It was the first ti Jon shared what happened in Atlantis with anyone who didn't belong to the Mapple corporation, moreover, it was the first ti he gave voice to the heart-wrenching guilt that had been eating him from the inside. Sharing his feelings in front of others was beyond difficult for him and it was only made possible by dusa, who he considered as a daughter, being present.
Being the one who caused the arrival, Jon expected more than a few curse words thrown at him. Not only was he ready for that, but he also expected everyone in the room to lash out at him and dusa to be really disappointed that the uncle she loved was the one who caused humanity's downfall.
But things didn't go as he expected.
Instead of believing the words of one of the most reputable scholars in the world who also happened to be the first human to beco a hunter, they went with their own fictional theories that before humans were even born, the world was populated by a sentient race with advanced technology and that cryptids were present all along human history which was the complete opposite of the Mapple corporation's theory that dungeons and orichalcum ca from outer space.
And the worst part was that the kid's theory actually made sense.
To say Jon Hunter was upset would have been quite the understatent. He walked the streets with a grim expression and releasing flux energy without even realizing it. The imnse pressure built up near him was so powerful any nearby evolved hunter would have passed out within seconds, though the only one nearby was Seiren.
After working together for so long, Seiren had beco to Jon what Uriel was to Nika. She assisted him in whatever he needed without the need to ask, but anticipating his needs and comforting him were two different things.
"Jon, are you alright?" She hesitantly asked as she too was shocked by his uncharacteristic behavior.
"Do I look fine? Those kids, I opened my heart for the first ti in years and they didn't even care! I'm the one responsible for the arrival, I was there when it happened! How can they not believe !? I want to punch that kid in his stupid face." Jon Hunter was born in another era, back when n weren't supposed to show their feelings, especially sadness.
Anger, though, was seen as a sign of masculinity, which is why didn't have any issues throwing his tantrum.
As luck would have it, it was only because of the powerful aura emitted by Jon that the people looking for him were able to find him.
"I've been looking for you." Mister Scofield appeared seemingly out of nowhere, though that was only Seiren's perception since Jon was able to sense him from a distance.
"You have no idea how much I've been wanting to punch your stupid face," Jon glared at the librarian, who didn't even bother raising his guard. "What's up old man? This is the part where you spit bullshit about you being stronger than ."
"This is an ergency, Louisiana just disappeared." Mister Scofield said in a calm voice, though his gleaming eyes were filled with emotion.
"The city or the state?" Asked Jon.
"We can't reach anyone yet, but it seems there was a flux infused flood. Do you now what this ans?"
"It ans that the decision about participating or not in the offensive was taken from our hands. Seiren, warn tell Winnie to get out the city." Jon ordered with a serious tone of voice, the kind he rarely used.
"What if she doesn't cooperate?" Seiren asked.
"Then you knock her out and take her to the west coast anyway. I'll et you guys down there." Then he attempted to tip the hat that was no longer in his head and ended up playing with his hair instead.
***
Contrary to what Seiren expected, dusa was more than happy to evacuate the city, but that was only if Seiren allowed her to bring as many of her friends along. Being against the clock, dusa asked for Luna's help who reluctantly agreed only after she realized there were so people she wanted to bring along too.
The top of her list was Professor Lamar, not just because of the respect she had for him but also because he was the only one who might know how to save Nika from her current predicant. Besides, his knowledge about hunter biology was unparalleled and she thought losing it would be a waste.
Oddly enough, there were also so of her classmates that she wanted to co. Even though she was more or less an outcast, it was due entirely to her social awkwardness and her classmates never gave up in attempting to communicate with her.
"Don't bother him." Luna prevented dusa from asking Uriel the sa thing she just asked Luna.
"Why? He deserves a chance to save the people he cares about."
"It's like you don't know him. He's been reading the diary for two hours straight, if you interrupt him he's not going to be happy. Besides, we're the only people he cares about." Luna replied with a straight face.
"No, there's also the girl what was she called... Amy? And that other girl, the one with the tired face. Oh! There's Miss Dragonfang and Miss Phlox, and that other girl too!" At that mont, dusa fought against the impulse to bite her own tongue in frustration as she realized that Uriel had bonded with way too many girls for her liking.
She knew her jealousy was unjustified as Uriel never showed any romantic interest for those girls and that she was only an ex girlfriend of his, but that didn't stop her from feeling upset.
"Uh... Tina."
"What!? No, no way I'm letting her set foot inside the Pegasus. I'd rather kill myself. Besides, Uriel has said many tis he doesn't care about her anymore."
"It's fine, I just thought you'd enjoy saving her life and uhm... rubbing it on her face." After saying those words, Luna exited the Pegasus and dusa lingered for a few minutes before making up her mind.
The first thing she attempted was to use her phone to tell people to co to the hangar where the Pegasus was located, but that failed because there was no phone service which left her with no choice but to look for those people herself.
As she later found out, there were two major inconveniences. The first and most obvious was that without her sense of sight, it was impossible for her to move freely in the city. Now that she was a heavenly rank hunter she was able to sense people's presence, but not to the point where she could tell them apart and she was also unable to sort any obstacles or even walk by herself.
The other inconvenient was that, although she wanted to save as many people as she could, getting them to agree to leave everything behind and hop on a zeppelin was difficult.
By the ti she ca back with the people she chose and agreed to co with, Uriel was just finishing with his research and he told him they needed to evacuate the city, but not to the west coast like Jon told her, but to the San Fernando Cathedral instead.
"What should I do? I don't know what to do!" dusa leaned on the wall and lted until she hit the ground right after Uriel left. Before becoming blind, she had no issues doing things by herself, but now she needed help in everything.
"Where did Uriel go? He almost ran over at the entrance." Luna asked with her hair disheveled after the blue streak that was Uriel with his Dash active passed right besides her.
"Luna! You're here!" dusa grabbed the tiny hunter and pulled her close to her chest.
"He's saying we need to evacuate to the lost city, he said sothing about the cryptids being unable to get close to the cathedral, but uncle Jon said..."
"I will ask you one question, Who are you? Are you Winona Works, the heiress of the Mapple corporation or are you dusa, one of the Dungeon Raiders?"
dusa couldn't tell, but Luna was staring intensely at her. What she just asked wasn't a simple question, but the core of her identity. The Mapple corporation was her family and severing that bond wasn't easy even though they attempted to kill her in the past. Not just that, there were also her grandfather and Jon who she called uncle, and both belonged to the Mapple corporation.
On the other hand, the Dungeon Raiders gave her the freedom she always longed for. They saw her not as a rich girl whose most important feature was the size of the checks she could cash and the na she would sign them with. They saw her as an important mber of their crew, a capable engineer and a hunter they could trust with their lives.
Answering that question was difficult even with all the ti of the world, but it was now a race against ti and she could only think of one thing.
"Take to Seiren, she's in the cafeteria with the rest of the people I brought."
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