The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy-Chapter 427: The Beginning Of The End [LXXXIX]

Putting Vivian down, Aestrea approached the massive double door in front of him and slowly pushed it, causing an increasingly loud creaking sound to echo through the halls.

Fwip!

Just then, a sword suddenly shot towards him at an extremely fast speed, just to be blocked by a flick of his fingers.

"A-Aestrea...?"

Clink!

In front of him, many more flying swords could be seen, and as soon as those reached his ears, they started falling onto the ground, making metal sounds.

"I-Is t-that you?"

Isabella spoke in an incredibly expectant voice, tears swelling up in her eyes as she looked deeply at Aestrea.

"Am I dreaming?" she pondered, rubbing her red eyes for a moment, and then, blinking.

And seeing Aestrea smiling, and then shaking his head, caused her reddened eyes to widen.

Without wasting any more time, she enveloped her legs with mana and shot towards Aestrea at full force.

Thud!

Aestrea instantly caught her, feeling her arms tighten around his body hard, and in response, he planted a small kiss on her forehead and kept stroking her back in circles.

"I’m back, Isabella," he muttered lightly, closing his eyes as he felt Isabella’s body quivering.

At those words, Isabella froze in his arms, and just after... she broke down instantly.

"H-hic... ngh...!"

The sound tore out of her chest as her breath stuttered and collapsed.

Her fingers clawed into his clothes, gripping so hard her knuckles almost turned pale, as if letting go for even a second would make him disappear.

"S-snff... ahh...!"

Her body shook, in harsh waves that ran through her back and shoulders. Tears poured down without pause, soaking into his chest.

"I thought..." she tried to speak.

Her voice cracked.

"I thought you weren’t coming back..."

Her words dissolved into sobs.

"Ahh... h-hic...!"

Aestrea tightened his arms around her and said nothing.

He simply stayed still, letting her lean fully on him.

"I waited, and waited..." she cried.

"Every day... sniff... every single day. I told myself to be patient. To be strong. To act like a queen."

Her breath hitched again.

"But I was so tired... so tired..."

She pressed her face harder against him.

"I ruled our kingdom for nine years! Nine years of blood, fear, and choices where someone always died."

Her hands trembled violently.

"I smiled in front of them. I stayed calm. I stayed cold." She let out a broken laugh.

"I had to. If I cried, everything would fall apart."

"Snff... ngh..."

"But I cried anyway. Every night."

Aestrea closed his eyes, letting her pour down everything she had suffered into him.

"I wanted to ascend," Isabella whispered softly.

"I wanted to reach you so badly. But there was always something stopping me. Another threat. Another duty."

She pulled back just enough to look at him. Her eyes were swollen and red, tears dripping from her lashes.

"And then they came," she said, panic flashing across her face.

"Those gods. They attacked this world. Your world."

Her voice dropped.

"I thought this was the end."

Her lips trembled as she bit down on them nervously.

"I thought I would die here... without seeing you again."

"H-hic... ahh...!"

Aestrea lowered his forehead to hers.

"I know," he said softly.

That was all it took.

"AAHH—!"

Isabella sobbed openly now, her shoulders shaking hard as she buried her face against him again.

The sound was ugly and real, full of years of pain finally breaking free.

"I’m sorry!" she cried.

"Sniff... I’m sorry, I wasn’t strong enough! I’m sorry I couldn’t protect everyone!"

Her fists hit his chest weakly.

"I’m sorry I doubted you...!"

Aestrea shook his head and kissed her hair.

"You did enough. Protecting the world is no easy feat, especially when much stronger beings were attacking it..."

Her sobs slowly lost strength, turning into shaking breaths.

"Haa... h-hic..."

"I hate you," she muttered weakly, her voice was already hoarse from crying so much.

"You always show up when everything is already broken."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"And you are always standing when I do."

She let out a broken laugh that turned into another quiet cry.

"Heh... ngh..."

Then, little by little, her breathing slowed down. Her grip loosened, though she still held onto him.

"You’re here... You’re really here."

She repeated in a relieved tone, searching even more for his warmth.

"Indeed," Aestrea smiled softly.

"...Ahem."

The dry cough echoed a little too loudly in the suddenly quiet hall.

Isabella stiffened.

Her eyes widened.

Slowly... very slowly... she lifted her head from Aestrea’s chest.

