The Martial Unity

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.

the closest they could get, in fact. If their island crashed into some of the high rise skyscrapers first, it could slow its descent enough to save his father's life. These skyscrapers were exactly the very last line of defense for these disasters. They were built with this potential

Leonel could only

normal 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

It was lucky that their buildings were built with the highest earthquake technology, or there was no way it would

Students who could go here didn't think often of the Paradise Islands above their heads.

boom, they became more and more aware that each

vomit. A putrid smell filled the fourth floor lobby along

to even begin,

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

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. Their families might very well die

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 islands hovered above their heads… of just how many lives they hadn't even cared

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

remnant shards of glass on the bottom ledge

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

the medics they had on standby for the game were still here, or if they had left to their homes.

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

"Love you, man…"

but think he was

shook his head, his gaze turning empty

best answer was to stay put. Everyone else knew as well. As one of the protected zones,

a feeling that it 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 for

made Leonel think that there was something that caused this outage actively. It wasn't a mistake, but rather an event even their Empire had no means

also stockpiles several years worth of

its usual carrying capacity due to the game and the after party. Also, without power, the

can. But, not many will listen to my words, they'll believe I'm being overly paranoid. The food here is enough to last a month easily before they start to go bad, no one would think that the

A part of him wanted to act frugally out of caution, but another part understood that unless people had evidence toward how dangerous this situation was, they wouldn't listen. This was simply the

to deal with any of this. He only wanted to

can't stand this

the building 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. But, this was obviously impossible now.

from walking away,

that Conrad wasn't destined to get very

earthquakes and that the dormitory was collapsing.

he had a vivid enough imagination to know that if there ever was a spatial tear, it would look exactly like this. Maybe the only thing that deviated from his fanciful image was the fact it lit up the night sky as

The abrupt cognitive dissonance, its black, starry innards, the way it