Chapter 457: Divine Flowers

"Slow down!"

Rory was dragged along by Gina, barreling straight into the dense crowd. Her hair was tossed into a disheveled mess from all the jostling.

She stole a glance back over her shoulder, only letting out a sigh of relief when she saw Vincent and the others hovering close by. It wasn’t that she was afraid of getting separated; she was just worried that if they lost her in the surge, they would panic.

Lola was faring no better, looking quite disheveled herself. The delicate hair ornament she had been wearing had fallen off somewhere in the fray.

Gina was in a similar state, yet despite the overwhelming crush of people, the crowd moved smoothly, with no sign of a stampede.

Before long, the group reached the radiant beam of divine light.

Stepping directly beneath it, Rory felt the light act like pure energy, trickling into her body bit by bit and pooling deep within her core. She could clearly feel her ability expanding. The rumors were true—the Beast God’s divine light really could trigger a rank breakthrough. With any luck, she might even push past Rank 10 and reach Rank 11 tonight.

Time ticked away.

Rory remained completely focused, soaking up the divine light and feeling the steady swell of energy inside her. Just as she felt herself on the absolute brink of a breakthrough—

Her vision snapped pitch black.

The entirety of the Central District was instantly plunged into total darkness.

"What happened?" Rory immediately turned, searching for Vincent and the rest. "Vincent...?"

When she looked around, however, she was met with nothing but unfamiliar auras. Vincent and the others were nowhere to be found. Even Lola and Gina had vanished.

In her eagerness to absorb the divine light, she hadn’t noticed the crowd pushing her away, separating her from her companions.

Fortunately, having reached Rank 10—and being right on the threshold of Rank 11—her night vision was far superior to what it used to be. Even in this absolute pitch blackness, she could clearly take in her surroundings.

She immediately activated the tracker on her person to locate Vincent and the others. It was a custom device crafted by Nix and handed out to everyone, precisely to prevent them from losing each other on a chaotic night like this.

To her surprise, the tracker gave no response whatsoever. She pulled up her personal device, only to find the signal completely dead.

"Excuse me, female, is your device out of signal too?"

A female standing nearby noticed Rory frowning at her screen and offered a warm smile. "Don’t worry! The Beast God’s divine light temporarily disrupts the Central District’s magnetic field, cutting off signals to all electronics. It only lasts for a few minutes. Everything will go back to normal soon."

She added smoothly, "Did you get separated from your partners? I lost mine, too! I’m just waiting here for them to come find me."

So that’s why.

Rory looked at her with genuine gratitude. "Thank you for letting me know. I’ll just wait here for them, too."

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the sky lit up once more. Countless translucent, iridescent petals began to cascade gently from above, fluttering through the dark air.

"Oh my goodness, it’s the Divine Flowers!"

"The Beast God actually rained down Divine Flowers this year!"

The Divine Flowers were legendary sacred medicine. How could anyone resist such a rare prize? In an instant, the entire crowd went wild, scrambling to catch the falling petals.

Rory was swept up in the frantic tide of people, pushed helplessly forward step by step.

By the time the divine light finally faded, Rory was holding a handful of the captured Divine Flowers, but she had been swept away to a completely unfamiliar corner of the district.

Her personal device and tracker were still completely unresponsive. The street remained pitch-black, though it didn’t hinder the beastmen’s enhanced sight in the slightest. Everything nearby was perfectly visible, and since everyone was familiar with this temporary blackout, there was no panic—just an overwhelming, wall-to-wall crowd.

Rory was shoved along until—thump!—she bumped directly into a solid wall of chest.

"I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!"

Whether the other person felt any pain, Rory had no idea, but her own forehead was throbbing. Rubbing her tender forehead, she apologized before even looking up. Bumping into someone was her fault, even if she hadn’t meant to.

"Are you alright?"

Paros’s deep, low voice resonated above her, thick with genuine concern. "Did that hurt?"

"Paros?" Hearing the familiar voice, Rory whipped her head up to look at him. "What are you doing here?"

Paros reached out, drawing her gently into his protective embrace. "I got back today and heard from the castle staff that you came to the Festival, so I followed you here. I didn’t expect to catch you separated from Vincent and the others."

He guided her carefully through the crush and into a quiet, deserted alleyway.

"I didn’t see where Vincent and the rest went," he said, keeping himself between her and the street. "I’ll wait here with you for a bit. Once the signal recovers, they should be able to track you down quickly."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, let’s wait here."

With no one around in the alley, she wouldn’t be shoved around by the moving crowd anymore. Once the signal picked back up, Vincent and the others would find her in no time.

She tilted her head, giving Paros a suspicious look. "Paros... have you fully recovered?"

Truth be told, she had been suspecting it for the past few days. She kept catching glimpses of the man he was before his mental force had collapsed.

Paros really didn’t want to admit it—denying it meant he could stay by her side a little longer. But he refused to lie to her, nor did he deign to use deceit.

"Yes," Paros confessed with a firm nod. "Thank you for taking care of me during this time."

Rory was surprised he admitted it so openly. She smiled brightly. "Your Dragon Clan gave me plenty of benefits; helping you was only fair."

"Rory." Paros looked down at her, his expression deadly serious.

"Hmm?" Rory met his gaze, asking curiously, "What’s wrong? Are you heading back to the Aquatic Realm?"

Now that he was fully healed, it made sense for him to return home.

"Yes," Paros confirmed. "Before I leave, I wanted to say goodbye to you."

If this were the old Paros, he would have scoffed at such a gesture. Goodbye? There was no such word in his vocabulary, nor did he feel the need to say goodbye to anyone.

"When are you leaving?" Rory asked.

"Tonight."

So suddenly?

Rory nodded gently. "Then I wish you a safe journey."

Without warning, Paros grabbed her hand and pressed her back against the alley wall.

"Rory, I... once I go back this time, I don’t know when I’ll be able to return. You..."

He desperately wanted her to ask him to stay, but he knew he had no valid reason or right to expect her to keep him.

"Let go of me first," Rory said, giving his chest a firm push. She wasn’t dense—she knew exactly how he felt about her.

Paros pressed his lips together tightly. Reluctant as he was, he released her.

"Paros, actually..."

Just as Rory was about to speak, a frantic figure stumbled into the alley.

"Help me...!"

It was a female, with several males pursuing her closely.

Rory instinctively stepped forward to intervene, but Paros grabbed her wrist, keeping her behind him. "They’re rogue beasts. I’ll deal with them—don’t dirty your hands."

Rory had heard of rogue beasts before. As Paros stepped forward to dispatch the pursuers, she hurried over to support the fleeing female.

"Are you okay?"

"Thank you!"

The rescued female stood up with Rory’s help, only to suddenly curl her lips into a sinister smile.

Rory’s heart dropped. Without a second thought, she summoned her ability into an axe of lightning, plunging it straight into the attacker’s chest.

She was a fraction of a second too late.

Even as the lightning axe pierced through, the attacker whipped up a hand, flinging a cloud of dark powder directly into Rory’s face.