

It had consumed another soul.

Another good soldier lost.

Her chest tightened.

"Push forward," she ordered.

She’ll destroy this Nightmare as soon as possible.

No sacrifice will go wasted, not as long as she was around.

The fog thickened without warning.

It didn’t drift.

It poured.

Like something had overturned a sea of white above them and let it spill into the streets.

"Hold," Miki ordered instantly, spear lowering into guard.

Visibility dropped to barely a few meters. Even sound dulled, swallowed by the mist.

Her instincts screamed.

This wasn’t a normal shift.

This was interference.

The air temperature dipped.

Butterflies flickered at the edge of her vision.

Miki’s eyes snapped left—

And a figure stepped out of the fog as though walking through a curtain.

Shifting her body, she lunged forward to take care of the threat!

*CLANG!!!

Her blade was blocked.

The fog cleared and her eyes widened.

"Oh! Lucky me, I found your zone first."

Alice arrived in the Grand Cathia Nightmare.