Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne-Chapter 46: Finally

The dawn light broke gently, casting a hopeful glow over the survivors as they awoke and prepared for the day.

A new energy buzzed among them, with smiles, laughter, and a certain lightness that had been missing since everything changed, returning.

It was the twelfth day since the fall, and also the last day they would be here. Over the past few days, fate had seemed to turn in their favor.

They’d secured enough buses and cleared the roads, and the discovery of monster meat had helped sustain them. Now, at long last, they were ready to leave this desolate place.

The cafeteria was filled with lively chatter as survivors said goodbye to newfound friends and acquaintances. They would soon part ways, and despite the bittersweet nature of these farewells, most couldn’t help but smile.

This day symbolized survival, the triumph of lasting twelve brutal days.

"Alright, everyone, let’s head outside and remember to board according to your destination!" Jenny’s voice, amplified by mana, cut through the noise, guiding them to action.

A lot of people were shocked by how loud her voice was. She wasn’t shouting, but it reached all of them despite the lively chatter. It was among the applications of mana they had learned.

The advantage of mana was clear, it made things much easier to perform.

Survivors poured out of the cafeteria, blinking against the daylight. For some of them, it was the first time they had been outside since the world fell, and the sight stopped them in their tracks.

The campus now looked alien to them; it was as if it had been transformed into a ruin. Corpses littered the ground in patches, though oddly, there was no foul stench. Buildings stood half-destroyed or were flattened completely. The once-familiar campus now resembled a scene from hell, but without the flames.

They had only heard of the situation from others, but now saw it themselves. And since they had already come to accept the situation they were in, their dazes didn’t last long.

"Come on, board quickly," Jenny’s voice echoed again, snapping them back to the present.

And they moved, clustering towards the buses. Supplies had already been loaded the previous day, so all that remained was to find their seats.

And as the crowd formed outside, a peculiar scene caught the attention of a few survivors.

"Professor Madwin?" one of the fighters, a former student, called out, his tone both surprised and curious.

And the professor in person, though, started looking around as though he’d rather be anywhere else, and with a sly movement, he tried to slip quickly onto the bus. However, the student reached him first, blocking his path with a mischievous grin.

"Where are you off to in such a rush?" the student teased, eyeing the professor with barely contained amusement.

But Professor Madwin in question was not comfortable. He looked around as if he had lost something.

It was almost obvious why the professor was acting like this, and the reason made the lecturer himself turn pale. Before the fall, he was known to be a wicked lecturer, assigning endless homework, springing surprise quizzes, and setting nearly impossible exams to pass. And as wicked as it sounded, Professor Madwin took pride in his acts.

Valor, the student now blocking his way, had been one of his recent victims. Unfortunately for Professor Madwin, Valor was already meant to retake his course. Then the world fell, completely reversing the situation. He was now a survivor with newly developed combat skills, and the professor was a survivor to protect.

"Uh... S-Student Valor, good to see you?" Madwin stammered, already sweating under the student’s gaze.

Valor crossed his arms, smirking. "Don’t worry, Professor. There’ll be plenty of time to chat once we’re out there." He leaned in closer.

"Ah, I would have loved to torture you, but—" his voice trailed off as he looked towards Jon’s direction.

Jon didn’t know this, but his presence was stopping a lot of dark hearts from being exhibited.

"I-I did everything I did for you," Professor Madwin tried to explain, but Valor continued as though he couldn’t hear him. "After all, we’ll be in the same bus."

Professor Madwin’s face fell as he realized he’d be trapped in close quarters with a student he’d tormented. Resigned, he shuffled onto the bus.

Valor glanced at Jon’s direction again for a bit before looking away. Jon was the only reason he hadn’t started beating up that lecturer as he saw him.

...

As the buses filled, Jon lingered outside, uncertain.

A heavy question hung over him—where was he going? He glanced at his wristwatch, the one with secret abilities he hadn’t yet fully unlocked.