"...Ah."

Only then did she remember.

Lucas stood a few steps away, one hand awkwardly covering his mouth, his face turned sharply to the side as if the wall had suddenly become the most interesting thing in existence.

Iris was frozen in place, her eyes wide and her hands half-raised, as if she had been caught sneaking into a room she should not be in.

Maya... had both hands over her eyes.

With her fingers slightly spread.

"...So," Lucas said carefully, not looking at either of them.

"I don’t want to interrupt. Truly. This is... very touching."

He cleared his throat again.

"But uh... we are still here."

Isabella’s face went from red... to deeper red... to something close to glowing.

"Oh."

She stepped back instantly, wiping her face with both hands in a rush.

"I— I—!"

She straightened her posture so fast it was almost military.

"T-this was not— what you think—!"

"Of course. Of course. Clearly. A professional... emotional check." Lucas nodded rapidly.

Iris finally lowered her hands, blinking.

"I-Isabella... you were crying really loud..." she uttered innocently.

"Yeah. Like, the kind where your soul leaves your body," Maya nodded along.

Isabella covered her face again.

"Stop. Please stop."

At that moment, a soft chuckle came from the side.

Vivian leaned against a cracked pillar, her arms crossed, with her wings folded behind her back.

There was dried blood on her armor, but she didn’t notice as she warmly smiled at them.

"Well, guess that answers the question of whether he was worth waiting nine years for," she smirked.

Isabella’s ears turned red.

"A-Ahem!" she snapped, regaining a bit of her usual sharp tone.

"Vivian! You are not helping!"

Vivian laughed openly.

"Oh, come on. I also jumped him too!" she giggled.

Lucas finally dared to glance over.

"...She did jump him," he muttered.

"I did not jump!" Isabella protested.

"You accelerated with mana... At full force," Maya said helpfully.

Isabella froze, but soon, she was reawakened as Aestrea softly touched her cheek and glanced down at her.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

She hesitated, then nodded, her expression softening.

"...Yes," she said quietly.

"Much."

Lucas exhaled in relief.

"Good! Because if this turned into a romantic reunion any longer, I was about to activate my own survival instinct and leave."

Everyone decided to ignore that comment. Aestrea then parted away from Isabella’s embrace and turned to Vivian, asking:

"Do you know the exact coordinates of where the portal leads them?"

Vivian thought for a while, and then nodded:

"...Yeah. I watched the array finish forming. The anchor point was not random."

She lifted her head and looked straight at him.

"It should be at sector 7-Delta, outer void layer, about three thousand units above the Nether Portal’s gravity well. Spatial depth 42.9. The flow felt stable, so they should have arrived safely."

Aestrea nodded once.

"That is enough."

"Wait, you understand that?" Lucas blinked.

"...It seems so?" Maya exclaimed, tilting her head in confusion.

The words that Vivian had spoken sounded like complete gibberish to her.

Fwoom!

Aestrea raised his hand.

The space in front of him bent inward like soft glass being pressed from the outside.

Light twisted, colors stretching into thin lines as a deep hum filled the hall.

Vivian stepped closer to the others. "Hold steady. The pull is going to feel strange."

Isabella felt it first.

Her stomach lurched as gravity lost meaning.

The floor vanished beneath her feet, replaced by a rushing sensation, like falling and standing still at the same time.

Fwuuuum...

The world folded.

For a brief moment, they didn’t feel anything at all except a small pressure sliding across their skin.

Snap.

Just then, they reappeared.

Fwoo~

Cold, void wind rushed past them as they stood on a broken ring of floating stone suspended in space.

Far below, a massive, swirling rift pulsed slowly, dark and heavy, like a breathing wound in reality.

The Nether Portal.

Dark clouds of warped energy rotated around it, but the space here still remained extremely calm, untouched even.

"Woahh... so this is the Nether Portal?" Maya exclaimed in delightful surprise, taking the chance to get closer to it.

As for Iris... she simply took a few steps back, because as a Holy Priest, she truly hated demonic things.

The same was for Lucas, who kept a relatively far distance from it.

...But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

Clink, clatter...

The sounds of multiple weapons dropping to the ground reached Aestrea’s ears.

He turned around and instantly saw a bunch of familiar faces, looking at him with extremely loving eyes.

"AEEEEEESTREAAAAAAAAAAAA!"