Healers from A-Rank to C-Rank were rushing through the underground bunker, their hands glowing with mana as they fought to stabilize the wounded.
Vikas was the first to regain consciousness. His knight armor had tanked most of the kinetic energy from the impact, so he was mainly out from the sheer shock. Aryan, on the other hand, was a different story. While he had fewer physical wounds, he was visibly traumatized. However, thanks to his Regeneration Skill, his body was healing at a cracked rate, though he remained unconscious while his mana reserves slowly refilled.
Beside them, the situation was grim. A squad of high-level healers was dumping every drop of mana into Ayush. His internal organs were a mess and his bones were shattered. It was a miracle he was even breathing.
A few hours later, the boys finally woke up. Nakamu was already on his feet, and Rei was—completely fine. Vikas and Aryan sat on their cots, exchanging a "bruh" expression.
"Bro, that was crazy. How are we even alive right now?" Vikas asked, rubbing his head.
"We almost got deleted, man," Aryan replied. "It was actually wraps."
"What happened to the monster?"
"Bro, it's dead. Deleted from the server," Aryan said, his eyes widening as he remembered. "This girl appeared—pure white hair, white clothes, white skin... just glowing. She didn't even struggle; she clapped that monster in like four or five hits. Everywhere she stepped turned into ice. Bro, her Aura was +999,999,999. It was insane. I need to know who she is."
As soon as they were cleared, they went to find the King. They found him talking to a girl—the same mysterious girl who had run into Vikas and even visited them in the hospital.
Vikas froze. "Wait, you're—"
The girl looked at him and smiled. "Hello again."
Before Vikas could finish his sentence, the King interrupted. "Ah, adventurers! Meet the Princess of this Kingdom."
Vikas felt his face heat up instantly. Remembering their awkward hospital encounter, he looked at the floor, blushing hard. The Princess noticed and let out a small, shy blush of her own.
Aryan, ever the skeptic, squinted at her. "Wait a minute. You look a lot like that lady who nuked the monster. Are you related?"
The King nodded. "That was the Queen. My wife. This is our daughter."
Aryan and Vikas just blinked in unison. "So the whole family is just built different? Nice."
They left the bunker to check on the city, but the "Victory" didn't feel like one. The streets were a graveyard. While mages were already using Earth Magic to rebuild the walls, the human cost was undeniable.
Aryan dragged Vikas to the spot where he had tried to save the young boy. When they arrived, Aryan stopped dead. There was no boy. There was only a massive pool of blood and crushed, unrecognizable bone fragments pressed into the dirt.
Aryan turned his head away, his stomach churning. "I could have saved him if I was just a little stronger. Just a little faster."
Vikas put a hand on his shoulder. "Bro, don't do this to yourself. We aren't that strong yet. We couldn't do anything."
Aryan snapped his head back, his eyes burning with a new intensity. "Then I'll get strong. I'll become so powerful that no one else has to die like this. I'm going to protect all of you. No more losing."
Back in the medical ward, Ayush finally opened his eyes. A healer smiled at him. "It's okay. The monster is gone. Most of the city is safe."
"Most?" Ayush rasped.
The healer's smile faded. "The lower-rank hunters... they couldn't be healed in time. And the civilians who couldn't escape the buildings... many didn't make it."
Ayush stared at the ceiling, a hollow feeling growing in his chest. "What was the point of being reincarnated? I was supposed to be a hero, but I'm just lying here while people die because I'm weak. Is this really why we were brought to this world?"
He asked the healer where Aryan and Vikas were. "They're above ground, looking at the city," she replied.
As the three of them sat in different parts of the destroyed Kingdom, the same thought haunted all of them: In a world this brutal, being "Main Characters" doesn't mean anything if you don't have the power to back it up.