"C—Can’t you just stabilize yourself a bit?" Cail said as new cracks ford on his helt. He had face-planted into the ground five tis now. Sellene would randomly stop like a broken vehicle, and Cail would bump into her like a domino.
Sellene had never felt this pathetic before. "Your helt just shattered, but I’m bleeding!" Her elbows and knees were grazed by the fall, the red blood glaring against her snow-white skin.
Speaking of that, Cail was confused. "You’re a strong void user... Why is your body this fragile? I rember it wasn’t like this before, right?"
"Secret." This was the first ti Sellene had hidden sothing. "But... overdrafting myself like this is bad." That was also the reason she hadn’t gone all out during the fight with the Tyrant.
Hearing her say that, Cail guessed it might have sothing to do with her physique.
Leaving that topic aside, Cail could sense a lot of void aura approaching them. So familiar, so not. That commotion a while ago had caught the void users’ attention.
He wanted to say, "Can you run a bit faster?" but the last ti he said that, the two of them had face-planted into the ground. He just shut his mouth and pretended he wasn’t seeing anything... But them chasing after them like hungry piranhas was a good thing. Well, at least from Cail’s perspective.
"Are we still far from the middle?!" Sellene was already going crazy. She was in no mood to estimate how near they were.
"Very near now," Cail said calmly.
"How near—" Sellene’s voice was cut off as she saw huge cracks in the ground around them. It looked like a shattered mirror or a spider web. The cracks were so nurous, it felt like one step would send them falling underground.
The apt comparison was probably walking on thin broken ice.
Sellene, already weak, quickly backed away toward Cail. "You! Are you sure that the God is still sleeping? This looks like sothing is about to burst out of the ground."
Cail narrowed his eyes, his vision already blurry. "It should be..." He could see an aura emitting from underground.
Now Sellene was having second thoughts. She pulled on Cail’s sleeve. "Uhm, why are we doing this again?"
Good question. You should have asked that before. Cail realized her brain was now going online after her void aura had drained. He guessed the cause of her airheaded behavior was the complacency of her ability.
Unfortunately, it was already too late. "To save the world," Cail spouted so random bullshit.
Sellene looked convinced for so reason. Cail, though he found it strange, didn’t comnt on it.
He walked toward the center of the cracks. He felt like his body was about to explode. He looked at his exposed skin and didn’t notice anything strange, but he felt like an overfilled balloon threatening to detonate at the slightest touch.
To be honest, it was a sickening feeling. Whenever he tried to vomit, blood would co out. He had no idea what had ruptured inside again, but it didn’t seem to be actively killing him.
In the middle of all the cracks was sothing that looked like an eye. It was a deep black pit. Cail, seeing the void energy inside, closed his eyes. It was suffocating and overwhelming. And now, despite not seeing anything, he could still sense that sothing inside was threatening to co out.
Cail stood there at the edge. He was silent. He was waiting.
But the coming guests seed to be punctual.
The air thickened, and when Sellene sensed what was going on, she grabbed Cail’s sleeve and tightened her grip. She was seeking a sense of security from the only person who seed to be on her side here.
Like a predator seeing its prey, void auras approached fast.
Too fast.
A dozen figures erged from the horizon, warped by pressure, heat, and bloodlust.
"Well, they are here," Cail said.
The first to arrive was the Tyrant, his wild eyes gleaming and his pristine hairstyle disheveled. "Sellene~!" he sang, stretching his arms wide. "Running away from again? It’s adorable. Heartbreaking. Stupid."
One should have known how crazy the Tyrant went the mont he saw the empty bubble. He was also the reason why most of them were late, because he went insane and blew up everything.
Seban gave the Chairman a side-eye. He should have seen how ballistic that guy went toward his daughter. Why did he push their engagent?
The Tyrant was happy to see his little bird, but when he saw her scared look while holding another man, he shot Cail a look of hatred and disgust.
Cail ignored it. Well, maybe he didn’t notice it, since a lot of malice was directed at him in that mont.
From the side, Saeb stepped forward, his stride slow and calculated. His uniform was still clean despite the chaos, not a thread out of place. "You went too far this ti." His eyes narrowed. That was the first ti he had suffered a loss. Now, with the Chairman’s order to eliminate him, he would never hold back. "You were never ant to survive that cliff."
Sirae beside him pretended to pant, placing her hands on her knees like she could barely keep her body upright. "Phew~ You’re a fast runner. You’ll pay for what you did to Aires. Though I didn’t think Sellene would be here... What will your father say?" She looked innocent and fragile while saying that, but Cail wanted to throw a brick at her for so reason.
Sellene didn’t respond, but deep down, she was asking, "Who is this random nobody lecturing here?" She had no idea who Sirae was.
Arny arrived behind Sirae. Like a groundhog, he popped out of the ground. He turned to the cracked earth and frowned. "The ground... this isn’t normal. It’s humming." He could sense the fluctuation underground. It was filled with raw energy of death.
Seban laughed as he walked, his voice echoing. "What a pretty spot for a massacre. I love it." His grin widened when he spotted Cail. "You look half-dead, boy. You gonna scream when it hits, or just pop?"
The butler was standing beside him, just quiet and staring at Cail with a calculating look on his face.
All of them radiated presence and power, but what stood out the most... was the last one: the Chairman. The mont he appeared, everything went silent.
Cail looked at him. One thing’s for sure: he was Sellene’s father. Such a person, glaring with whiteness to the point it looked alien... only Sellene’s father could match that type of eeriness. Just like her.
Cail smiled inside. He looked at the red clouds looming above him. "It really helps set up the atmosphere." But he wasn’t done yet. He’d wait until everyone arrived... those other organizations...
It’s more fun when there’s many. Until then, let’s not start the party just yet.
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