The Spare's Second Chance in Apocalypse
Chapter 316: Ch 315: It’s time to Rest- Part 2

Chapter 316: Ch 315: It’s time to Rest- Part 2

The new Vale estate was not as large as the original, but it was sharper. Leaner. Built not on luxury, but legacy.

Nora Vale stood at the highest balcony, her hands resting lightly on the railing.

Below her, the reborn heart of the family empire thrived — energy grids, transport links, and digital commerce platforms all pulsed with activity.

The Vale name, once drenched in scandal and fire, now ran at the core of half the continent’s infrastructure.

She had done that.

Not as a daughter.

Not as a survivor.

As the head of the family.

Behind her, a familiar voice called out.

"You’re glaring again."

She turned to see Noah rolling toward her in his hover-chair, a tablet on his lap, stylus twirling between his fingers.

His right side was mostly paralyzed — a lingering cost of the system’s final days. But his eyes were still sharp, and his mouth was still far too fast.

"I’m thinking."

Nora said.

"Dangerous. Should I alert the board?"

He quipped.

She didn’t dignify that with a response.

Noah parked beside her, his chair humming quietly.

"Press conference went well. Market confidence is up. Your precious logistics division just signed another contract with the New Earth Restoration Guild."

Nora gave a small nod.

"Good."

"And in other news, the world still doesn’t know how to handle a powerful woman in a bloodstained suit."

"They’ll learn."

Noah smirked.

"I like this version of you."

"You say that every time I’m two steps ahead."

"Because it’s always true."

The wind shifted slightly, carrying the scent of ash and blooming trees — a strange contradiction that had become normal in this world. Nature and war intertwined.

The past never really gone, but never in control either.

Noah tilted his head to look at his sister.

"Do you ever think about Selene?"

"All the time."

"Do you think she’s alive?"

"Yes. We just met her a few days ago..."

He waited for more, but Nora said nothing else.

That was just like her — offering truth in fragments, like precious stones half-buried in cold earth.

"I still dream about that final system message sometimes. Purification. Mutation. New world. And then... silence."

Noah admitted.

Nora glanced sideways at him.

"You’re still you."

"Half me."

He muttered, lifting his limp arm with his working one.

"Still all heart."

She said, surprising him.

He blinked.

"Are you trying to be kind to me?"

"I’m stating facts."

"Gross."

She rolled her eyes.

For a long time, they simply stood there — or sat, in Noah’s case — watching their empire move. Not in chaos, but in coordination.

Nora had restructured the Vale fortune into something almost unrecognizable.

Clean energy, public housing, relic salvage. They’d moved away from indulgence and into survival.

Yet their name still carried weight.

And the world needed anchors.

"You’ve become terrifying/"

Noah said after a while.

"You’re the one making speeches and charming terrified civilians. Don’t project."

Noah chuckled.

"I guess we both ended up leaders in our own way."

"The world has enough warriors. It needed managers."

She replied.

"And broken people who kept walking anyway."

She glanced at him again, softer this time.

"I couldn’t have done this without you, Noah."

He smiled faintly.

"You did most of it. I just made it look good on camera."

"Don’t belittle yourself."

"I’m not. Just acknowledging your absurdly high standards."

She shrugged, saying nothing. But he could tell the words had reached her.

The sun was beginning to dip, casting long shadows across the estate’s rooftops.

Lights flickered on in quiet rows — warm, intentional. Everything they’d rebuilt had been deliberate.

Survival wasn’t just about fighting monsters.

It was about enduring after the monsters were gone.

"What do you think’s next?"

Noah asked, eyes narrowing.

"For us?"

Nora asked.

"For the world."

She thought for a long time before she answered.

"I think it’s finally learning how to stand without the system."

"And us?"

"We keep building. We honor what was lost. And we make sure the future is better than the past."

She said firmly.

Noah looked out at the city beyond the walls.

Children were playing. Merchants were shouting. For the first time in years, he could hear laughter that didn’t sound haunted.

He turned back to his sister.

"I’m glad we’re still here."

Nora nodded.

"So am I."

______

The sun filtered through the glass-paneled ceiling of the secluded garden hall, warming the stone floor and the vines that curled up the outer columns.

Wind rustled the leaves overhead, soft and steady. The world outside buzzed quietly with life — far less chaotic now, though scars still lingered beneath its soil.

