Chapter 32 - Into the Reverie

3.13.1205 - Sunday (Free Day)

No one was really sure what the Reverie Corridor was. It had only appeared inside the old schoolhouse that afternoon. Although that didn't stop Class VII and Sara from investigating and stopping whatever was going on inside. They weren't alone however, as several allies just so happened to be in the area. Sharon, Towa, Angelica, George, Claire, Toval, Alfin, and Elise made it clear that they were going to help put an end to the Reverie Corridor.

Once inside, everyone saw just how large the Reverie Corridor really was. Class VII thought that the Realm of the Great Shadow was large, but the Reverie Corridor made it look tiny by comparison.

Class VII quickly used their knowledge of the Realm of the Great Shadow to plan out how they would traverse through the Reverie Corridor. There was a high chance that there would be teleportation stations throughout the labyrinth, so seeing as they were a large group it would be wise to separate into smaller groups. That way once a group tackled an area and spotted a teleportation station then another group could take their place for the next section. It would also give time for the other groups to rest and regain their energy while not exploring.

They decided to split up into three groups. Group I would consist of Rean, Emma, Fie, Towa, Claire, and Alfin. Group II would consist of Alisa, Machias, Elliot, Angelica, Sharon, and Elise. Finally, Group III would consist of Laura, Gaius, Jusis, Millium, Sara, and Toval. George would be left in charge of supplies and weapon upgrades.


As the name implied, Group I went into the labyrinth first.

Rean, Fie, Towa, and Claire did most of the fighting while Emma and Alfin took care of healing them.

Exploring the labyrinth itself wasn't that difficult. For the most part it was reminiscent of the trial shrines Class VII explored during the Civil War. The only difference now was having Towa, Claire, and Alfin with them.

Claire more or less made it clear why she was as high ranking as she was. She seemingly took aim at enemies not even Rean or Fie could have noticed.

Alfin herself was a surprisingly talented orbal staff user. Even Emma was shocked by how gifted she was when it came to casting spells. Although her connection to Prince Olivert, who was a well known orbal gun user, made it clear that she might've done some training in the past.

Towa also made sure to show Rean how much she'd improved using her orbal gun while he was away. Granted, if time had allowed she would have preferred to have another practice session with him in the woods outside Trista. But for now she was okay with him praising her growth.

It didn't take long for Fie to grow bored however. And seeing the recently reunited couple in the same group as her, had given her a few ideas on how to entertain herself.

"Wow you two. You're not even trying to be subtle are you?" Fie asked aloud while the group explored their current floor.

"Who are you talking about?" Alfin asked.

"Whoops my bad, slip of the tongue." Fie responded.

"Fie! You shouldn't say stuff like that." Emma commented.

"Who specifically are you talking about?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, who exactly are you talking about?" Towa asked. She knew what Fie was trying to pull, but did her best play dumb.

"No no, Emma's right. I shouldn't say too much. Isn't that right Re-" Fie started teasing before Rean interrupted her.

"Guys, be careful! I sense a strong enemy. We should probably lower our voices until we reach a teleportation station." Rean warned.

"Good thinking Rean." Towa said quietly as she got closer to Rean at the front of the group.

They both felt a bit guilty over not being able to tell people like Claire and Alfin about their relationship, but they both didn't feel comfortable going public just yet. So far the only people that knew were Class VII, Proto Class VII, Sara, Celine, and Sharon. They wanted to keep the list short until they were able to properly start the courting process officially.

Luckily, Rean's lie turned out to be more true than he had intended, as the group quickly ran into a large monster.

The group gave each other nods as they went into the formation they prepared in case they ran into a large enemy.

Rean and Towa quickly made their way to the left side of the enemy while Fie and Claire distracted the enemy for them.

Once there, Rean and Towa took out their weapons and started attacking the enemy so that Fie and Claire could get to the other side of the enemy.

Emma and Alfin kept their distance and continued to cast buffs on the others, and to heal them in case the enemy hit them.

