Chapter 167: East Anekta Crisis (6)

The top floor of the hotel skyscraper had been transformed into a slaughterhouse.

Hundreds of bodies lay scattered across the luxurious suite, some piled against the walls, others sprawled across the expensive furniture. Blood stained the carpets and ran between the marble tiles, while the windows overlooking East Anekta reflected the flickering lights of the fires spreading throughout the island.

In the middle of it all stood an elderly man.

Aphelios.

His frail appearance was almost comical compared to the scene surrounding him. He wore an ordinary dark robe, his thin frame slightly hunched, and his pale face carried a faint smile as he raised both hands. Countless streams of Essence rose from the corpses, twisting together into a dense, swirling mass above him.

The air itself seemed to grow heavier as the energy accumulated.

Aphelios watched the growing mass with fascination. It wasn’t enough yet. Not nearly enough. The ritual required an extraordinary quantity of Essence, and even the hundreds of people already sacrificed would only bring him partway toward his objective.

He glanced over his shoulder.

"Bring me more."

Two men stood behind him.

One was Leonard, whose blonde hair and handsome features looked almost out of place in the blood-soaked room. He wore a pleasant smile, as though the request had been nothing more than an ordinary instruction.

"Of course."

The other man was Luka.

His long, messy black hair hung loosely around his face, and his pitch-black eyes remained fixed on the bodies. Unlike Leonard, he didn’t look particularly pleased with the situation.

He had seen death before. He had caused it himself. But there was a difference between killing someone who stood in his way and watching hundreds of helpless people being slaughtered for the sake of a ritual.

Luka’s fingers twitched.

"More people?" he asked.

Aphelios tilted his head.

"Did I stutter?"

Luka said nothing.

For a brief moment, his gaze lingered on the nearest corpse. Then he lowered his head and turned toward the exit.

Leonard followed him with his eyes.

"Don’t look so miserable. You’ve already done your share."

Luka stopped, but didn’t turn around.

"Just get it over with."

Aphelios chuckled.

"Such a peculiar fellow. You would think someone who has undergone so many experiments would have a stronger stomach."

Luka continued walking.

He wasn’t doing this because he wanted to. That much was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. But he had little choice. The people who had brought him into this arrangement had made it clear what would happen if he failed to cooperate, and after his encounter with Eden, he wasn’t particularly eager to find out whether they were bluffing.

The door closed behind him.

Aphelios returned his attention to the gathering Essence.

Meanwhile Lucy and Vespera had reached the warp gate.

Or, at least, what remained of it.

The transportation facility was surrounded by smoke, and the area that had once housed the enormous circular structure was now little more than a crater filled with twisted metal and shattered concrete. The warp gate’s frame had been torn apart, its central mechanism scattered across the floor.

Lucy stopped.

"...No way."

Vespera stared at the wreckage, her face pale.

The warp gate was gone.

Without it, there was no immediate way off the island. Even if the Association managed to establish contact with the mainland, repairing the transportation system would take time they didn’t have.

A few meters away, several figures stood among the debris.

Three members of Blue Crest.

They were accompanied by five other Awakened, all of whom wore dark clothing and carried weapons. The three Blue Crest members were unmistakable, their uniforms bearing the same emblem Lucy had seen earlier that day.

One of them noticed the two women.

"Hey."

The group turned.

A moment of silence followed as they examined Lucy and Vespera.

Then one of the rogues smiled.

"Well, look what we have here."

Vespera immediately stepped in front of Lucy.

"Stay behind me."

The three Blue Crest members exchanged glances.

"You’re with the Association, aren’t you?" one of them asked. "Guess we got some fresh meat."

Vespera’s eyes narrowed.

She reached for her weapon.

"Lucy, run."

The first rogue moved before she could finish.

Vespera intercepted him, deflecting his strike with her blade. The impact forced her backward, but she managed to keep herself between the attackers and Lucy.

"Go!"

Lucy hesitated.

She could fight. She wasn’t helpless, and she certainly didn’t want to leave Vespera alone. Against eight Awakened, including three A-Ranks, the odds were terrible no matter what they did.

One of the Blue Crest members raised his hand.

"Don’t let them get away!"

The rogues charged.

Vespera caught another attack, but a second opponent came at her from the side. She barely managed to avoid being struck, stumbling as the blade passed close enough to tear through her jacket.

Lucy grabbed her arm.

"Come on!"

They retreated together, abandoning the ruined transportation facility as the group pursued them.

Behind them, the rogues began laughing.

None of them had any intentions of letting either woman escape.

---

Eden’s blade met Ember’s once again.

The collision sent a shockwave through the storage floor, rattling the cabinets and shattering several reinforced display cases. Purple flames burst from Ember’s weapon, spreading across the surface of Eden’s Dark Matter blade before being forced back.

Eden twisted his wrist and pushed her away.

"Listen to me already, for gods sake!"

Ember landed several meters away, her boots scraping across the floor.

"Why should I? So you can pin the blame on us?!"

Eden stared at her.

’You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!’

Ember’s expression was tense. She wasn’t simply dismissing his words out of arrogance. There was genuine resistance in her eyes, as though accepting what he was saying would mean admitting that something fundamental about her group had been wrong all along.

"Those men have worked under me for years," she continued. "I know them. They wouldn’t betray Blue Crest."

"Then perhaps you don’t know them as well as you think."

Her purple flames flared.

"Enough."

She lunged.