Seed of Titan-Chapter 78: Darkness Befalls Soluna Academy

The three kept standing there in silence for another minute, and it was clear that the siren was not going to stop anytime soon. Like an obnoxious and overpowered alarm, it kept blasting through the night, definitely waking up everyone who had gone to bed by now, unless they’re absurdly heavy sleepers or deaf.

"What’s happening?!" Jian shouted amidst the loud noise.

Christo ran toward the window and leaned outside, looking at the streets. But aside from the small crowd of panicking students and workers, he didn’t see anything noticeable or a possible cause for the siren.

"Looking at how the siren’s been ringing for so long, it doesn’t seem like someone turned it on by accident," Christo remarked as he pulled back his head.

"What do we do?" Drai asked, still in full alert mode. Having gone through the jungle venture, he was used to shifting his gears in no time.

Christo pondered briefly and said, "Let’s wait a bit first. There’s no use running around without having a clear idea what’s the whole thing about. There will probably be an official notice sent to our comms soon."

Just as Drai and Jian nodded, the lights went out along with the blaring siren. And after a second of silence, loud commotions could be heard from the streets and the hallway.

Christo grabbed his satchel from the side of his bed and quickly pulled out his usual electric lantern, but he soon realized that he couldn’t get it to turn on. He then put it back before pulling out a wooden torch and a lighter.

A few seconds later, an orange flame lightened up the completely black room.

"Guys, check out your comms," Christo ordered, to which Drai and Jian immediately followed.

"It’s dead!" Jian exclaimed as he repeatedly nudged his comm’s inactive screen. He then tried pushing the tiny power button several times, but it still refused to start up.

"Mine isn’t working too," Drai said while raising his arm, showing his comm to the other two.

Christo’s dim face turned grim. He turned to the window again and saw that the streets and buildings were almost completely dark. He could see vague silhouettes of people on the streets, but most of them were standing in place, too wary to wander around with no lights.

It was when Christo looked up that his expression became grave. The sky above the academy had turned dark red.

Christo turned around and instructed, "Ready yourselves. Assume that we’re now in a greater danger than we were in the jungle. Get changed and bring everything that will help us survive. And Drai, is your dimensional storage working?"

Drai checked his bracelet and found that it worked normally. His rocks were still there along with some miscellaneous items he had put inside.

"It works fine, Christo. Why did you want to know about it?"

"I’ll explain later. Now we need to get prepared first," Christo curtly replied as he crouched and grabbed some clothes to change into.

Drai followed suit and quickly changed. Shortly after, the three were properly dressed with similar clothes as they had worn during their venture. Christo wore his usual satchel while Jian was in a combat garb with his sword at his side. Only Drai looked rather normal aside from his serious expression.

"Let’s make way to the ground floor. We’ll use the stairs since I’m sure the elevators aren’t working. And be prepared for the crowd of people. Don’t mind them much and prioritize your safety," Christo instructed before heading toward the door. The two nodded and followed closely behind.

Christo opened the door, and the light from his torch poured into the dark hallway. A loud commotion could be heard as numerous students of this floor slowly made their way toward the bright light.

"Its you, Christo? Do you know what’s happening?" a small guy with glasses said as he emerged from the darkness of the hallway.

"No idea. But seeing that all the electronics suddenly went out, even the comm, I’d say it’s either some kind of natural phenomenon or an attack," Christo replied as he and the others headed toward the stairs at the middle of the hallway between the two elevators.

The mention of an attack made the crowd gasp. They looked at each other worriedly as Christo and co. nearly reached the stairs.

"Then why are you heading down if there’s really an attack? Won’t it be safer if we stay hidden in our rooms?" the boy with glasses asked.

Christo stopped and turned to the crowd behind him.

"I agree that it will probably be safer here. But I’m just a bit too adventurous to stay put while all this is happening. You and the others shouldn’t follow us, Peter."

