Chapter 32: Return to the Real Life

In that moment, I didn’t know what to feel. I had a mission and it was to save my best friend. After that, I was supposed to defeat Niobeorth and save both our worlds.

But even after saving him, I still couldn’t prevent his death.

Talas’s blade drove straight through Jarrod’s heart.

I froze, stunned, watching as Talas wrenched his sword free. Jarrod staggered, then slowly collapsed to the ground.

"No… Jarrod? Jarrod?!" I dropped beside him, shaking him, my voice breaking. "Come on, man, don’t do this to me."

His eyes were still open, his face frozen in shock. But his chest was still. His heart, gone.

I pulled up my HUD, desperately scrolling through every option, every skill, every item. Nothing. His health bar was gone. Completely gone.

"No, no, no, no!" I slammed my hands down, tears spilling over as I pressed my forehead to his chest. "There has to be something… please… don’t leave me like this."

I held him tight, praying it was all dream, a horrible nightmare, anything but death. But no miracle came to be.

Niobeorth’s voice cut through my grief, cold and mocking. "Another step of the Hero’s Journey completed. Now… it’s time you face his killer."

Rage boiled in me. I lifted my head, tears streaking my face, and glared at him.

"You’re wrong, because you are the one who I will kill" I growled.

Niobeorth grinned, "Before you kill me… you’ll have to kill Talas. Otherwise, it’s meaningless and also I wasn’t the one who killed him."

Then it hit me. My powers surged, tearing through me like fire and lightning. My glitching abilities fused with my Nova Bloom, twisting together until I could feel my very body changing, my molecules splitting apart, blood sparking with blue electric light.

It was too much. My HUD flashed red in front of my eyes, warnings screaming at me to stop. To shut it down.

But I couldn’t. I had lost control.

And in that storm of chaos, only one thought filled me: I am going to kill you, Niobeorth.

The power inside me erupted, a blinding light swallowing everything in sight.
What happened? What’s going on? Did I die? Did I really explode?

The blinding light faded, replaced by a vast, empty darkness. It felt like I was floating in a starless void, my body pressed against an invisible wall.

I was exhausted, barely holding on. My insides felt twisted, burning hot, like I was moments away from tearing apart. Every limb screamed with pain, and my broken arm throbbed worse than ever.

What really happened to me? My head spun, thoughts dazed, eyes heavy.

Then, knocking. A sharp sound, like fists rapping against a metal door.

The door creaked open.

Light poured in. Figures appeared on the other side, men in green suits. Paramedics. They moved carefully, gently lifting me as if I were fragile glass, mindful of my broken arm.

They pulled me from the pod. I blinked hard, my room. My world. Somehow, I was back.

Sirens wailed faintly outside. They carried me onto a gurney, rolling me out. I stared up at the sky, disoriented.

That’s when I saw her. Judeth. She sat on the ground, sobbing into her hands, her shoulders shaking. A woman I assumed to be Camille wrapped her arms around her, trying to comfort her.

And when I turned my head to the other side… my chest clenched.

Jarrod. My best friend. The one I was supposed to save, to bring back with me. His body lay zipped inside a black bag. Before it closed, I caught one last glimpse of his face, empty, lifeless.

Tears welled in my eyes as the zipper sealed him away. My body twitched with pain, every subtle movement burning, but nothing hurt more than the truth.

I failed to save him.


It’s been a whole week since we were forced to log out of Onlife.

The doctors told me I’d have to stay here for months, maybe longer, because of my injuries. They brought me to one of the largest medical centers in Omnikuro, where every other survivor of the Alchemy & Alloy incident was taken.

Out of 1,025 players trapped in that world, only 404 survived. Six hundred twenty-one died. Among them… my best friend, Jarrod Drummond.

None of us understood how we came back until the news broke.

Takayuki Schneider, the creator of Onlife, the man we all idolized, the one who caused everything, was arrested. He shut down the virtual world permanently, destroying the network servers that ran all of Onlife. That forced everyone, even those who were still alive were brought back.

Even if we were "saved," Ashalondaria wasn’t. Niobeorth rules it completely now. The Kingdom of Mondunion has fallen, leaving no hope for resistance.

In the end, I failed both of my objectives: saving my friend and saving the world.

This was the aftermath of a bad ending. And yes, it was traumatic. But even now, I keep asking myself: are we really back in reality?

Why do I ask that question?

For seven days, I’ve had moments where I couldn’t tell if this was the real world or still Onlife. Because somehow… I can still glitch. I can still access my HUD. I can even use my Magime Nova Bloom.

And it’s not just digital. In my hands, I’ve held my Dangatana here, in the real world.

I’ve kept this secret, even from Judeth.

She may not have fought through what I endured, but she witnessed enough. To her, me and Jarrod were family. When he died, she feared I would follow, even though the doctors swore my injuries weren’t life-threatening.

I used what items I still had from Onlife to heal myself, restoring my health and repairing my arm. The doctors couldn’t explain how I recovered so quickly. But with Takayuki’s shutdown, I can’t get more. What I have is all I’ll ever have.

And yet… since my Magime still responds, I wondered: could I still go back to Ashalondaria?

That thought drove me straight to my apartment. My pod was still there, untouched. But when I tried to power it on, nothing. No response. No matter what I did, Takayuki’s destruction of the servers had severed all ties between our worlds.

Disappointment hit me hard. I wanted to return. I wanted to save those still left behind. I wanted to get my revenge. But the way in was gone.

When I turned around, Judeth was standing in the doorway.

"Ah—jeez, Judeth. You scared me."

Her face was hollow.

I tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, I’m fully healed. The doctors couldn’t believe how fast I recovered. No one can explain it, I guess I’m just lucky."

But she didn’t smile. Instead, she suddenly rushed forward, tackling me into a hug that knocked us both onto my bed.

"Judeth?"

Her voice trembled. "You were planning to go back to that world?"

"What? I wasn’t—"

"Don’t lie to me!" Her emotions broke loose, raw and unrestrained.

"You were planning to return to that god-awful place—after you were saved! Do you seriously want to die?"

"I’m not—“
Judeth slowly stood up, struggling to hold back her tears, but some slipped free anyway.

"I lost—we lost Jarrod. Our best friend. Our brother. Our family. Do you think I could bear losing another? Tell me… were you planning to leave me too? To join Jarrod?"

Her tears fell onto me.

The truth weighed on my chest. I was planning to go back to Ashalondaria. But even if I somehow managed it… could I really save anyone? With all my abilities, I still failed. I almost destroyed myself in the process. It would have been pointless.

So I pulled Judeth into my arms and held her tight. I promised her I wouldn’t try something like that again.

She clung to me, still crying, and… she didn’t let me go.