ALMIGHTY

Chapter 40: Darkness Returns

"So, what happened then?"

Our protagonist was currently in a café with a mug of Stardollar coffee in his hands.

The café was quite small and had a modern, colorful appeal. The windows on the left side of the venue were big and made for quite a view of the FMA's Entertainment Sector's bustling shopping streets.

Seeing groups of students socializing and shopping satisfied Horu as he took rabbit sips from his coffee.

"It was chaotic and awful. But since this is a date, here goes..."

~~~~~

It was nearly midnight. The sun radiated on another side of the planet. The entire island of Furrèl fought against the darkness with a mass of street lights.

However, for the first time in the academy's history, the streets were empty.

The entire student body of the FMA was gathered at the most unusual place on the island.

A grandiose building with the appearance of an iron fortress was surrounded by murmuring students.

The fortress was swarmed with armed guards and teachers. Another disaster had occurred, and news spread nearly spontaneously at the magic academy.

The student body had gotten news of class E-2 getting trapped inside an S-ranked dungeon during the entrance ceremony.

Hajime Togata had disappeared as well.

Mistakes were never made by the staff that administered the portal to the Abyss. Even so, the Head Principal ordered his assistant to investigate the error.

"Sir... haah... heh... There were no... haah... malfunctions at the portal."

She spit out heavy gasps as she tried to keep up with her superior, who walked hastily towards the Abyss.

"I am aware. This was obviously sabotage... with a Bronze ranked class as its victim, to make matters worse."

The woman couldn't see the expression on her superior's face as he uttered those words plastered in grief.

But it was not something that she would've wanted to see in the wildest of her dreams.

When Aegis arrived, the entire crowd of thousands of students made a way to their principal.

The Head Principal seemed like Moses, the way he split the gathering like the Red Sea.

His assistant fidgeted with her fingers but tried her hardest to look as serious as possible in front of all those students. She tended to become nervous in front of a large crowd.

Aegis sensed her nervousness and gave her a brief smile of consolation. He slowed down his pace a bit, giving the woman a chance to take a breather.

However, her nerves got the best of her.

"Head Principal."

She looked in awe at the most powerful man in the history of mankind. He was an echo of a former hero known as Magnus the Great.

Of course, nobody but Horu and Kaede knew the truth behind his origin.

After walking through a crowd for a couple of minutes while completely ignoring the murmuring, gossip, and chatter; they arrived at the gates.

The two were immediately escorted to the center of the fortress where they found themselves in a vast room.

Middle-aged men and women walked around with magical clothing and weapons. Most of them were teachers.