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Chapter 17 - The Beginning of a Tragedy

Cyril could feel a terrible sensation in his heart, causing it to beat irregularly. He felt something in the depth of his body screaming at him to run away from the awakening venue as far as possible, but he suppressed that beckoning feeling and forced himself to stand upright.

As though an insurmountable and invisible weight had been placed on his shoulders, Cyril struggled to take the first step. Afterward, he shuffled onward, thinking of warning the others.

The more steps he took, the heavier the invisible weight on Cyril's body became, and the worse the terrible feeling in his chest grew. The whole experience was as though something was clutching his heart tightly and refusing to let go and at the same time a load had been placed on his body.

Cyril recognized the familiar sensation in his heart. The ominous and foreboding feeling was undeniably his sense of crisis. It was similar to when he felt threatened by the person chasing after Paul in the Edge Forest. However, the feeling Cyril was experiencing at this moment was much stronger and more intense, and he couldn't tell where it was coming from.

As the source of his foreboding feeling couldn't be discerned, unlike before when he was able to tell that it was related to the person chasing after Paul, Cyril felt a sense of unnerving terror in his mind. Regardless, he still had to inform the others before it was too late.

'I have to tell them… I have to tell them… I have to tell them to…run…'

Despite his best efforts, Cyril couldn't say the words out loud as they got stuck in his throat the more he tried to say them. He had a twisted and painful expression displayed on his countenance as he reached his right hand out desperately with his mouth moving, but he could only utter silent words.

At this point, both Liam and the sulking Silvia noticed that something was wrong with Cyril. If it were before, Silvia would have jumped to ask Cyril about his talent after his awakening ceremony, but because of what happened earlier due to her carelessness, she decided to stay still and wait for him before inquiring about it.

Having spent most of their childhood together, she and Liam knew more than anyone that Cyril's life, from an early age, was unfortunate and harsher than others. Just a single scratch on his body would be enough to cause a fatal wound and endanger his life. Throughout their entire childhood, Silvia had always made sure not to cause Cyril's body to receive any cut wounds. Even when she playfully beat him and Liam, it was only a skin bruise that couldn't endanger his life. Even then, that worried her.

Silvia had always feared that someday she would accidentally cause him fatal injuries, and stopped with her childish behavior much earlier. However, she never thought that what she feared the most would happen on such an important day of their entire lives.

That made her feel disheartened, and she sternly reproached herself for her own careless actions. In the event that she accidentally hurt him just by carelessly approaching him and exacerbating Cyril's injuries, she couldn't forgive herself.

With that consideration in mind, she decided to change her behavior from this day onward, especially when dealing with Cyril. However, when she saw him nearly tumbling over as though he was about to faint from exhaustion, her heart tightened, and she rushed toward him, wondering if losing too much blood had taken a toll on him and caused him to be lightheaded.

Cyril saw Silvia approaching in a meandering path through the crowd. He noticed her alarmed and depressed expression, which indicate that she still felt couldn't let the previous matter go.

The next moment, Cyril realized from the depth of his soul that something was wrong. His heavy body suddenly jolted him back to his senses and he shouted with all his strength, causing his voice to turn hoarse.

"No, Silvia! Stay where you are! Don't come here!"

At that exact moment, a violent and turbulent fluctuation in the atmosphere caused the air to feel unnaturally chilly. The sinister and bone-chilling force of destruction made those nearby feel as though they would be consumed by its catastrophic presence alone.

Silvia heard Cyril's apprehensive words and stopped in confusion. Then, she heard loud howling screams coming from behind her. The screams seemed to contain fear and panic. The panicked voices made her wonder what was happening behind her.

Suddenly, she felt a gloomy presence looming and encroaching from behind her, causing her body to shudder uncontrollably. Before she could turn around, she felt a metallic and sweet taste in her throat. Instantly, she felt the urge to throw up. At the same time, she felt a sharp and excruciating pain assault her defenseless body.

"Eh?"

At that moment, Silvia saw a beastly claw covered in a sinister dark aura and shiny metallic luster impale her body from behind, causing the claw to be covered in her blood. She looked down in dismay and horror, realizing that not even her awakened talent could help her in her current predicament.

""No!!""

Cyril and Liam shouted almost at the same time when they saw the heart-wrenching and horrifying scene that would haunt them from this day onward.

Liam was held back and couldn't approach Silvia despite the situation. Cyril, on the other hand, felt his world crumble before his eyes when he saw the gore scene in front of him.

Touching the blood that splattered over his face, he began to wonder if he was still in the dream from the night before. He convinced himself that he was still asleep and hadn't awoken from his dream.

'Perhaps my awakened talents during the awakening ceremony was my hopeful wishes being granted by my illusory dreamscape.' He listlessly thought.

Cyril believed that the terrifying and surreal black-clad giant monster that seemed to have come out of nowhere and impaled Silvia was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. Once he woke up, everything would go back to normal. Silvia would be as lively as always when they all get together, and Liam, stoic and indifferent as always, would still continue to be cold toward him due to his competitive nature.

Liam saw the lifeless and hopeless look on Cyril's face and desperately roared as he struggled to fend himself against the fierce assault of a bizarre wolf-like dark creature on two hinged legs, covered entirely with spotless pitch-black fur.

Everyone in the awakening venue seemed to be in the same situation as him. Some managed to survive for a few moments before getting devoured by the wolf-like dark creatures. Meanwhile, others were still holding on. However, it wouldn't be long before they all lose their lives.

As soon as Liam found the opportunity, he turned in the direction of Cyril and Silvia, and shouted: "Cyril! What the hell are you doing?! Why aren't you trying to save Silvia from that monster?! Are you out of your mind?!"