The commotion caused by such a big building collapsing in on itself in the middle of the night couldn't go unnoticed, especially in a town as large as Millef. Especially when combined with the massive firestorm that enveloped it.
Several explosions also rang out from beneath the flaming rubble of the destroyed building, as artifacts and similar items that were stored inside couldn't handle the heat and imploded.
And moments before the said building collapsed, a certain man walked out of it unscathed—Luke. The explosions behind him unintentionally made him look almost as badass as during his E-Release.
In front of him, Lala and Rakuta's battle seemed almost finished, with Rakuta clearly being the one on the losing side. He couldn't afford to look at the ruined building or Luke; otherwise, he would say goodbye to his life.
"Lala! We need to get away from here right now!" Luke shouted as soon as he saw them, heading straight towards the shadow elementalist with a sword of wind in hand.
"Wait, Luke! I'm almost done, I just need a few more mi-" but Lala's plea was mercilessly cut down along with Rakuta's head. He didn't even have any time to react to Luke's strike, with his mana hitting rock-bottom together with his stamina.
"Sorry, but there's no time," Luke said as he wiped Rakuta's blood off his face.
"I just wanted to..." Lala tried saying, but Luke cut her off again, "Tell me about it later. We'll split up here. You should go ahead first."
Lala furrowed her brows, clearly dissatisfied, but she still wordlessly nodded to Luke and jumped into the air, using the water step technique to leave as quickly as she could. The battle also left her tired, but she would still be fine for a while longer.
"Now…" Luke said as he looked at a fist-sized, pitch-black orb floating out of Rakuta's chest. He quickly checked his surroundings to the best of his current abilities, and it seemed like no one was around to witness what he was about to do.
"Phew, seems like I made it in time."
Sighing in relief, Luke extended his arm towards the elemental before it dispersed. It obediently floated to his hand and silently entered it.
He could feel the elemental making its way through his arm and up to his shoulder before going down into the area where his heart is.
As the elemental merged with his soul, he could feel his heart rate ramping up as it usually did when he absorbed a new type of elemental.
But unlike usual, it kept going up and up without stopping, until it felt like his heart would burst open and he'd die. Luke fell to his knees as he clutched his chest.
"Argh, what's happening?!"
The painful sensation of needles stabbing him as a new tattoo formed was present, but it was easily overshadowed by the pain of his heart giving out. He couldn't even breathe anymore as cold sweat flowed down the back of his neck.
Through his now-fading consciousness, he heard a voice as ethereal as a mirage.
Use Ellios' gift.
He looked around, but there was no one around who could've said that.
'Ellios' gift…? Ah… it's gotta be that thing.'
Confused and left with no other choice, Luke reached into the inner pocket of his robe and pulled out a hexagonal-shaped artifact.
Clutching it in his hand, he lost all strength and slumped onto the cold cobble, warmed by a puddle of Rakuta's fresh blood. Barely managing to keep his eyes open, he poured some of his mana into the now-bloodstained artifact, and the flat end on top of it opened.
A silver mist, with sparkling particles floating inside of it, poured out of the artifact and headed straight towards Luke's head. It separated into multiple strands, and each one entered a different orifice on his head, including his mouth, nose, ears, and even his eyes.
It filled Luke with an oddly warm feeling, letting him slowly close his eyes and robbing him of the remaining sliver of strength his mind had held onto until now.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After an unknown amount of time passed, Luke awoke. The rays of sun that should've shined straight into his eyes were blocked by something in front of him.
"-ke! Luke! We're actually gonna be late now! Get up, lazy ass!"
It wasn't something that blocked the sun; it was someone. Someone who Luke thought he'd never get to see again.
"A-Alex? Wh- How… Wait, what's happening?"
Alex shook his head and grabbed Luke by the collar, lifting him up and redoing his tie, which Luke had left next to him along with his suit jacket.
"You can't give me any more flak for running late after this! Got it?"
Stunned, Luke ignored what Alex said and nervously examined his surroundings in disbelief. A familiar sight greeted him: loud cars, tall skyscrapers, and hundreds of people walking down the street, minding their own business. At least it should've been familiar.
'Something is off about this… I also can't use my elementals.'
Seeing his expression, Alex kept his hands on Luke's shoulders and worriedly asked him, "Hey, are you okay? Did you have a nightmare or something?"
"A-A nightmare? No, I don't think so," Luke answered, although unsure of the answer himself.
'I remember defeating Joseph and the shadow elementalist and telling Lala to go on ahead without me. But it's a big blur after that.'
Slapping his shoulders a few times, Alex flashed a grin.
"You'll be just fine, then! Let's hurry now, alright?"
Saying that, Alex turned around and started walking away with hurried steps. But noticing how Luke still remained unmoving, he stopped, his grin frozen as he turned his head back around.
"Luke? We really need to-"
"I'm not going," Luke cut him off with a bitter smile.
"I have to admit, it's a pretty good replica. The thing is, the café here was called "Lunar Drop," not "Runal Drop." There's also some other differences, but I don't see the point in pointing them all out," Luke said with crossed arms.
In response, Alex smiled with a raised eyebrow.
"What a shame. I wanted to take a better look around this mysterious world with you."
"Who are you? What is this place?" Luke asked with none of the previous confusion. The longer he looked around, the more inconsistencies he saw: non-existent car brands such as Farrari, BWM, and Yotota; misplaced traffic signs and lights; misnamed stores such as 11/7 and Roofmart; and so on.
Alex turned around and walked back closer to Luke. With a light wave of his hand, his appearance morphed into that of old man Wilfred.
"Is this better? After all, this is the appearance that you've grown used to. As for your other question, take a guess," Wilfred said as he spread his arms open.
Seeing how he couldn't use his elementals, Wilfred being there, and a mysterious place surrounding him, there was only one logical guess.
"Is… Is this my soul? But how?" Luke asked with a clearly mystified and unconvinced expression.
Even though there were a lot of little errors, it was a replica of his hometown. A replica of Earth. He could feel the sunrays reflecting off of high-rise buildings and hitting his face, smell the disgusting exhaust fumes of the vehicles in the midst of rush hour traffic, and hear the people talking and laughing as they walked down the street.
The cafés were full, and so were the restaurants. The city bustled, filled with life. It was both illogical and logical for this to be the inside of his soul.
As if to shatter his confusion, Wilfred brought his hands together as if he were squeezing something between them, and as they clasped together, the whole world reverted into a blank slate with the color blue surrounding it on all sides.
Not giving Luke any time to process what just happened, Wilfred spoke, "Better? Come then, we have a lot to talk about."