After a few more seconds of catching her breath, Reina lifted her head, discerning where she was located.

She was still underneath the floor the explosion had occurred on but there was a lot more space here. Reina couldn’t stand up to her full height in this place, but, other than that, there was plenty of space for her to move around.

Reina checked if there was a way out above. Unfortunately, this one was competently blocked off. She snarled. “Damn it. I swear to god, this place is a faulty maze or something.” Reina protested.

Now, where should she go? There was no way in hell Reina would attempt to crawl back into the crack (not that she thought her arm could handle it again) and it seemed like she was trapped in here.

“I should have stayed on the other side,” Reina griped. “At least there, I could have jumped into the chasm. I bet it was an escape route or something.”

{Notice} The Skill [Fortitude Rank D] has been deactivated.

Out of nowh–argh! Reina grimaced when a fresh rush of pain coursed through her arm, feeling like tendrils had wrapped around and tightened. Her body felt much heavier now, and everything ached. Reina growled. "No way in hell that was 20% pain!" she insisted.

The voice had no response.

"Whatever," Reina grumbled. She headed to the nearest wall and pressed her head against it, adamantly refusing to acknowledge the pebbles dripping on her head. Maybe she could hear something?

Reina waited and listened but only heard sounds of debris shaking. This wasn’t the way out.

If she went berserk and punched through all the walls, would that work? Reina wondered. If she began sprinting and charged through the layers of blockage, she may be able to get out of the Academy before everything fell down.

Then again, that would mean everybody else dies. Reina couldn't do that. What other options were available?

Reina contemplated sitting against the wall and waiting; somebody would come by. Well, there was also the chance they would simply pulverize this place but why would the teachers do that? They were smart enough to know the high possibility of somebody being here.

“Anybody? Is anybody here?” Reina called. There wasn’t a response and Reina sighed. “Great, I couldn’t have been stuck underground with a friend or something?” Reina picked up a small rock and lobbed it into the distance.

Reina hummed a little tune, throwing rock after rock. Only small rocks; it was likely the whole wreckage wouldn’t come crashing down because of mere pebbles. Reina was about to throw another rock when she heard it: a low moan, echoing from where she’d been throwing her rocks at. Reina sprung up and darted towards the sound.

“Hello? Hello, where are you!?”

It was no use, there was too much darkness. Reina risked calling a small ball of flames to hover over her palms. At this point, she was desperate enough to risk death by an explosion if it meant finding somebody else who was conscious.

{Notice} Fire Art activated. Level: Simple. [Ignition].

Great. Now her Art was getting called out as well? That wasn't a Skill! Why was this happening now, when she'd had her Fire Art unlocked for years? A small nagging thought was at the edge of Reina's consciousness, but she decided to forgo it. She had work to do, and if it was important, she'd remember it.

With the way lit up, her progress increased. Reina climbed over rocks and metal in her way before finding herself standing before a large mass of debris. Reina opened her mouth before closing it again. Did she want to know the truth? Swallowing any fear, Reina asked, “Is anybody there?”

She was almost hoping she wouldn’t hear anything back. The mountain of rock was so unsteady, the slightest push from her would cause an avalanche.

“Hm! I’m here!” a voice sniffled. Reina frowned as the voice tingled her memories. Where had she heard that before?

Whatever, she had plenty of time to analyze the voice after she got them out of here. “I’m going to pry this thing off of you one piece at a time! It’s going to take a while so stay calm and stay still. If you move, it might crush you!”

There. That installed proper caution and with any luck, the person inside would be too scared to move. Or they would decide to be an idiot and thrash around, in which case, it wasn’t her fault.

Nothing happened so Reina settled down to work. After walking around the pile and analyzing (she needed to crane her neck up to view the top), Reina found the most stable spot.

“I think this won’t cause everything to fall,” she muttered before grabbing a slab of stone. Maneuvering the slab around to make it easier to come out, she pried it off. The mound of debris remained standing and there wasn’t any pained scream coming from inside so Reina assumed they were fine.

Of course, if they had died, it could have happened so quickly they didn’t have time to react. . . .

‘Shut up.’ Reina reprimanded herself. Thinking like that wasn’t going to help anybody. Figuring out the next piece that should come out, Reina wrenched a metal pipe and flung it to the ground. “This is going to take a lot longer than I thought.”

She had no idea how right she was. After 25 minutes had passed and Reina painstakingly plucked off every piece of equipment she could take off, they’d come to a crossroad.

“Okay, mystery person! Hope you can hear me. I took out everything safe. The next few things could make everything collapse. You up for the challenge?” Reina asked.

“Yes.” was the mumbled reply.