After saying that, Christo proceeded to walk down the stairs. Drai and Jian glanced at the crowd and nodded before following Christo.

The hallway returned to darkness. Only a few dim lights could be seen, conjured by mages who had luminescent spells.

The crowding students stared briefly at the empty stairs before returning to their rooms, heeding Christo’s advice.

"Stay safe, Christo," Peter, the boy with glasses, mumbled before heading to his room.

Down the stairs, Drai and his friends had to stop on each floor they passed due to being questioned by the students standing near the stairway. Christo said the same thing to them, and most of them stayed behind with only a few daring to follow Drai’s group to the ground floor.

"Is it really because you’re adventurous?" Jian quietly asked to Christo while they were descending.

Hearing this, Christo couldn’t help but grin.

"I know what you’re thinking, but it’s different from my intuition during the venture. This time it’s my own hunch. I feel like we need to be out there somewhere," Christo said.

"Huh? What do you mean ’this time it’s your own hunch’? Is the intuition you used a lot back then not really yours?" Jian asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Technically speaking, no. It’s a skill from the System. And before you ask me to use it later, I’ll let you know that it doesn’t work in this situation, so don’t rely on it," Christo replied as he stepped off the stairs onto the main hall’s floor.

Realization dawned on Jian and Drai. They looked at Christo briefly before turning to each other with knowing looks, both thinking that it was kind of weird that Christo had easily revealed his skill with just a simple question from Jian. He had always smiled and brushed off their questions whenever he was asked about his precise intuition ever since they returned from their venture.

’No wonder we got out of the jungle safely. Dude’s basically cheating his way out,’ Jian inwardly remarked.

As Drai and friends walked toward the main entrance, they saw that the main hall was crowded with students, and many candle lights could be seen throughout the area; some were on the tables, while others were on the floor.

"I guess the staff had some candles prepared in case of a blackout," Drai commented as he gazed at the small groups of people gathering around each light.

"Either that or someone is really crazy about giving away birthday cakes," Jian added.

The few students who followed Drai’s group separated from them and headed toward the small groups, hoping to find someone they’re more familiar with.

A minute later, Christo, Drai, and Jian finally exited the first-year male dorm. Nobody stopped them on their way out, perhaps because none were particularly close to the three of them or due to Drai’s presence. The crowd in the main hall only gave curious glances because of the relatively big flame of Christo’s wooden torch, sparking questions on why someone even kept something like that on hand.

"Holy fuck! What’s wrong with the sky?!" Jian exclaimed in shock upon seeing the dark red night sky above them. He felt a sense of eeriness from it.

"I don’t know," Christo replied, gazing at the sky. "If this is a natural phenomenon, it may be a side effect caused by it. But if this is man-made incident, then I’m afraid that it’s something that won’t bode well for us."

Drai also silently watched the peculiar sky, feeling slightly mesmerized. He wasn’t afraid of it like Jian, for nothing could ever inflict a greater sense of foreboding to him than the one he had felt while witnessing the titans being slaughtered.

Shortly after, Jian retracted his gaze and asked, "So where do we go now? It’s probably dark everywhere, unless someone decided to make a bonfire."

"Can we go to the girls’ dorm?" Drai suggested.

Jian’s eyes gleamed as he turned to Drai. "Oh boy! I didn’t know you had a naughty side to you, Drai. Hehehe."

Drai raised a middle finger to Jian before saying to Christo, "I’m worried about the Nat and the others. What do you think? Should we go there or do you have another place in mind?"

Christo thought about it briefly before giving Drai a small nod.

"Okay, let’s try gathering the party. And perhaps we’ll head to the headquarters after that. Staying with the seniors would probably be safer than sticking with just the first-years."

"To be honest, I’d rather stay at the girls’ dorm," Jian remarked.

Christo chuckled and shook his head before saying, "Let’s go."

Yet, at this moment, a loud blast sounded from the building across the dorm.