Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne

The rain of blood and gore drenched Jon for an entire minute before it subsided or rather, he had to quickly step out of the shower of viscera that had already soaked him from head to toe, and just in time to avoid it getting in his mouth.

"How much blood does it have..." Shaking off the blood and gore off his body with mana, he looked back at the building ensuring their safety before moving towards his former dorm.

…

Inside one of the barely surviving dorm rooms,

"HELP! HEY, HELP US!"

The desperate cries for help echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls in an eerie chorus. And since it was occurring in quite the number of places, it was really eerie.

Among the voices were the unmistakable cries of girls, it was totally an oddity since the girls' dormitories were far from the boys. Yet, here they were, huddled in terror with the boys.

The scene was strange. Typically, girls weren't allowed in the boys' dorms, and even when they were sneaked in, they tried their best not to scream out, however this weren't normal times. The initial thrill of breaking rules had quickly turned into a nightmare, now, fear dominated every face.

This wasn't an isolated situation either. Throughout the remaining dorms, similar cries for help could be heard.

To them the dormitories had suddenly been overrun by zombies, well they only knew them as white eyed monsters at this point.

In this particular room, six students; three girls and three boys were trapped. They had to block the door with their tables, lockers, bunk beds, and anything else they could find. The boys, who once always bragged about bravery, were now shaken to the core.

The security in the boys' dormitory was known to be always lax, to the point it was a joke among students, however at this point, it was now a deadly thing. It was well known that guards could be bribed, allowing students to break curfew or sneak in visitors. And the truth was it worked and worked well, no one had anticipated a situation like this.

Those white-eyed monsters weren't just breaking school rules; they were breaking bodies.

The boys had opened the door earlier to figure out what could make a fellow male to scream like that only to witness a classmate being torn apart by white eyed creatures. Initially, they were frozen in shock, thankfully more screams snapped them out of their stupor and they began backing away from the door.

Without wasting any time, they quickly slammed the door shut.

"What the hell was that?" one of the boys panted, his voice barely steady.

"I don't know!" another shot back, trembling. "But that... thing... it looked like..."

The words faded as they all realized the same thing: they were completely unprepared for this.

The girls who were in this situation directly broke down in tears immediately, saying things like they shouldn't have been here. They clearly didn't know they were even sort of luck. the situation outside could be considered worse.

Unfortunately for them, a zombie outside eventually reached their door and relentlessly slammed against it threatening to tear through their makeshift barricade. They could hear the growls of the undead, a sound that sent chills through them.

So, they began pushing back against the door, trying to keep the creature at bay. Luckily, one particularly hard shove caused the zombie to stumble and fall, temporarily quieting the frenzied attack.

Relief washed over them momentarily, but the fear still lingered. They had no idea how long they could last in this situation. The girls wept and the boys had grim faces, they didn't know what to say and they surely weren't going to go outside.

However, they didn't wallow in sadness and tears for longer than a day, or rather hunger struck.

"W-We have food" this was the first and only good news they had heard since the day before.

So, the boys went and pulled out whatever food they had and when they estimated it.

Thankfully, they had enough food to survive a week maybe, but there was no long-term plan. The dorm, now their prison, was crumbling around them.

But at least they had survived.

As the days passed until yesterday, From the window, they spotted something.

Outside, near the untouched dormitory, the zombies were gathering and there were increasing each minute.

They were relieved that it wasn't facing their dorm but they couldn't help but be curious as to why they were gathering there.

Then today, this evening they saw something they would never forget in their lives. It was a person that approached the horde of zombies wearing a bloody coat and holding a spear.

His clothes were soaked in blood, and his expression was calm. They had no idea where he had come from, but hope flickered in their hearts. If he was still alive, maybe they had a chance too.

But there was a blooming question in their minds, why was he alone.

Soon enough, that answer came quite fast as they saw him take down the zombies with a single swing for each one, as if the creatures were nothing but paper.

And then, they saw the lion.

A massive, flaming lion, six meters tall as it stalked towards Jon.

There and then, the students had already given up any hope of survival. They watched, horrified, as the lion moved, its fiery mane sending waves of heat into the air and the explosions it caused just by walking.

Who didn't know that a lion was the king of the jungle and one of the strongest creatures in the world. Now this was now a larger and more powerful lion and than the image they had of one, so which hope could they have.

However, Jon didn't flinch. He stood tall, calculating his next move.

And with a burst of speed none of them could keep up with, he charged at the lion, his spear glowing with concentrated energy.

Time seemed to slow down as he leaped into the air and pierced the beast's skull, obliterating it in an explosion of gore.

For the students, it was like watching a legend unfold before their eyes, but they weren't just spectators.

Something about Jon's victory stirred them, filling them with a newfound strength with unknown sources and began to scream for help. Some of them hadn't eaten for days, but they still shouted for help.

"HELP! HELP!"

And as for Jon, he heard them. Of course, he did, after all, he knew everything going on within a 600-meter radius. He could see all around the building and the trapped students calling out to him. However, he didn't respond, he didn't even look in their direction.

Because,

"They'll move soon," he said to himself with a small, knowing smile. Jon understood something they didn't.

There was a saying, in times of crisis, heroes are born.

He could already see some students inside the dorm who after seeing him kill the giant lion began organizing, preparing to fight back against the left over zombies. All they had needed was an opening, a chance to break free. T

And Jon had given that to them.

Now, Jon was stepping inside the dormitory.

Upon getting to the lobby, he spread his awareness throughout the building, and what he found was nothing sort of bizarre.

Unlike the outside, here, there were no signs of blood or death here, no bodies and no battles.

Everything had been frozen in place. The students who had even turned into zombies and the normal students who hadn't turned were trapped in some sort of stasis.

It was as though time had stopped.

Jon frowned as he sensed the strange energy in the air.

It was thick, pervasive, and unnatural. And strangely, he could trace it to its source, and that was what he did.

"What's going on?" Jon murmured to himself, following the trail of energy. As he passed by the frozen students, some alive, some not, he tried to touch them, but there were still trapped in the same eerie stillness, and even when he tried to attack the zombies, his spear was met with an unbreakable resistance.

"They're... hardened," he observed the phenomena and decided not to waste any more energy doing something he couldn't change. It seemed something larger was at play.

The strange aura led him to a familiar route. His heart quickened, an unsettling feeling creeping over him.

He had no idea what he was about to find, but whatever it was, why was it coming from his room?