Chapter 233 - The Fallen Hero

John slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by darkness. Everywhere he looked, he couldn't see anything. 

No sounds, no light, nothing. Just an empty room. 

As he looked down at himself, he could see a glowing light within him. It was the only light inside of this darkness. 

Without saying anything, John slowly got up before looking around. 

Endless darkness, everywhere he looked. He had no idea where to go, but knew where he was. 

"You've returned." Said a voice which came from behind him 

He bit his lips before slowly turning to the source of the voice. Just as he had expected, it was him. 

Despite there being darkness everywhere, John could perfectly see his figure. At first it terrified him, but now he was used to it. 

"What do you want?" John asked with a cold tone 

"You already know what I want." The other John replied with a smile 

Seeing this, John let out a sigh before walking over to his exact copy. 

The copy watched as John stood in front of him without batting an eye. And John leaned in over to his ear. 

He whispered a few words into the copy's ears and a nervous smile formed on his face, as John backed away. 

A grin appeared on John's face as he said 

"Get me out of here." 

"You've truly fallen, haven't you?" The copy asked before disappearing. 

The light from within John began to glow further and further before it lit John's entire body up 

------------------------- 

"Argh..." John muttered as he opened his eyes 

He felt nauseous and felt as if something was pounding at his head. 

As he got up, he took in a deep breath, before putting on his sandals. 

"..." 

Unfortunately for him, there was nothing there, and he ended up grabbing on to the air. 

Seeing this, John got up before heading towards the toilet, his steps were slow but he eventually reached it. 

As he walked inside, he took a good look at his reflection in the mirror. 

His eyes had dark circles beneath them, his hair was messy and his eyes lacked emotion. 

No longer the same green as before, they remained pitch-black, just as his hair had also remained black. 

He brushed his teeth before washing his face, after doing so, he formed a small amount of water before putting it into the bucket. 

As the bucket filled up, he began to take of his clothes, while heating up at the same time. 

Once it was ready, he stood inside of the shower area in the toilet, before dropping he began to form water particles in the air around his body. 

As the water particles surrounded his body, it looked as if, he had a layer of water over it. 

"Ignis." 

The layer of water began to warm up as small flames were formed around it. 

As he did this, he grabbed onto the soap which was around the floor, before washing it, and moving it around the layer on water which had now covered his body. 

The water layer began to take in the soap, forming bubbles around John's body 

Once his body was completely covered in soap, he repeated the process on his hair. And right when he when everything was bubbly and perfect, he grabbed on to the bucket before dropping the water on his head 

Washing away all of the bubble in the process. 

When he was finished, he went to his room before putting on his clothes and armour. 

"At-Choo..." 

John gave out a small sneeze as he put on his pants and shirt. 

"It's cold..." He muttered as he put on his shoes 

"Time." 

A small clock was formed in front of him, he checked the time as he opened the door. 

"7 pm..." 

With the clock still formed, his eyes widened as he looked at the person who was on the other side of the door. 

It was Ariel, for a moment, John could see her panic as she tried to regain her composure. 

"G-Good afternoon." Said Ariel as she suddenly looked up at him 

"Yeah, good afternoon..." Said John as he quickly avoided eye contact 

He didn't want Ariel to see him in his sorry state, after all. 

"Are you going out again?" She asked as she prepared her staff 

"Yeah, I'll be back soo-" 

Ariel interrupted John as she suddenly said 

"Good, I have things prepared, I'm coming with you" She said as she showed him her backpack 

John who saw this let out a sigh before saying 

"It's fine, it's faster if I go alone." Said John before turning around 

Suddenly, Serena grabbed on to his arm to stop him. She wrapped her arms around it and gave it a tight lock while using hers. 

"No, I'm coming with you. It��s been an entire week since Serena disappeared, and you still haven't found her... We can both use search spells, so if I go it'll be faster-" 

Ariel suddenly stopped talking before noticing that John was pointing at something. 

"What- What's wrong?" She asked 

"That staff... Where's your other one?" 

"You mean the dark sword wand...? I-" 

Ariel had taken her eyes off of John, and when she came to it, he vanished throughout her explanation. 

"Really...? Argh... Fine, I'll search for her myself." Ariel muttered 

------------------- 

As John walked through the streets, he thought back on what he had done to Ariel 

"Sorry, But I don't want to get you involved in this" He muttered 

John was wearing a mask and was following this man who appeared to be drunk. He had just come out of the bar and staggered as he walked. 

As the man entered the alleyway to his left, John made his move. 

���Man... A guy can't get a decent break around here..." The man muttered 

Suddenly, a dark knife was pointed straight as his next, as a kid latched on to him from behind. 

He was a tall and big man with a strong build, so John's body weight alone wasn't enough to bring him down. 

"W-What do you want?" He asked with a nervous look 

Hearing this a grin was formed on John's face as he said 

"I have a few questions..."