The city guards quickly came over to the big hole where the ground collapsed to check on the area, luckily none of the citizens were hurt in any way. Though, some of the buildings were their shops and their houses. Even if they were devastated their residences were lost, they knew that it could easily be rebuilt with the help of magic.
When the royal guards arrived, they made their way into the collapsed hole. Entering the once underground tunnel, the smell of fresh blood entered their noses. They were now alert, crumbled pieces of pillars were splattered all over the ground so they couldn't see anything except for the chunks of stone.
Using earth magic, wooden pillars erupted from the ground and lifted the stone up. Then the smell of fresh blood was there again, but it wasn't just any blood. Black liquid was spilled all over the mutant's crushed body, the guards couldn't even process if this was real. They immediately called the over one of the dukes.
"His Grace, Duke of Everard. This is what we found." said the guard.
"Just what is this..." muttered Edward.
Even the duke couldn't believe what he was seeing, there were headless and brutally beaten up mutants displayed on the ground. Most of them were either headless or had gaping holes in their bodies. All of them were the mutated bodies of the children who was experimented on, Edward could only give his condolences.
Although he expected more gruesome things, this simply was just spine chilling. Touching one of the mutated bodies, the skin was felt hard and veins could be seen. But what was more intriguing was the wounds that was done in by the person. There heads were cleanly cut off, the holes in the body looked like it was made by a blade, and there were even internal wounds. It's insides were blown up from the intestines, to he heart, and the brain.
The gaping holes in their body had burn marks, it was similar to fire magic but it was projected in a different shape. The person who came in the tunnel and attacked the mutants were definitely skilled, that was a note to write down. However, that didn't mean the mutants weren't strong either, he could tell it's body was reinforced really well and was able to heal itself. It's physical abilities might be stronger than his.
"What do you think Ellie?" asked Edward.
Ellie appeared beside him, her silver hair, ocean eyes, and sparks of lightning appeared beside her feet.
"I think the user is skilled, but so is the mutant, that's for sure. However, as a lightning user myself, the marks were not created by fire itself, but a thunderbolt." said Ellie.
"Huh?" asked Edward.
This was shocking to Edward because the family Ellie came from, Avyanna, is the only family that was able to wield lightning magic. It was kept a secret throughout years and years due to how rare it was and how strong it was too. For this person, who was unknown, to use lightning magic must be someone well hidden, and came from a powerful family.
But just who was that person?
Unknown to them it was literally the most known princess in the nation, of course they didn't know that since Ena was the magic-less girl with a mind of a genius.
"It's exactly what you're thinking, this person is strong and was able to escape without any trace." said Ellie.
"Is that even possible?" asked Edward.
"With lightning magic? Of course, that person can use the lightning to travel in high speeds." said Ellie.
"So it's no use then...For now, I think we should do research on these bodies." said Edward.
"You're right, it'll give us more ideas about the experiment."
***
"Damn it! Why did the failures suddenly come out?" screamed Alianor.
Smashing a glass pot onto the ground, his fist left cracks on the wooden table.
Moreover, who was the person that provoked the failures? It couldn't be the cloaked person since he detected that he or she was weak. But this person was strong, it was able to kill half of his failures, who was this person?
Then suddenly, a questioned struck his mind.
Was he discovered by the royal families? No, no. That wasn't possible...but there was still a possibility of that happening. But taking precaution, he contacted his partner, telling him to upgrade the security around their hideout.
"It seems like they're catching on, but I'm already too far ahead." grinned Alianor.
A sinister smile formed his face as he let out a small chuckle. There was no way he could be stopped, he's been manipulating this man from afar now, using firewalls so no systems could detect that he was interfering with other worlds.
He was going to corrupt it and the time was coming.
"Project Apex: World Corruption by Blackened Protagonist."
'"A fine name indeed. Alianor."
***
"Where were you?" asked Alice.
Ena was contemplating on what to say, to lie or to tell the truth? If she told the truth, she would pretty much have to explain everything.
"I was taking a walk around the city, but I came back when a sudden hole appeared." said Ena.
"I heard about that and I'm glad you're alright. But why didn't you bring Marie with you? You should know you can't go out by yourself since it could be dangerous, especially with the events that's been going on." said Alice.
"I know..." Pulling her signature puppy eyes, "I just wanted to have fun by myself, I put on a disguise too." said Ena.
Alice had to pry her eyes away from Ena's cute face, she couldn't resist it. With a sigh in defeat, she decided to let the matter go since her little sister wasn't hurt in any way.
But she had to double check, making her resolve, she picked Ena up.
"Oi- What're you doing?!"
"Making sure you're actually alright." said Alice.
With a few pats, she put Ena back down, and nodded in satisfaction. Before Ena could complain even once, Alice quickly left the room and smiled in victory.
Ena could only groan at her sister's antics, yet she enjoyed it.
"Now, I'll get back to cultivating."