[6/28 (Saturday) – Evening]
[Beacon Academy — Dorm Hallway]
Dragging himself down the hallway, Clerval winced as each step tugged at the wound along his side, sending a sharp jolt of pain through his body.
For the past three days, he has been steadily progressing deeper into VESTA, battling unfamiliar Shadows while traversing the Labyrinth's lower floors.
Although he hadn't encountered another "boss"-class Shadow since the Avenger Knight on VESTA 5, he could feel it.
He was close to the end.
Give or take... several more floors.
His eyes drifted to the timer displayed on his watch.
[4D:3H:52M:18S]
Four days remained.
Realistically, three. He intended to reach the end of VESTA at least a day before the countdown expired.
So, to prepare himself, he had exterminated every Shadow he came across. Or, as Jaune would have put it, he had been "farming" the Shadows for combat experience, strengthening both himself and his Personas within his stock.
And the results spoke for themselves. Every Dive left him feeling stronger than the last, his growing abilities allowing him to summon and fuse stronger Personas.
Even his pouch was beginning to fill with hundreds of Golden Pieces, enough to combine into dozens of Golden Slates everyday after a hard day's work.
Training had been going smoothly. Until he encountered that thing.
The memory alone sent a chill down his spine.
The moment Mary screamed panickingly in their comms for him to run, he had obeyed without question.
Just the pressure alone was enough to convince him that the Shadow was at an entirely different level.
The monstrous Shadow tore through the entire floor in pursuit, unleashing colossal blasts of energy that carved through walls and marble alike. It cut through his newly improved Persona Stock with terrifying ease, as though their defenses meant nothing.
The only reason he had escaped alive was because a teleporter happened to be nearby. Otherwise...
Clerval silently shook the thought from his mind.
He finally reached his dorm room.
With trembling fingers, he unlocked the door with his identification card and pushed it open.
All he wanted now was to collapse onto his bed and get some sleep—
"C-Clerval...?"
A sharp intake of breath stopped him.
"What in the world happened to you...?"
He turned around.
Weiss stood frozen in the hallway, several steaming mugs balanced in her hands.
Her eyes slowly traveled over the burns, cuts, bruises, and torn clothing covering nearly every inch of his body, shock and horror slowly growing in her face.
"...Evening," Clerval greeted weakly.
This... was going to be hard to explain.
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A/N: I'm back! This time with a new chapter!
A lot of things happened. Writers block, exams, other interests (ahem, ahem), and whatnot, but I am finally back to writing this fic.
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Please keep in mind that this chapter, along with the next few, was written while I was going through my creative block, so they may be a little shorter than usual.
But you should expect regular uploads of this fic again!
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