Chapter 270: _Daddy’s Coming.
"Rose, don’t—" Devon tried and failed to hold Ambrose back.
The Guide pushed him away without looking, grabbing the principal’s wrist. "Just tell me," his lips trembled. "Did... did whoever did this... harm him? Harm my Orion? My light?"
The longer he waited for her to speak the more memories of all the moments with that single six-year-old boy ran through his head.
From the very first night when he appeared before his door, all smiles with those big golden eyes. Already placing so much trust in him because he was his father in the future.
Ambrose never wanted children. Yet somehow this one little boy had walked into his life... and refused to leave.
All the moments when he left him in that damn suite while he went to complete one mission or the other hit him. With each memory the emotional walls he thought he had up in case of situations like this... shattered.
"M–Mr Hale," The principal shook her head. "He wasn’t harmed. The person who did this... she—"
"She?" His grip tightened a bit. "Who was it? Answer me, gods damnit!"
The blue light in his eyes darkened.
The woman jerked at the rise in his voice, looking away in absolute terror. A single teardrop slipped down her face. It was only then that Ambrose realised what he was doing.
Just when his fingers loosened from her wrist—
"That’s enough, Guide Ambrose."
Everyone present turned to the source of the voice. Except Ambrose. He didn’t need to look to know who it was.
[SSS-Rank signatures approaching.]
The Pantheon.
Apollo was covered in golden light as he dropped to the bottom of the steps leading into the school. Cars pulled to a stop across the street. People pointed and gasped as Yemoja, Wukong and Kali also descended.
No one recognised their faces. But they could easily tell these were powerful Hunters.
"Oh, good." Ambrose sniffled, glancing over his shoulder. "The perfect heroes are here to save the day... right after my kid was taken and others died."
Wukong scowled. "Watch your—"
"Or what?" Ambrose lost every last shred of his restraint, turning fully to them. This time when Devon held him close he didn’t even fight it. He didn’t have the strength to. "You’ll put me in my place?" A scoff. "Kill me?"
[Sweetheart... you’re... crying.]
It was only after that observation from Aura that he noticed the wetness falling down his cheeks. His chest constricted painfully as he bit back a sob.
"Orion," he croaked. "I should’ve known. I–I should’ve been here... to... shit."
The tears fell hot and uncontrollable as he buried his face into Devon’s neck. The S-Rank could feel tears of his own building up too.
But he had to be strong.
For Ambrose.
And Orion.
The members of the Pantheon exchanged looks. Kali had guilt written on her face. Apollo lowered his head. Even Wukong looked away as Ambrose struggled to breathe.
[Benji...] Aura’s voice was softer than usual in his head. [Please, pull yourself together.]
’You have no fucking right to tell me that.’ he hissed mentally. ’No fucking right at all. You—’
[I was going to tell you that Orion’s life signature is still connected to your ultimate mission objective. I can sense he’s still alive and unharmed.] Aura said that with zero agitation. [You’ll see your boy again.]
Ambrose’s eyes were already getting swollen. Viktor and Valentine moved to his side, either patting his cheek in reassurance or wiping off his tears.
Meanwhile, Loki pulled the principal away from the scene, their eyes calm but brimming with questions.
"You said the attacker was a woman." Even as they spoke they already had a faint picture of a suspect forming in their head. "Can you describe her for me?"
The principal’s eyes wandered to Ambrose for a beat, still shaken and conflicted. But then she nodded.
"S–She was a black woman," She gulped. "In her late thirties or so. Her hair was also long and... braided. But most of all..."
She held Loki’s arm. "H–Her eyes," she whispered, as if afraid she’d swoop back in. "They were unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Pitch black. Empty. Like... a void."
Loki held their breath for a moment.
The second they heard this person was a woman they already had an idea of who it was. At first, they couldn’t imagine it since that would mean this woman was possessed by the Void Entity’s power.
Now they knew that suspicion was correct.
"Thank you." They guided the woman to the waiting hands of a couple of firefighters. Then their head swerved to the Pantheon. Specifically at Kali. "It appears there might be a hiccup of some kind in your theory. About the Void Entity possessing people with strong negative emotions toward Ambrose."
Kali’s frown deepened. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Loki cut Ambrose a look, shifting away from him before lowering their voice. "The description the principal just gave me aligns with the Guild master of the Steel Falcon Guild."
Yemoja nodded. "That’s the B-Rank Guild Ambrose joined recently, right?"
"Mmhm," Loki confirmed. "I saw the Guild master earlier today. She seemed clean at first. Until I brought up Ambrose’s name and she acted off. I thought then that she couldn’t be a possible candidate for the Void Entity’s possession. But now..."
Their eyes travelled to the desolation left behind in the school building.
Kali’s arms were crossed tightly. "There must be something more. I doubt even the Void Entity can just possess literally anyone. There has to be a connection here between this Guild master and Ambrose. Something emotional maybe—we just haven’t uncovered it yet."
Loki nodded, voice low. "I’ll tell Ambrose and the others."
On the flip side, Ambrose clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened, jaw set like stone.
Whoever took his son would pay in blood.
Every tear, every shattered memory fueled the fire raging inside him. He would tear the world apart if it meant getting his Orion back.
"Wait for me, Orion." He murmured to himself. "Daddy’s coming to find you."