The monster was fairly difficult. After a few minutes Rean, Towa, Fie, and Claire knew that they needed to do something to even the odds.

"Overdrive!" Rean and Towa yelled.

They quickly laid a beating on the enemy before their overdrive ended.

Once their overdrive ended Fie and Claire continued where Rean and Towa left off.

Once their overdrive completed it was clear that the enemy was on their last leg.

Seeing as Rean, Towa, Fie, and Claire were getting tired, Emma decided to use her S-Craft while Alfin healed the others.

"Zodiac Rain!" Emma yelled as she finished off the monster.

"We did it!" Alfin announced as she finished healing the others.

"Good work team! Let's go look for the teleportation station!" Rean said once he caught his breath.

"Found it over here guys!" Fie yelled after a few minutes.

As Rean walked towards where Fie was, he stopped when he noticed a small mineral lying on the ground.

"From the looks of it, it looks like the monster dropped some Zemurian Ore. I think George might still have some. I'll ask him later." Rean thought to himself as he put the shard of Zemurian Ore in his pocket.

Before they knew it, Group I was teleported back to the entrance where the others were waiting for them.


Group I waved off Group II as they used the teleportation station to continue where they left off.

Feeling exhausted, Group I all sat down on the floor to rest up for a bit.

Rean and Towa tried sitting as close to each other without getting the attention of the others. Of course, they weren't necessarily all that subtle.

"Good work down there you two." Alfin greeted the pair as she sat down beside them.

"Thanks, but it was a team effort." Towa responded.

"Oh, I'm not talking about the fight. Rean, with how Elise describes you I would have never guessed that you were that good at misdirecting someone like Major Claire." Alfin explained.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Rean asked. He wasn't sure what Alfin was referring to.

"Don't be coy with me. I know about your relationship." Alfin revealed.

Rean and Towa felt as if an orbal truck had hit them upon hearing Alfin. They were sure that they were being subtle enough for no one outside their classmates to notice their relationship.

"Oh don't worry, I haven't told the others." Alfin assured them.

"Wait, how did you figure us out?" Towa asked.

"Don't tell me Fie's comment made it that obvious." Rean commented.

"Don't worry, it wasn't Fie. Did you two really think you could hide your love life from the little sister of the Debaucherous Prince?" Alfin teased.

"You got us there I suppose." Rean responded.

"I suppose it's on us then." Towa commented.

Alfin was a little disappointed by the fact that Rean and Towa were officially a couple, although not for the same reasons as most of her female peers. Admittedly she thought Rean was handsome, but a part of her found it more entertaining to use him to tease Elise. Seeing how casually both of them reacted to her confronting them, Alfin could tell that they were seemingly immune from the same type teasing she overheard Angelica doing to them back during the Civil War. Not that it would stop her from trying.

"Still Rean, keeping such a thing secret from even your dearest sister?" Alfin teased.

"It's not that I don't want to tell her, but I think it's important that my parents and Towa's aunt and uncle find out first." Rean answered as he took Alfin's teasing at face value.

"My my, I had no idea you two were so old fashioned. Rean, I know Elise told me you seemingly preferred older women, but I had no idea it was because you act like an old man yourself." Alfin continued teasing.

"I prefer what now?" Rean questioned.

"J-Just because I'm older than you doesn't mean I'm old. 19 is still young." Towa countered.

"Haha. Sorry I didn't mean it to sound rude. All I meant was you two seem far more mature and responsible for your ages." Alfin explained.

"Haha. Oh, my bad." Towa responded.

"I mean you two are both still students, you two should let loose every once in a while." Alfin suggested in an attempt to see if she could get a reaction out of them.

Rean and Towa suddenly started laughing together as they recalled the few times they have let loose. Neither were really sure if they ever wanted to share those stories however.

"What's so funny?" Alfin questioned.

"Haha. Don't worry." Towa responded in an attempt to handwave the question.

"Oh, I just remembered that I wanted to ask George about something. I'll be back in a few minutes Towa." Rean said as stood up and made his way towards George. It took every ounce in his body to stop him from giving her a goodbye kiss in front of everyone.