“Thank god, because this is taking forever.” Reina still couldn’t catch a sight of the person inside.

“This is a good piece,” Reina commented, taking a firm hold on a metal door bent up. It was bigger than the other materials she’d been throwing away combined and if this worked, Reina might be able to see the person she was rescuing. She wanted to see what kind of damage they took and if it was plausible to get them to safety.

“I’m doing this,” Reina warned one last time. “On the count of 3, 2, 1-“

Reina ripped the door away and accidentally overextended a bit. Reina tore the door off it’s handle and went teetering into the darkness. Reina stared dumbfounded at the useless handle she was holding in her hand.

“Whoops,” she murmured. A giggle slipped out. Oh no, was the claustrophobia getting to her? The sound of metal groaning alerted her to far more serious problems. Reina turned her attention back onto the pile.

Ripping the door off had upset the balance and the tons of debris were going to collapse right on top of the student! Reina jumped in at the last second and plunged her left arm through the hole the door had formed, barely catching the debris in time. Now she was stuck, one arm straining to hold it all up.

The mound of junk was over three times as tall and twice as wide. Countless heavy objects made it up, ranging from walls to dumpsters. The mere fact Reina was able to hold it up was a miracle, though not one that would last much longer.

Her balance was unsteady, having had little to no time before the pile fell. Reina had caught it, true, but the abruptness of it didn’t allow her to center herself.

The second problem was the more obvious one: it was too heavy. Reina was strong but she only had one functional arm. The other one was pounding in pain even now. Not to mention being blown 2 stories through solid concrete was enough to weaken anybody.

“I can’t hold it for much longer! Slide-out!” Reina yelled.

“I don’t have anywhere to slide out to!” the person–she’s pretty sure it’s a girl–screamed back. Cursing, Reina forced the pile up momentarily.

In the short respite she had taken, Reina kicked a section of the pile and it blew apart. Taking its place, Reina put one of her feet against the trash and the other one on the ground. This not only gave her the room the escape they needed but allowed for better footing.

Reina wasn't completely certain if her classmate crawled between her legs-the strain of lifting such a heavy object with her battered body was beginning to form, and black dots appeared in her vision.

“Are you out!?” Reina asked.

“Yes!” her classmate said.

That was all she needed to hear. Reina took several steps backward, hoping to gently lay the heavy burden she was carrying onto the ground.

That wasn’t what happened. Instead, she tripped on something and nearly toppled over. Even though she caught herself at the last second, this was enough time for the enormous slab of rock to unbalance her even more.

Reina was on her last legs. Stopping herself from stumbling all over the place, Reina couldn’t completely prevent herself from having the slab of debris rising higher and higher.

Reina growled as it hit the walls and began to carve a path through, sending chunks of stone down below at the two girls. Reina attempted to once again lower the slab but only succeeded in making it crash into the side of the cavern they were in.

It was a miracle the entire place didn’t come down.

When Reina was finally about to lower the slab, her arm gave out and dropped it onto the floor. Reina jumped at the loud noise it made and tensed up, expecting the cave to break apart.

When nothing happened, Reina relaxed and flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Well, that was a disaster, don’t you think - Angel!?” Reina asked.

Sure enough, the person she’d rescued was the cold and stubborn Angel. The girl who had coldly brushed aside Reina’s friendly advances back when they had arrived to the Academy.. Blood matted Angel's short hair, and her diminutive body was full of scratches. A murky white clouded her eyes as always.

“I’ve got to say, I did not see this one coming. I thought you would have blasted through it by yourself.” Reina said.

Angel’s body shuddered and Reina sighed. “Don’t be angry because I saved you. I won’t blackmail you no matter how much I want to some. . .times?”

Reina realized she wasn’t angry, she was crying.

Before Reina knew it, Angel tacked her around her midsection and clung on. Angel didn’t bawl her eyes out, only the occasional twitches sent through her body indicating she was crying at all.

At first, Reina had no idea what she was supposed to do. Laugh? Confront her? Push her off? Yeah, those didn’t sound like the right options to her.

In the end, Reina opted for patting her on the back. Reina figured it out; why she felt so bad for Angel: she related to her. Angel was her when she was younger and learning the cruelty of the world. Angel must have seen some of it already but today’s events had opened her eyes all the way. Angel gazed upon the true horrors of the world.

And because she wouldn’t have a better chance to bond with her, Reina let her do it. After all, how many things would have changed if Reina had somebody to hug her when she learned the horrible reality of the world? How cruel and unjust some people could be?

So in a broken-down cave, two tiny girls clung to one another and rocked back and forth. At that moment, Reina appeared to be as large and as warm as the sun.