’Maybe it will hold some answers,’ he thought. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Hey, Jon, are you coming or not?" Cynthia called from one of the buses, tilting her head in curiosity. And surprisingly, Jenny was next to her.

"Oh, yeah... wait, why is Jenny coming?"

Jenny had previously said she stayed in America, so why would she follow him and Cynthia?

"I can’t get a plane in this situation, so I will go when I can," Jenny said as if it were no big deal.

Jon sighed, looking back at the two. "Honestly, I don’t have a destination. I’m not going back there."

Then, surprisingly, Cynthia raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you think we are?"

Jon looked from her to Jenny, genuinely confused. "What do you mean?"

Cynthia shrugged. "I mean exactly what I said. We’re not going back, either."

Jon was silent, sensing hidden pain in both women. They didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t push. They each had their reasons for not looking back.

So, in an unspoken understanding, they climbed onto the last bus together.

With engines rumbling to life, the buses began moving towards the campus gates. They had loaded up with all the supplies they could carry, leaving behind the few remnants they couldn’t.

No cheers or shouts marked their departure—just silence. It was an enforced and strict order to avoid alerting zombies to their presence.

And as they passed through the gates, a wave of relief swept over them.

They were leaving behind their fears, nightmares, and ghosts. They had finally survived the hurdle.

However, almost immediately, a new question arose, tugging at their minds: What would the world be like now? Were their families safe? Could they still find a government, or were they entirely on their own?

They had barely crossed the gate when Jon, who had been watching the road closely, noticed something unsettling.

"Stop the bus!"

The driver hit the brakes, and the buses behind, realizing the stop, also came to a halt.

And without a word, Jon, Jenny, and Cynthia stepped out.

"Wait for us," Jenny called to the driver, sparing him an explanation.

Wordlessly, the other buses halted, and the fighters exited, instinctively gathering around the three leaders. Why else would they stop, if not for the zombies that were coming towards their location?

"Since this is our last time together, why don’t we exit with some style?" Jenny suggested with a glint in her eye.

The fighters, surprised but eager, exchanged excited glances. They were in.

In a flash, Jon disappeared, and moments later, the head of a second zombie exploded under his strike.

"When did he get so fast?" one of the fighters gasped, staring in awe.

However, others reacted differently to it.

They had previously thought that by leveling up after fighting the skeletons, they would have closed the gap even a little. But why was it seeming wider?

Following his lead, Jenny, Cynthia, and the rest dove into the fray, dispatching zombies with swift, deadly precision.

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 8 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 8 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 7 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

In mere minutes, they had cleared the area of all zombies and monsters and pushed aside wrecked cars and bodies.

The notifications kept flickering on their faces. However, at this point, most of the people here barely got a level-up from even killing ten zombies, and the drop rate of orbs and cores was still at an all-time low.

So, though the zombies didn’t give them anything, they still checked them for their cores and orbs. And without wasting time, they caught their breath and climbed back onto the buses except Jon.

Standing at the crossroads, he looked at the remaining vehicles. This was where they would split paths. The road from the outside of the university was in a T-shape. The university occupied the vertical, and different road directions stretched left and right.

It was the surroundings of the T-shaped road they had just cleared. Eleven buses, filled with survivors and supplies, headed in the right direction, pulled away. They were a collection of people who had families on the outskirts of the country.

And if there was one thing to notice about the buses going in this direction, it was that among them were the former "lords," leaving in a separate direction from Jon.

However, unknown to Jon, he just watched the parting buses disappear around the bend before he returned to his bus, still unaware of what his presence had caused for them.

This was a major step in the fall.

Would they survive the new ordeal they were going to face? They might even face each other as enemies in the future—or allies—but for now, they had survived, and they were going to keep surviving.

***

In a place that was just darkness, darkness would be an understatement for it. No normal person could even see the darkness in this place.

There was no wind, no sign of life in it. It was just pure and bridled darkness.

And in that darkness, a sigh echoed and cut through the darkness that didn’t even have air. What followed was a word:

"Finally."