A little over a month ago...

——

The moon cast a pale, ghostly light over the flat, desolate plain which was filled with cadets. They all looked battered and bloody, yet every single one of them had a triumphant expression on their face as if they had just cheated death itself.

Because at long last, they had done it. They had finally conquered the first ring.

Now, all that was left was for everyone to return home. They had been taught in the bastion that once all those with the red crystal came out of the bridge, this particular one, which was for bringing back cadets, would disappear. It worked similarly to how one couldn’t find the bridge after entering the ring.

That aside, the only people who didn’t have a look of relief were Cedric’s unit. They were the closest to the bridge, waiting for him. At this point, they all began to have a dark expression because what was taking him so long?

"You said he was behind you, Princess. Why isn’t he out yet?" Celeste asked with a worried expression on her face.

The others too had eyes on Aurora as they waited.

Aurora didn’t answer at first, but just as she opened her lips to speak, the bridge suddenly flickered. Then, the last person suddenly plunged out of the rift, crashing onto the floor.

It was Aika.

"No, no."

Aika stood, and for the first time since the others knew her, they could see an expression of pure horrified panic on her face. She immediately began running back towards the bridge while reaching out her hand, but at that moment, Dion yelled, "No!"

He moved to stop her, but Aurora, who was closer, got to her first. She hugged her from behind, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. Then she hauled her away from the collapsing rift.

"Let go of me!" Aika screamed and kicked her legs while trying to free herself. "I said let go of me, Princess!"

"No!" Aurora shouted back, her grip tightening. "Have you forgotten that if you go through that bridge right now, you would end up in the second ring?!"

That warning finally jolted Aika back to her senses.

The fight left her body all at once, and a flood of tears suddenly escaped her eyes.

At that moment, since no one with a red crystal was left in the first ring, the blue bridge began to grow unstable. It swelled outward and inward in a violent, pulsing manner. Then, a massive shockwave erupted, sending dust billowing everywhere and forcing the cadets to raise their hands to shield their eyes.

In the seconds that followed, the bridge shrank into a pinprick of light and vanished, leaving nothing but the empty, desolate plain behind.

"No..." Aika’s shaky hand continued to reach out as she watched the last traces of the rift disappear.

It was only then that Aurora let go of her.

Aika stumbled a few steps toward the spot where the bridge had been and collapsed onto her knees.

’Cedric... Cedric, talk to me...’

All this while, she had been calling out to him through their mental link, but she couldn’t get a response.

She tried to unsummon herself, if that was what it was called. But she couldn’t. And that was when it hit her that she could no longer feel her bond.

There were not many instances where Aika had felt true fear. But at this moment, she felt a dread so crushing that it was hard to breathe.

Ever since she became a bond, there was never a time she had not been connected to her bearer. To be honest, at first, she had wished that the bond would be gone. She had hoped for a time when she would finally be free.

However, as time passed, she had actually bonded with her bearer the way a bond was supposed to.

Or, perhaps, even more than that.

And so, now that the bond was suddenly severed, there was nothing she needed more than to feel that connection again. Because for as long as she could remember, all she had ever known was Cedric.

’Gamer Privileges...’

She looked at the screen in front of her with wet eyes and asked, ’What do I do?’

[...]

There was no response.

Meanwhile, the others behind her had grown restless, and a wave of panicked emotions began to sweep through the unit. Celeste was the first to step forward, her voice trembling as she asked, "W-what is happening? Where is Cedric?"

The others tried to speak to her as well, but Aika couldn’t hear them because she was lost.

Eventually, her form suddenly dissolved into a raven that immediately took to the sky, fleeing from the reality of the empty plain.

***

A raven suddenly landed in a dark alley.

As the bird’s wings folded, it shifted back into Aika, who immediately grabbed the wall for support.

This alley was the same godforsaken place she had first brought Cedric to on his first night in this world.

Her bloodshot eyes were wide as she stared at the screen in front of her, which had delivered a message that stung her heart.

[Gamer: Deceased]

She wondered what could have happened, and in that moment, her hatred for Seo-yeon flared into something jagged and sharp.

She clenched her fist so hard that her nails dug into her palm.

Unsure of what to do, she asked in a pleading whisper, "If he’s dead, can’t I bring him back to life here?"

There was a long silence.

[This process cannot be accomplished in the meantime.]

"Why? What do you mean this process cannot be accomplished in the meantime?!" she screamed at the empty air.

It was clearly past midnight. So why?!

Gamer Privileges did not respond.

Aika ran a trembling hand through her hair and leaned her back against the wall, before finally sliding down to the cold ground.

Now alone and without her bond, she hugged her legs and cried.