Without looking back, Thomas followed the path to the same exit as the one he told Clarisse. On the way, he saw several men unconscious across the passages, all in similar armor to the ones used by that man Gazell and Clarisse's brother which meant they belonged to the same force. Not much time later, he saw a faint female form running towards him.
As soon the female saw him, her eyes lit up. "Thomas!"
"Clai, Clarisse." Thomas was about to call her Claire when he saw the familiar golden locks down to her back.
Her battle armor was mostly in tatters as there was some clear trace of blood on her shoulder and left leg.
These signs of fighting made him curious about just what had she encountered.
"Clarisse, are you all right?"
"Eh? Yeah, I managed to escort everyone to safety and then returned to see how you were doing. It's just that I stumbled upon a few troublemakers, nothing I couldn't handle."
Said Clarisse with a shy smile on her lips.
Because of how dark was the underground labyrinth, only as the distance between the two of them lessened and light fell over Thomas' body did Clarisse witnessed something which left a deep blush across her lovely face.
"T-thomas, your..."Her eyes dodged his gaze moving from right to left, refraining to stare straight at him due to her embarrassment.
Seeing her strange reaction, Thomas froze then stared downwards where he felt an strange breeze, his face also showed a vibrant shade of red.
"Ohh, right..."
Only now did he remember his armor shattering moments before and rested his face on his hand. It was then Thomas recalled bridging a few changes of clothes inside his spatial pocket's storage space.
"Mind if you turn around for a moment..."
"... R-right?" Clarisse stuttered before immediately having her back face him. In less than a minute, Thomas was already changed into a cargo pants and a camo jacket. This time there were no noticeable injuries on his body.
"It's fine now, let's move out before more trouble comes our way." Once he was dressed, Thomas and Clarisse headed straight to the exit which shone with a dense blue light.
The next thing he saw was the broken down and abandoned amusement park in the outskirts of the city. And Clarisse, of course had already changed back into Claire and put on her usual mask.
A couple policemen, agents of the Adept Association and medical droids were there to attend all involved in the incident. A total of 127, counting with students, the instructors and researchers that were working at the time.
Sadly, two members of the institute's faculty members and one student among the 127 passed away before help could arrive in time.
"Hey, this is an restricted zone..." An police officer keeping guard on the area saw Thomas and went to check on him when the latter pulled out his Adept ID.
"I know, It was me who rescued them."
The officer froze then he caught sight of Claire right behind Thomas. Unlike Thomas, The Flame Empress was certainly famous among Dexia City's adept community.
"Uh, alright." The officer nodded, then guided him to the tent where the students were being kept for the time being. Some were receiving care from the medical droids while most were still having a hard time believing what they just experienced.
The other students were no less shocked upon seeing Thomas, especially those who were on the same year. It was known to all of them that Thomas had grown to become a fully-fledged Adept after leaving the institute. Rumors among the students even said he's attracted the attention of an Elite Adept and went on to become her apprentice.
What was even more shocking was the appearance of Claire behind him. Those students didn't thought the boy who was the trash of the classroom could be so close to one of the rising stars in the city.
"..." Once Thomas laid eyes upon the students, they all hurried away while felling shamed. The corner of his lips rose slightly upon seeing the reactions of his fellow classmates, unwilling to even look straight at him. It was somewhat a funny feeling.
Thomas was able to find his cousin, but the latter didn't seem to be responding and was simply lying down with two to three medical droids around him. His expression was vacant, almost empty. He looked so different from the young brat he used to know that Thomas felt lost for a second.
He turned to Claire and the latter gave a nod before leaving the tent. According to the diagnosis given by the Med Droid, Rodrigar may be suffering from some heavy trauma and that it may take a while for him to recover his reason. Thomas reported everything to his mother and upon hearing from his aunt, they decided it was bestsend him to the hospital and see how he reacts the next few days.
Later that same day, news about the strange underground cave network had reached the top of the association, the government of the sixteen cities of mars as well the high council of the human alliance.
The fact structures dating before the arrival of humanity on mars could only mean this desert planet had once been the home of some ancient civilization.
Once news about this ancient civilization came out, it didn't bring as many trouble other would have expected other than some initial buzz.
Maybe because they have been fighting Demons and other dimensional creatures brought out of fictional stories turned the discovery of ancient civilizations on mars not much of a big deal.
It was a pity that after Thomas and Clarisse rescued the students, all the two passages to have been found seemed to disappear and no one was able to find any clues about the labyrinth.
All the people involved, including Thomas and the flame empress were summoned by the association president.
Of course Thomas didn't tell the truth about the connection between the labyrinth and gods of ancient greek. Just the fact the whole planet of mars may very well be the true body of gaia was something Thomas would have to bring with him to his grave.