After a few minutes Group II teleported back. Much like Group I before them, they were exhausted.

Group III quickly finished their preparations and teleported to where Group II had left off.

Angelica originally intended to hang out with Towa, but quickly spotted her talking with Rean and decided not to interrupt.

"Oh Angelica, just the woman I wanted to speak with." Alfin greeted as she made her way to Angelica.

"What does our princess want with little ol' me?" Angelica asked.

"If you may, I simply wanted to partake in a casual chat with you." Alfin informed her.

"Sure thing." Angelica said.

Alfin soon led Angelica outside to make sure no one overheard them.

"What is it you want to tell me? Don't tell me you want to conf-" Angelica started asking before getting interrupted by Alfin.

"Why didn't you tell me that President Herschel liked Rean!?" Alfin asked with an exaggerated pout.

"Oh, that…" Angelica responded.

"I was on the same airship as them for how long? Why didn't anyone tell me? I could have teased them in so many ways." Alfin ranted.

"W-Well, I figured it was obvious…" Angelica admitted.

"How was I supposed to notice? They were always off by themselves… Oh. Well now I can hear Olivert laughing at me." Alfin continued.

"Well now that you know, do you promise to keep it a secret?" Angelica asked.

Angelica and Alfin immediately heard someone open the door to join them outside.

"Keep what a secret?" Elise asked.

"O-Oh Elise, what are you doing out here?" Alfin asked.

"I saw you walking out here with Angelica and grew curious." Elise answered.

"Well we weren't talking about Towa and-" Angelica tried to lie before Alfin lent her a hand.

"We were simply talking about President Herschel and… h-her smooth looking skin. I wanted to see if Angelica knew which brand she used. Haha." Alfin lied.

"Y-Yeah, those Calvard imports sure are out of this world. Haha." Angelica said as she played along.

"O-Oh, and here I thought you two were talking about something far more scandalous." Elise responded.

"What? Don't tell me that you thought we were talking about Towa and her boyfriend?" Angelica teased before realizing what she had done.

"Wait, President Herschel has a boyfriend!?" Elise excitedly asked.

"O-Oh… yes she does…" Alfin responded.

"Looks like I don't have to worry about that temptress corrupting my brother anymore. I should've known that she couldn't get through that dense head of his." Elise thought to herself.

"Well? Aren't you going to ask who it is?" Angelica asked.

Alfin immediately jabbed Angelica for constantly digging their grave deeper.

"Not really." Elise answered.

So long as Towa wasn't dating Rean, Elise was happy.

"If you excuse me, I'm going to go congratulate President Herschel on the news." Elise announced as she returned inside.

"So how long until she realizes that Towa's dating Rean?" Angelica asked.

"I'd say when she receives an invitation to their wedding." Alfin bluntly answered.

"I can see that." Angelica responded.


"Alright, here you go Rean." George announced as he handed Rean Towa's upgraded orbal gun.

"Thanks George. You sure you don't mind having to use your spare Zemurian Ore for this? Besides the one I found in the Reverie I used up all the ones I had on my tachi during the Civil War." Rean responded.

"No worries, you were the one that found all of it to begin with. Oh, how did you manage to take Towa's orbal gun without her knowing? She hasn't lost sight of it since Prince Olivert gave it to her." George asked.

"To be honest, I'm not sure myself." Rean admitted. All he did was tell Towa to look in another direction and snatched it from her coat pocket.

"Alright then. Let me know when you two need some more orbal help." George said as he returned to his station.

"Sure thing. Thanks again!" Rean said as he made his way back to Towa.


Towa patiently sat by herself while she waited for Rean to return.

It had been around half an hour ago that he said that he wanted to talk to George about something, but she was starting to question what in the world could be taking him so long.

"Congratulations President Hershel!" Elise greeted.

"Oh, hi Elise. Thank you, but what exactly are you congratulating me for?" Towa asked.