Selene sat on the bench beneath the tallest tree, a blanket over her lap and a half-finished mug of tea cooling beside her.

Her eyes followed the play of sunlight across the garden path, peaceful in a way she hadn’t felt in years.

Ethan stepped up beside her with a quiet smile.

"Still can’t believe we’re all in one place again."

Selene looked up at him and returned the smile.

"Feels like a dream."

They weren’t alone for long.

Zara arrived next, stepping through the archway in clean-cut military gray, her coat flaring behind her like a general walking off the pages of a war novel.

Orion followed, more casual in appearance but no less formidable. His posture still screamed battle-readiness, even in peace.

"Late as always."

Zara muttered, glancing at the time.

"I was talking with survivors in sector four. Unlike some of us, I have patience."

Orion replied calmly.

Zara scoffed, but didn’t argue.

Noah’s chair rolled in next, guided by Nora’s hand as they approached from the far path.

He waved a little too enthusiastically.

"Sorry we’re late. Some protestors wanted me to confirm we’re not installing a new god-tier system."

Selene chuckled.

"Let me guess—you told them you’re already their god?"

"Close. I said I’d consider it for the right donation."

"Still awful."

Nora said, shaking her head.

But her lips twitched.

They all sat or stood in the garden’s center, where the air felt light and open.

The last time they’d all been together in one place, the sky had been falling, the earth splitting, the world choking on the system’s dying breath.

Now, everything was different.

And yet, somehow, they still recognized each other.

Selene looked around the group.

"I didn’t think this would ever happen. Not after everything."

Zara leaned back against a stone pillar.

"A world like this doesn’t happen on its own. We carved it out. With loss. With blood. We earned this moment."

"It still doesn’t feel real sometimes. There were too many days when I thought we wouldn’t make it."

Ethan said quietly.

"But we did. And now we’re responsible for what comes next."

Orion said.

"Always so dramatic. Can’t we pretend this is just a picnic?"

Noah muttered.

Selene smiled.

"Let him have his moment."

There was a long, comfortable pause. The wind stirred the leaves above them.

Noah turned toward Selene.

"How’s your core holding up?"

She placed a hand over her chest.

"Quiet. Balanced."

Ethan added.

"The entity’s gone. For good this time. It took all of us to push it back, but Selene was the one who truly sealed it."

"I didn’t do it alone."

She replied.

"But it had to be you," Zara said, her voice softer than usual. "No one else could’ve held that much power and walked away."

Selene didn’t respond, but her fingers curled slightly against her knee.

"Sometimes, I still hear the system’s voice. Not commands. Just echoes."

Nora said.

"You too? I thought I was going mad."

Orion asked.

Zara narrowed her eyes.

"Maybe we’re all still marked by it."

Noah shrugged.

"Then we mark it back. Rewrite everything. We’re already halfway there."

"Do you think we’ll ever have peace?"

Selene asked suddenly, her voice light but uncertain.

Everyone fell quiet.

Then Ethan reached for her hand.

"We’re already building it."

"And it’s okay if it doesn’t look perfect. So long as we don’t repeat the past.""

Nora added.

Selene closed her eyes for a second, as if letting that promise sink into her bones.

Zara finally said/

"The people are ready. More than ever. They’re scared, sure. But they want to live. They want to grow. We’re not just defending anymore. We’re building."

"And teaching. I’ve been training the next generation. No systems. No shortcuts. Just real strength"

Orion said.

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Does it include sarcastic commentary as a skill?"

"Only if they want to be annoying as you."

Orion replied dryly.

They all laughed — not the sharp, desperate kind from war, but something warm and unguarded.

Eventually, the conversation drifted toward quieter memories. Fallen allies. Lessons learned. The terrifying hope that perhaps they could let themselves be happy.

When the sun dipped low, casting the garden in amber light, Selene stood.

"I’m glad we all made it out alive. Even if we’re all different now."

She said.

Ethan stood beside her. "Different isn’t bad."

"We’re alive."

Nora said.

"And we’re together...Kind of."

Noah added.

Zara nodded slowly.

"Let’s keep it that way."

They stood for a moment, six figures surrounded by blooming life and the distant sounds of a world moving on. Not perfect. Not healed.

But alive.

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