Two by two, the Governor's children and Kurza landed safely, followed by Benny and Melody. Lastly, Garrison went solo as he dove through the hole, landing like a superhero on the padded Training Room floor; then, he jumped out of the way for the final two members of the group.
Soon enough, only Selene and Gabby were left in the Shadow Realm, holding hands and watching the massive dome of light form into a mushroom cloud and grow larger.
The two knew that Brance must have caused this second attack, but neither said a word as they both sent silent prayers to no one in particular that their boyfriends would return to them safe.
Then, glancing back one final time, Selene and Gabby launched themselves through the hole in reality.
The moment their feet cleared the barrier, it snapped closed with a soft popping noise, and the two found everyone had crawled to different spots in the room with pale faces and sweat coating their bodies.
Having escaped danger by a razor-thin margin and having a chaotic storm of emotions running through their heads, everyone wanted to lay there and rest, but the job was still unfinished.
The first to move was Selene, who burst into motion, jumping to her feet and racing out of the Training room, down three twisting hallways, up the basement staircase, and into the living room, where she burst into looking like a crazy person, only to find the parents holding each other.
The ladies had puffy red eyes and cheeks stained with tears, while the men wore stony expressions; only Jessup was on his feet, tapping away on his Watcet.
However, the instant Selene appeared with her wild appearance, everyone's heads snapped in her direction, completely caught off guard that she was at the Mansion, over 70 kilometers from the Governor's place where the Gala was being held.
"Marella, Protocol RED! Lock the whole place down, seal every entrance, and bring up the shields." While everyone was stunned at Selene's arrival, Jessup seemed to have been waiting for her to show up. As such, he immediately spoke calmly and clearly to the system AI which controlled every square inch of the Mansion and its grounds.
His words drew the attention of everyone present as they looked at him with strange gazes.
"Command Acknowledged, Protocol Red initiated." A sweet voice chimed through the entire Mansion, causing everyone to furrow their brow and look between Jessup and Selene.
"Selene, where are the others, I felt a portal of some kind open in the training room, so I automatically assumed it was Cynrik's doing. With this assumption in mind, I held off on entering a state of lockdown." Walking over to the frazzled young woman, who stared at him in confusion, Jessup placed a hand on Selene's shoulder and guided her to a spot on the couch before withdrawing a high-grade Stamina potion from his inventory and forcing her to gulp it down.
Being guided like a child, Selene followed the old man's will, chugged down the potion, and took a second to organize her thoughts.
It had been less than an hour since they left Cynrik and Brance, yet it seemed like an eternity to her; even so, it only took a few seconds for Selene to collect herself and look up at the old man, who seemed as if he were a mountain while standing less than a meter away.
Even though the HoloTv was on, and a reporter was giving a live commentary of the battle occurring at the Governor's Mansion from a safe distance, no one in the room paid it any mind as Selene began explaining from start to finish what had transpired.
Spewing information like a river that had flooded its banks, Selene detailed everything from when Cynrik realized they were walking into a trap, to the scuffle between him and the Military officials, before explaining how they had taken the Governor's children before sinking into the Shadow Realm.
Next, she explained that Cynrik had realized Lithlen was the one who set the brothers up by leaking their information and even joining hands with Haylon, setting up the ambush. With this information in hand, he had been overcome by rage, becoming a manifestation of Wrath and setting a plan to ambush Lithlen and Viktor in motion.
Finally, she explained everything she knew about the battle between the brothers and the two Peak Tier-5 beings, which wasn't much, but she still did it.
During her explanation, Jessup realized the young girl was entering privileged information territory only he was privy to. Without missing a beat, the old man had enclosed himself and Selene in a soundproof barrier so that none of the parents present could overhear.
Jessup's heart skipped when Selene narrated that the brothers had initiated a fight to the death in a closed-off dimension outside of reality. With this thought in mind, he couldn't help but pat himself on the back for having the quick wit to silence the girl from everyone outside himself.
Jessup's eyes shifted away from Selene as he glanced at Rikard, whose muscles were twitching. Even though Rikard hated his father, the man was still the one who raised him. Thus, there was no doubt he would not only be distraught at the fact his children were in danger but that no matter who won, he would lose his kin in either outcome.
When Selene was finished with her story, she threw dozens of questions at Jessup, the tone of her voice wasn't accusatory, only confused since her mind was already halfway to shattering due to the growing fear in her heart.
The cause was the multiple glances she kept shooting toward the HoloTv, which showcased the battle between the Governor and Haylon.
Unlike everyone in the room, she had felt the oppressive and downright horrifying feeling of helplessness brought about by being in the presence of both Death Mana and a Mid-Tier-6 being.
So even if the brothers won, that wasn't the end. Knowing Brance's personality, she had a feeling that they would then move to attempt evacuating any survivors under the nose of Haylon, the man who sought their heads.
It didn't take being a father of a young girl for Jessup to understand that the usually aloof and playful Selene was distraught due to the fight her boyfriend was partaking in.
From her subtle body language to the darting of her eyes, he could tell Selene, who was usually a fearless girl, was so deeply in love with a boy in danger that she didn't care about anything else.
Even the glances she kept shooting toward the Tv were all in the hope of seeing Cynrik appear; with this thought in mind, he grabbed Selene by both shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes.
"Listen to me, Cynrik would never walk into a fight without weighing the options and finding a path to success; you and I both know this. Sure, he may be going up against two Peak-Tier-5 beings, but that brat is the toughest son of a bitch I've ever met.
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