《Never After》Chapter 4 : Arrival
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A blaring alert erupted from Hiro’s suit, taking the attention of everyone in the room. The Agent’s pale-colored eyes snapped wide open, and he quickly grabbed the phone inside his suit.
Fremund stopped his tangent, and his eyes glared, “That alert is… from the prison,” His voice sounded tense.
Eric and Eris were left confused, not knowing the height of the complications in front of them.
Hiro flicked his fingers across the phone screen and sat straight up. He was agape, and his eyes filled with dread. He swallowed hard, conscious now that his heart was thumping in his chest.
Seeing this, Fremund sat back on his chair, “Eric, Eris, can you two leave the room for the moment?” He asked.
“B-but Father,” Said Eris, pleading.
Eric tapped his little sister’s shoulders, “Let’s go, Eris.”
She weakly nodded. Eric grabbed his little sister and walked outside of the room with her.
The doors opened with a creak as the two passed through. The door then shut, leaving silence in the room.
Hiro placed his phone on the table in front of him; the screen of the phone shone and emitted light upwards. Blue lines of light emerged in the air creating an exact hologram of the entire prison. The Agent looked around the hologram, his face filled with confusion.
“Sir… there’s no sign of any personnel or even the prisoners,” said Hiro with a wary expression.
Fremund observed to confirm, his eyes moved left and right, trying to find a single remnant of mana, but he was left shocked, as the prison was empty.
“H-how?” Fremund looked dazed.
Puzzled, the Agent put his hand on his chin. He moved his hand in front of the hologram and expanded the view, revealing a circle surrounding the prison.
“Those are the strange mana residues we detected some time ago.”
“Wait,” said Fremund, "Could it be teleportation magic?" Hiro shakes his head, wanting to believe that it's not true.
“There’s no way someone can cast teleportation magic at that size. Even Miwa isn’t able to do that.” Before Hiro could utter a word, his phone emitted another alert. He immediately tapped the screen of the phone, “It’s Fynn,” Hiro let out a sigh of relief.
Before he was able to lay back on the sofa, however, the holographic prison changed scenery into an open field. “It’s an area transmission,” His eyes shrunk as the open field revealed multiple small spheres colored red and blue, split by color with the red colored spheres higher in number.
Hiro knew those types of spheres very well. The blue signified registered personnel, while the red signified prisoners.
“S-sir, our personnel are surrounded.”
Fremund didn’t reply, but instead, he was focusing his sight on a single golden sphere. “What is that?” He asked.
“Sir, that is the Fleur Family’s magic signature. It can’t be either Sir Eric or Miss Eris, and it's not Superintendent. I know Superintendent Nell's magic signature very clearly."
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“Harmonia…” Fremund said silently with a deep breath. He tumbled his hand on his desk opening up a panel, running his fingers across the panel screen, and a picture of an orange-haired man with sharp blue eyes seemingly in his early 20s appeared on the screen.
“Clarke,” Fremund called.
“I’m on my way, Chief.” The voice from the panel responded.
On the other side of the call, Clarke was jumping from branches to branches in a forest, slashing his way through with the blue sword created from mana in his right hand.
"Where is Miwa?"
Fremund asked with discontent, “I’ve contacted her, but she said that the location is too far away from a ley line, Chief. Something about there being not enough magic in the target location for her to pinpoint."
“What!?” He shouted. Fremund sat back on his chair with his right hand on his chin, “It’s a coordinated attack,” But before Fremund was able to wrap his head around it. A red light coming from Hiro's phone grazed his eyes.
Fremund turned to look. A red sphere larger than the other spheres appeared in front of the golden sphere.
“Chief, this is bad. I’ve detected a mana influx from the location!” The man vaulted through the forest at high speed, jumping from branches to branches. Multiple blue swords forged from mana manifested behind him, slashing the tree in front of Clarke.
The sphere grew larger and larger until it stopped as it has reached multiple sizes larger than the other spheres, “It’s a Magic Blast!” Fremund shouted to the panel.
“Tch,” The man in the woods groans as he picks up his speed. "I'm cutting off the call Chief," said the man as the screen with his picture turned off.
Fremund was left dazed, not knowing what to do, he stood still, thinking of the possible outcomes until a shout awaked him to his senses.
"Sir!" Said Hiro with dilated pupils as he pointed his finger to the hologram, Fremund turned his head again towards the hologram, and what he saw left him agape.
A white sphere appeared in between the golden and red sphere, dwarfing the giant red sphere multiple times. The white sphere grew in size until it covered the hologram.
"Sir, this white-colored sphere..." Said Hiro, jittering.
"There's no denying it," Fremund shoulders tensed up, "It's him."
"Harmonia, wake up!"