"You don't need to play coy with me. Angelica and Princess Alfin already told me about your new relationship. I'm sure your boyfriend is a lucky man." Elise explained.

"W-What!?" Towa questioned with a bright red blush on her face. Considering how Elise acted during the school festival she was convinced that she would never get her blessings to be in a relationship with Rean.

"Haha, and here I thought you had a one sided crush on my brother." Elise commented.

"Wait. what?" Towa asked.

"I mean, clearly you're not dating my brother, but don't worry I won't inquire any further." Elise said before excusing herself.

Towa watched as Elise left to talk with other people. She was unsure if she should bother telling her who exactly she was dating.

"It might be better this way." Towa thought to herself.


It didn't take long for Rean to take a seat next to Towa. Although she quickly noticed that he was holding something behind his back.

"Haha. Judging by that look on your face you already know I have something for you don't you?" Rean greeted.

"You're really bad at hiding things you know." Towa teased.

"Well then, I guess I should just give this to you then." Rean announced as he handed Towa her upgraded orbal gun.

"Wait, don't tell me you used up all the Zemurian Ore George was holding on for you to make this!?" Towa asked.

"Don't worry about it. We're not sure what's waiting for us down there deep inside the Reverie Corridor, or even outside. But that only means we've got to be prepared, and what better way to be prepared than with an orbal gun upgraded with some Zemurian Ore." Rean explained.

"Rean…" Towa responded upon realizing what Rean was really trying to say.

Towa checked to make sure the coast was clear before giving Rean a hug.

"Don't worry Rean. I promise to stay safe while I'm away." Towa assured him before letting go.

"Thank you Towa. I promise to do the same while at Thors." Ream said in response.


It didn't take long for Group III to teleport in, and Group I to go and continue where they had left off.

Fie, Emma, Claire, and Alfin quickly realized that Towa's orbal gun had been upgraded while they were resting. Although, Claire was the only one that didn't know why specifically. Fie took it upon herself to tease Rean about playing favorites.

Soon Group I reached the depths of the Reverie Corridor. They quickly teleported back to inform the others.

After preparing one last time, all three groups teleported back to face off against what was waiting for them.


After entering a large door, everyone entered the Boundless Cathedral and came face to face with the Great White Shadow: Loa Luciferia.

After a long tedious battle, everyone was able to defeat Loa Luciferia.

It was only until after defeating Loa Luciferia however, that Class VII realized that it was the end of the road for them as Class VII. The others watched on as Class VII let out their emotions to one another. Everyone was shocked to see Millium start to cry, not that they blamed her.

Rean wasn't sure what to think, in a few weeks everyone else in that room with him wouldn't be there anymore. Alisa, Jusis, Laura, Elliot, Emma, Gaius, Fie, Machias, and Millium would graduate early and move on to the next phase of their lives. Sara and Toval would return to work full time as Bracers. Alfin and Elise were going back to St. Astraia. Sharon would return to the Reinford Company. Claire would go back to being captain of the Railway Military Police. Celine most definitely was going to follow Emma wherever she went. Angelica and George were both going to travel Eastern Zemuria once they graduated. Of course, that also meant that Towa was soon going to start her tour around Erebonia. He couldn't be any more proud of everyone, but he couldn't deny that he was going to miss them.

Rean suddenly felt someone behind him faintly patting his head, but when he tried to see who it was, there was no one there.

"Haha. What am I so worried about? If there's any group of people I have complete faith in, it's the one in front of me." Rean thought to himself as he saw Class VII start a large group hug around Millium. It wasn't long before he joined them.


Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter about everyone entering the Reverie! (haha get it?)

I originally didn't plan on making this dungeon a chapter (like how I skipped the Realm of the Great Shadow), but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to write Alfin (who I am kicking myself for not using in the story earlier) and Elise.

Also thank you all for the reviews. I'm also looking forward to writing the CS3 Arc!

Preview - "You better attend your classes. I better not get a call from Principal Vandyke requesting me to drag you to your classes, because I'll do it." _ teased.