Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 89: Broken Smile

Damon’s gaze turned back to Ivy and Nyla, and when it did, a sudden notification window appeared before him.

[Would you like to appoint a Vice-Leader?]

[Vice-Leader: Able to register and remove people from the Citadel. Can only be removed by the Leader.]

The answer became almost immediate as he read the text. There was something far better fitted for vetting and registering people than him.

His gaze turned to Ivy as he focused on registering her as Vice Leader, and instantly, he saw the reaction on her face.

[You have appointed Human *Ivy* as a Vice-Leader]

"Register everyone to the Citadel," Damon said as he began to walk away without waiting for a response.

"Where are you going?" Ivy asked right before Nyla managed to.

"I’ll be back soon," he replied before exiting the great hall of the castle and leaving the three girls behind.

Outside, Damon saw humans already giving burials to those who had fallen during the battle and giving treatments to those who could be healed. Among them was Victor, who, despite his own exhaustion and injuries, was completely focused on healing injuries too severe for others to treat.

Damon walked through the battlefield like a shadow, not stopping for anyone or anything as he moved toward the teleport deep inside the woods outside the castle walls.

With the siege over, Damon wanted to go and get Ayame. She remained waiting in the Central Station after telling him she couldn’t intervene with quests from other worlds. There were plenty. of questions he had, about her world, about the quests...

But before he could even reach the teleport, he saw a figure standing at the edge of the floating island holding their citadel. Her long dress swayed slightly in the night breeze while her head was lifted toward the full moon hanging in the sky.

Damon paused.

The tails swaying lazily behind her were a clear giveaway, but for some reason, he couldn’t understand why she was there. Why now?

He moved quickly toward her, his steps nothing more than a soft thud against the grass, almost indistinguishable against the sound of a whistling breeze.

As he got closer, he couldn’t help but admire her perfect skin. The way the moonlight reflected on her porcelain-like skin gave her an ethereal look, one that he thought he had gotten used to, and yet each time he was caught slightly off guard.

She turned toward him before he even said anything, her silver-white hair cascading across her slender shoulders as a faint smile curved across her face.

"Damon," she said in a voice as soft as silk.

"Ayame... I was just on my way to get you."

She lingered for a moment, watching him in the silence of the night before she turned her face back toward the moon and spoke again.

"I thought we’d have more time. But the system has a cruel way of doing things..."

"More time? What are you-"

Ayame suddenly turned back toward him, her right hand slightly raised.

At first, he was confused about what she was showing him, but then he noticed something wrong about her hand. At first, he only thought it looked paler, but that wasn’t it. It looked... faded, as if it were starting to turn transparent.

"My quest is starting..." she stated, her smile twitched slightly as if threatening to break.

Then, she looked toward Damon’s hand, and as he followed her gaze, his eyes widened.

He lifted his arm, which was starting to resemble hers.

"What is..."

"Our connection... as long as it’s active, you’ll be forced to return with me..."

Damon blinked, slowly realising what it meant.

"So what?" He asked with confidence about something that he couldn’t quite understand about the danger of her world. "We’ll survive as we have so far-"

Ayame took a sudden step toward him, her left hand landing softly against the side of his face. "It’s too soon." A cruel smile curved across her face. "You’re too weak to survive in my world..."

Without giving him a chance to reply, she suddenly leaned toward him and her plump lips pressed against his.

He was caught off guard at first, but then he kissed her back. His arms grabbed her slender waist. Their moment lasted only a little while before the soft touch of her hand on his face disappeared, and he pulled back to find her right hand completely transparent.

"Ayame..."

Her faint smile turned to a ridiculous grin as she took one long look at him. Her half-transparent left hand landed on his chest, and when it did, Damon felt his mana surge in an unnatural way.

For a moment, he couldn’t quite understand what she was doing, but then, a surprise flashed across his face as he quickly realised it.

But before he could stop it, before he could even take a single step back, something inside his core broke with an almost audible sound.

[Your class *Divine Beast Tamer* has been destroyed.]

"No-!"

"I’ll see you again soon, my—"

There was no time for goodbyes as Ayame’s slowly fading figure suddenly vanished, and Damon’s hands were left hanging emptily in the air before slowly falling back to his side.

Damon’s hand was no longer starting to turn transparent like hers was. There was no longer the connection he once felt with her. There was only an empty void inside his head, one he hadn’t felt since the start of the apocalypse.

Time became a blur as Damon stood there long after she disappeared.

The wind continued to whistle around him, the moon still hung high above him, and the world continued as he found himself lost for a moment.

It was only once the first ray of sunlight pierced through the night sky that Damon snapped out of that daze, and he remembered some of Ayame’s words.

"Too weak..."

His expression suddenly hardened, and his hand curled into a fist as he murmured to himself.

"Let’s go kill something."