Dimensional Descent

While everyone was distracted, Leonel had already moved, making it to Conrad and James in a few steps and grabbing a side of the latter's collar himself. Another person might have chosen to fight off Conrad first, but Leonel was well aware how foolish such a choice was.

No matter what just happened, securing James' safety came first. No matter what happened between them, James was still his best friend. And, luckily, he had the now darkened lights on his side.

As expected, Conrad wasn't able to react. Seeing that Leonel now had a firm grip on James himself, he could only let go, allowing Leonel to pull James up.

"Leo…?" James' words slurred.

It was only now that Leonel realized James had actually been unconscious. It was likely his head that had smashed the window apart, it wouldn't be surprising if he was diagnosed with a concussion. Coupling that with the fact he was drunk and it was a recipe for disaster.

"Heeey, maaan. You're late, my sister-in-law was waiting on yoouu…"

Leonel sucked in a cold breath through his teeth when James heavily leaned on him. He was really in no shape to be taking on such a burden, but he still carried him out, letting him sit on the couch.

"Chef, do you have any gas burners back there? We need some light." Leonel called out.

The Four-Star Chef who had not said a word even when James' life was on the line finally looked a bit shaken. He didn't seem to know what was going on.

"… Yes… We use a blow torch for the finishing touches of certain dishes…"

He absentmindedly fumbled through the dark, pulling out the draw of a hidden compartment to take the torch he was speaking of. But, before he could think to hand it to Leonel, it happened.

In that few minutes, it felt that the planet would collapse. A cacophony of booms so loud Leonel had no choice but to cover his ears sounded. The earth beneath their feet trembled fiercer, the building swaying wildly from left to right.

It was then that Leonel froze. He didn't need to think to know what was causing this…

The Paradise Islands!

'Dad…'

A bout of worry seized Leonel's chest. No Paradise Islands were allowed to have routes that crossed over important landmarks. The top ten Academies, government buildings, and historical landmarks all fit this description. So, they were safe, for better or worse.

However, Leonel didn't care about his own safety. He was worried about his father.

Higher class Paradise Islands like the ones him and his father lived on had several safety features in case an event just like this one happened, however they weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. This was especially so considering the scope of this power outage.

only slight hope was that Leonel and his father lived on a Paradise Island very close to the surface — the closest they could get, in fact. If their island crashed into some of the high rise skyscrapers first, it could slow

could only force his worry

power outage caused by some sort of system-wide failure, he would immediately run out of here, even leaving Aina behind. However, before everything happened, their wrist watches had warned of a Class 9 Code Red. It was very obvious that there was nothing

his jaw, Leonel weathered the shaking earth with his hands firmly clasped over his ears. It was lucky that their buildings were built with the highest earthquake technology, or there was

often of the Paradise Islands above their heads. They would occasionally obscure the sun, but no more

this time, with each crashing boom, they became more and more aware that each represented the deaths of countless innocent

fourth floor lobby along with mute

warned of had yet to even begin,

to keep their bearings looked toward Leonel with unconcealed pity. Even though he had closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, keeping his visage expressionless as he covered his ears, they knew well what

boat. Even if their families were affluent enough to have a home on the surface, not all of them were able to have a home in those protected zones.

booms finally stopped, the earth still swaying beneath their feet. Maybe it was only now that they had become aware of just how many of those

had happened. He carefully took James' shirt off, being mindful to support

James have a concussion, but the remnant shards of glass on the bottom ledge of

Four-Star Chef, Leonel borrowed a few scented candles from a resident of the dorm and lit them,

few first-aid classes. He was unsure if the medics they had on standby for the game were still here, or if they had left to their homes. After all, it had been over an hour,

lower back as best he could, he slowly removed pieces of glass stuck in his flesh. Finally, he wrapped

"Love you, man…"

but think he was the luckiest one of them all. Even if they tried to sleep now, they had no doubt that

his head, his gaze turning

knew that the best answer was to stay put. Everyone else knew as well.

was more, but he had to admit to himself that he had no real evidence for this being the case. It was just that… how could the mighty Ascension Empire which unified Earth not be ready

wasn't a

room and board. The academy also stockpiles several years worth of food in an abundance of caution thanks to previous

after party. Also, without power, the large freezers will slowly lose their heat. It'll be even faster

to last a month easily before they start to go bad, no one would think that the Empire would be unable

thoughts spun quickly. A part of him wanted to act frugally out of caution, but another part understood that unless people had evidence

Leonel didn't want to deal with any of this. He only wanted to go and see if his father was

can't stand this

normalized, he didn't want to stand there a second longer. Usually such a mess of vomit would be cleaned easily with their high-tech.

from walking away,

Conrad wasn't destined to

was too shaken by the previous earthquakes and

imagination to know that if there ever was

same. The abrupt cognitive dissonance, its black, starry innards, the way it seemed to have no, and simultaneously endless,