On the way back, Ritsuka found himself not taking the same route back home.
He wanted to make his day more interesting.
While stifling a yawn he took the long road back home.
The orange skies darkened as crows circled around.
Countless houses lining up that seemingly stretch onto the horizon.
While making his way back a lot of people greeted him with a smile.
He returned the gesture as these are the people he's helped over the years.
As he kept walking he noticed something weird.
The road back home this time was quiet.
Rather it was quite eerie.
He subconsciously caressed his hand, only to find nothing there.
Not a single red mark, not a single command spell.
He felt restless. Naked even...
As he kept walking, sings of life slowly vanished.
All he was met with was an eerie silence.
Not a single person in sight. Although this road was a residential district with nothing but houses lined up together. It's weird that there's no one on the streets right now.
"Who am I kidding... I'm being way too paranoid." He said to himself with a sigh as he relaxed his tense body.
So he kept walking.
He has been walking for 10 minutes already. It is impossible to not even hear people inside the houses.
Things started to feel off.
His intuition told him that something was going on.
The sky has already turned dark orange. Yet the place was quiet. No bugs no birds no nothing. Just a seemingly endless expanse of houses.
A soft sound of static kept ringing inside his ears.
Now he was sure.
This isn't something else.
This was not normal.
This could be something far worse.
However this didn't make any sense.
He was sure, Mystery right at this moment was nonexistent.
So why?
Why is it still here?
Could it be a remnant reality marble?
Something both Gaia and Alaya forgot to erase?
Is the root infallible or did he fail?
Did he... Once more... Make the wrong choice?
Or rather...
The worst one?
Something both Alaya and Gaia said...
An external threat.
He clenched his fists.
Then all of a sudden he could feel his vision distort as everything swirled around him.
A torrent of black and red energy swirled behind him as he felt his body being pulled across somewhere.
It was like Rayshifting for the first time, except it was more stomach churning this time.
His vision blurred as some thing tugged away at his consciousness.
He grit his teeth to stay awake yet to no avail.
He soon found himself losing consciousness quickly.
Then the former empty street slowly was alive again.
The bustling streets were filled with people going home.
The only difference was Ritsuka can't be seen anywhere.
When he came to, the sky has completely turned crimson.
He looked around only to find himself alone in an empty dilapidated street.
The houses looked like ruins, from net being lived on for too long.
Overgrowth has completely taken a hold of it.
Yet although teeming with life, everything felt lifeless.
Empty even.
However he could feel an eerie gaze from above. His intuition is telling him something was watching this whole thing.
He frowned, however before he could take another step forward he felt a stinging pain on the back of his right hand.
He frowned as he stared at his hand.
His pupils shrank as he saw a blurry red mark on the back of his hand.
Command Seals.
Except it looked like they were all used up.
His fists clench not out of fear but a certain kind of excitement.
He was unwilling but deep down.
Inside his head he could hear himself.
"Can I see them again?"
He shook off the distracting thoughts and opted to explore around to see what's going on.
He took a deep breath and tried to sense the Prana around him.
It was rich. completely unlike the time where he was with Chaldea. He tilted his head.
That's not possible... Mana like this is comparable to the Age of Gods.
Am I standing on top of a Dragon vein?
He thought to himself. Only to shake his head in denial.
This isn't like that kind of Mana. He could feel the Leylines beneath his feet, they were disjointed and messed up.
This volatile atmosphere could not produce such rich mana.
He closed his eyes to check his Magic Circuits only to see a blank slate.
Like they didn't exist in the first place.
That's not possible, as much as he hated to admit.
His sparse Magic Circuits is his lifeblood as a Magus.
So then how could he feel the Mana around him If he could not circulate Od himself???
Then he noticed his uniform has been changed, no longer was it the Sobu High uniform.
He was wearing his last Mystic Code.
The Decisive-Battle Chaldea Uniform.
He opened his eyes wide from sheer surprise.
However before he could continue thinking he heard voices of several people a short distance from him.
"Where the hell are we?"
An aged man's voice echoed.
"What the hell is this? Why is the sky red? Who are you people!?"
A panicked woman's voice fired questions rapidly.
A cacophony of voices filled with distress.
He was still suspicious but his languid body seemingly came alive at this moment. His lips slowly curled upwards as he broke into a sprint towards the voices.
The moment he reached his destination he saw a group of people arguing. He slowly hid and peeked over the corner.
They were gathered in an open space that looked like a childrens park.
"W-where are we!? We were just relaxing at home! How did we end up here!?" One man said with a frown.
"Where have you taken us! it must be one of you!" Another man wearing a business suit pointed around and started blaming people.
"Tsk. Shut the fuck up you toad looking motherfucker! You've been screaming so loudly I can't fucking think!"
A beautiful tall woman with slightly tan-skin who appears to be in her mid to late twenties cursed at the man.
She had burgundy colored hair tied up in a ponytail. Her amber-brown eyes glared at the noisy man. Her right arm covered in tribal tattoos reaching all the way up her neck. She wore a black tank top that exposed her stomach. Her very short cut-off jeans showed off her long legs.
Her military long boots stomped on the ground as she slowly approached the man menacingly. Yet with all that her beauty was eclipsed by the two holstered berettas beside her chest.
She grabbed the man with her calloused hands covered in fingerless gloves as she shouted at him.
"Why the fuck would anyone kidnap a dipshit like you!? Look around! If anyone here would kidnap you why are you not tied up!?"
Her angry words resonated with the people around them. Yet none spoke up in fear of being shot.
Ritsuka on the other hand watched everything silently.
Calmly analyzing each and everyone.