Chapter 4243: Shock and Awe (Part 2)

"What?" King Meron jumped to his feet. "Are you telling me that there is no active Gate in the vicinity of Lustria County?"

Marchioness Distar had her private Warp Gate, but that had to remain a secret. The King’s question allowed the Royal Guard to include the report about the Distar private Gate without mentioning it.

"None at all, Your Majesty." The captain nodded.

"How is that possible?" Meron slammed his fist against the armrest of his throne. "What about Headmaster Distar?"

"I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but as I said, we’ve lost all communications. As for Lord Distar, he’s at the Black Griffon, and we’ve already notified him of the issue. He should be on his way any moment now."

"Your Majesty, please, allow Solus and my sister to move. I’ve got to leave immediately, and I’m going to need their help."

"Of course." A couple of emergency robes wrapped around the two women, freeing them from the arrays’ effects. "Are you going to use the Beast Gate Network? If so, you can take the Royal Guards with you."

"No. The last time that Night attacked Lutia, she did something similar and blocked even Faluel’s lair. I’m going to use my own means." Lith replied. "Kami, you look after the kids and never step away from them.

"Solus, Tista, Dragonspeed!" He Warped away before Meron could ask him any questions, bringing everyone outside the palace.

***

Deep into the Trawn Woods, at the same time.

"I’m so glad we didn’t go to Lutia." Selia inhaled the chilly air and the scent of the pine trees it carried, shivering with joy. "After days and days of chaos and noise, I need the silence."

"I want to go to Lutia and eat sweets!" Fenrir pouted. "I’m bored!"

"Shush, child. Let your mother relax." Protector said, and the young girl obeyed. "Me too, dear. There’s something about these woods that-"

Lith had installed the same alarms he used for his family in the armor of Lilia and Leran, so when the Awakened sealed the space around Zekell’s house, Protector noticed as well.

"Something happened to the kids! We have to go!" Ryman was no dimensional mage, so he opened a Warp Steps leading to Lith’s house.

It would allow him to reach a point from which he could see Lutia and bring Selia, Solkar, and Fenrir to a safe place.

"Stay here. I’ll take care of it." Yet he couldn’t.

He felt his missing children’s fear and anger through the bond the Skolls shared. In that moment, Protector knew that something terrible was happening and that he would never arrive in time to stop it.

***

City of Lutia, at the same time.

A single violet-cored Awakened had been tasked to take care of the Mage Association’s branch in Lutia. He had conjured six elemental-sealing arrays and overlapped them to perfection.

Fake mages couldn’t cast spells without world energy, and the six magical formations turned even the most powerful among them into a regular human.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel." Argat conjured a tier one Spirit Spell against anyone who dared to step out of the Association.

The lucky ones got back inside after suffering only minor wounds, while the unlucky ones fell to the ground, never to stand up.

Just like him, more Awakened were stationed near the other Warp Gates, but unlike him, they remained at the fringe of the magical formations they had placed. Close enough to fuel the arrays with mana, but far away enough to be hard to find.

The violet core in Derios sat comfortably in a café located between Brinja’s house and the Association branch. Only another Awakened could have spotted the invisible mana flow that connected him to the magical formations, and there were only humans around him.

The ones in the Trawn woods weren’t so relaxed. They were scared of Protector and all the magical beasts that could spot them. They wore the best cloaking items the group could provide and took care to erase their smell and presence constantly.

***

Zekell’s house, at the same time.

"Like picking puppies in a box." Barago said, landing right in front of Rena. "Grab one Verhen each and get out. We have no time to waste."

The shock from the sudden turn of events and the aura of power the blue-cored Awakened exuded froze Rena’s limbs. She could only watch as Barago’s arm wrapped itself around her waist and gripped her like a heavy box.

The same happened to everyone, even Elina.

Her eyes filled with tears when a young Awakened woman named Perna took Surin from her arms, yet her body refused to move.

"Get your hands off my daughter!" Or rather, almost everyone.

Raaz’s trauma from Orpal’s kidnapping had kicked in the moment the attack on the arrays protecting the house had begun, and he had reacted by pumping the potions stored in the tattoo on his arm into his bloodstream.

The artificial mana flow they produced neutralized the effect of the Awakened’s auras and allowed him to move.

Raaz slammed against Perna with a shoulder bash, managing to shove her away only because of the surprise effect. He felt as if he had charged against a boulder, while she felt as if someone had rudely pushed her.

"I commend you for your guts, old man, but I’m not going to waste my time on a C-lister. Just die." Perna released a bolt of lightning strong enough to fell a tree or turn an adult man into a charred corpse.

Raaz used the air potion to move fast, the earth potion to neutralize part of the electricity, and the darkness potion to resist the pain he knew was incoming. He also injected his Scalewalker armor with mana, temporarily boosting its defensive properties.

Only half of the tier three lightning bolt struck Raaz, while the other half blasted the front wall open. He gritted his teeth, exploiting Perna’s shock for his survival to release all the mana he had in a darkness blast.

’I know it’s slow, but there’s no other element I can use that’s powerful enough to kill her.’ He thought. ’If I extend my arm, there is almost no space between us. Please, hit!’

Raaz’s prayers went unanswered. Perna had already recovered from the amusing turn of events and sidestepped the amateurish spell with ease.

"Nice try. Any last words?" She pointed her open hand at Raaz.

He lay on the floor, gasping for air.

"Stop hurting my dad!" Aran reacted next.

A green aura burst out of his body as he threw Perna off balance with a double palm strike.

"The runt is already Awakened?" Gorko said. "Lucky me."

He had won Aran at the earlier raffle, and the revelation made the boy a bigger prize than the other Verhens.

Gorko grabbed Aran’s shirt, and the boy answered by slamming a hard-light mace on the Awakened’s face. The construct had appeared quickly and had a hardness beyond what a green core could produce.

Aran had no white prism on himself, but the Horseman of Dawn had taught him well. He first had conjured an ice crystal in his hands, and then had used it as a focus to condense and amplify the light element of his spell.

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