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.

in fact. If their island crashed into some of the high rise skyscrapers

Leonel could

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,

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

became gloomy. Students who could go here didn't think often of the Paradise Islands above their heads. They would occasionally obscure the sun,

boom, they became more and

filled the fourth floor lobby along with

Empire warned of had yet to even begin, yet

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 he

all of them were able to have a home in those protected zones. Their families might very

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

they did, Leonel began to work as though nothing had happened. He carefully took James' shirt off, being mindful to

concussion, but the remnant shards of glass on

Leonel borrowed a few scented candles from a resident of the dorm and

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, approaching two, since the game ended. He didn't have the luxury of

James' wounds to his lower back as best he could, he slowly removed pieces of glass stuck in his flesh. Finally, he wrapped them after disinfecting with

"Love you, man…"

faded, only to be replaced by his light snoring soon after. Those here couldn't help but think he was the luckiest one of them all. Even if they tried to sleep now, they had no doubt that they'd

his head, his gaze turning

knew that the best answer was to stay put. Everyone else knew as well. As one of the protected zones, they could obviously be among the first

that it was more, but he had to admit to himself that he had no real evidence for this being the case. It

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

stockpiles several years worth of food in an abundance of caution thanks to previous rebellion

the campus is current above its usual carrying capacity due to the game and the after party. Also, without power, the large freezers will slowly lose their heat. It'll be even faster if people are constantly opening

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 Empire would be unable

to act frugally out of caution, but another part understood that unless people

with any of this. He only wanted to

can't

of the building normalized, he didn't want to stand there a second longer. Usually such a mess of vomit would

Conrad from walking away, and why

Conrad wasn't destined to

by the previous earthquakes and

but he had a vivid enough imagination to know that if there ever was a spatial tear, it would look exactly like

cognitive dissonance, its black, starry innards,