Harmonia Fleur's eyes snapped open, and then closed them shut again and pressed her hands against her ears; she could hear sounds of sorcery and the sounds of battle so clearly and distinctly.
"Harmonia, wake up!"
The shock of hearing the voice again forced her to open her eyes and look around. She was lying on a large clearing in the forest, with Fynn kneeling with one knee right beside her, the left shoulder of his suit torn and covered with blood.
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Harmonia slowly pushed herself to her feet and grabbed Fynn by his right shoulders, "Agent! What happened?" She asked.
The last thing she clearly remembered was Fynn running at her in Hilbert's containment room. She remembered Hilbert asking her about Angels and Devils, and then the rest was too hazy for her.
"We were teleported to outside the facility, and ambushed by the prisoners," said Fynn weakly.
Harmonia's eyes adjusted as she looked around, she realized that they were surrounded by people in orange jumpsuits, but something was amiss; the girl felt as if something was watching her. Not the prisoners, but something else.
They were surrounded by the prisoners: hundreds of them. Some of the prisoners fought with the personnel, outnumbering them. Magic clashed, and the personnel retreated as they were overwhelmed by the number of prisoners fighting them until they were completely encircled by them.
On the opposite side of the field, a few meters in front of her. A figure distinct from the other prisoners emerges from the crowd.
The grey-haired male figure sneered as his eyes caught her, "What a lucky day," the man scoffs, "To think I'll be able to take revenge on the warden and also the first daughter of Fremund at the same time."
"Ales," Fynn murmurs, he tried to stand up, pushing his thigh with his hand, but he fell back on his knees.
"I want to savor this, but sadly, I need to escape before reinforcement comes." Ales raised his hands aiming at Harmonia, he opened his palms, and a magic circle emerged in front of it.
Harmonia was conscious of the magic around her and realized the mana gathering in Ales's palm. She sensed a vile and horrid magic signature that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up as she couldn't pinpoint where it came from. Her legs froze up as she looked back at the man. In the middle of his magic circle, a purple orb has formed.
"I think they called it, two birds, with one stone, right?" He remarked.
"W-what are you going to do?" She stuttered.
"Kill you both, of course. What else do you think it would be?" Ales only laughed as the orb expanded.
Harmonia fell on her back, shocked. Dragging herself back slowly on the ground with her hands. She shakes her head in disbelief, her eyes glisten as tears swell up in her eyes.
"Aw, how sad. I need to thank whoever planned this breakout."
"Please help us, someone," She uttered, even though she knew that it was useless.
Fynn lifts himself with all his strength, forcing his body to fight off the pain and move his body. He moved in front of Harmonia. "Goddamnit," the Agent groaned.
Harmonia was not even able to move her body, the magic that was gathering in the circle was enough to send a shiver down her entire body. All that magic was directed to her and the Agent- The sheer terror of it made her freeze on the spot, unable to move and consumed by fear.
"Damn it," said Fynn.
"Struggling like that almost makes me feel bad for you two, but nevertheless, this blast will be the start of my vengeance. After this, I'll get Fremund's head, too." Ales raised both of his hands upon the orb.
Harmonia stared dead at the ground below her. The Agent tried his best to stand up in front of her. The girl murmured in despair, hoping for anything to come to save them, "Father... please someone..." In desperation, she looked up at the sky, "Angels, if you exist please," She closed her eyes shut as she continued to beg for something to come.
Then a thought passed her mind, something that she was desperate enough to remember.
"People turned to the devil when everything abandons them," she whispered. She shook her head at first, but as she looked behind her, she saw injured personnel, most of them having near to no mana left.
"Goodbye," Ales shoved the floating orb frontwards, and as the orb moved, it built up immense speed.
She knew she wasn't strong and knew the repercussions of making a deal with the Devil, if they even truly existed from the books she had read, but looking at the sight filled with despair behind her, she felt a spark in her heart. A feeling in her heart that she always wanted, and in the few seconds that feeling wrapped her heart.
Harmonia clenches her fist, and with all her might stood up. In a last act of desperation and bravery, she shouted to the sky: "Fine then, I'll make a deal with the Devil if it means saving these people!"
The grass plains turned silent, the sounds of battle seemingly stopped until Ales spoke.
"What a joke. That was your last attempt?" He mocked, "You see, there is no such thing as a Devil."
Harmonia fell down to her knees, kneeling on the ground. Her eyes swelled with tears. "This is it, huh?" She sobbed.
As her first tear touched the ground, in an instant, the feeling of being watched was lifted from her, the vile and horrid magic signature she felt earlier now surrounded her and felt clear as day. The wind around the grass plains seemingly stopped, and a burst of maniacal laughter, enough to shrink even the bravest of hearts, filled the area.
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