(A few seconds after Flynn saved everyone from the destructive explosion)
"Shit! I really overestimated myself this time!"
Flynn fell to the ground on one knee and cursed.
He had burnt through almost all of his mana reserves just by holding his [Force Field] spell against the gigantic explosion that should have claimed the lives of multiple innocent young nobles.
He then discontinued the spell to save a bit of his already little mana reserve while taking a deep breath, the pulsing green aquamarine barrier also slowly vanishing as he did so.
'Mana veins are no joke at all. I can already feel my mana reserves replenishing quickly' he inwardly said to himself while getting up.
Flynn felt the confused stares of everyone on him but he didn't even bother to acknowledge it as he calmly stood up and locked eyes onto the culprit just a few meters in front of him.
The youth who had thrown the explosive balls upon signaling to his other four accomplices, had been shocked to see someone break through the barrier tool they had spent a lot of money to research upon.
As if to add salts to his wound, another brat had completely nullified their explosive bombs which they had modified for over a year to avoid even the most advanced of sensors and also, painstakingly set up after a year and a few months of planning with a barrier-like spell of his own.
That same brat was now locking eyes onto him, letting him understand that he had been caught and he had no chance of escape.
'I was supposed to evacuate all five of us with my [Shadow Shift] the moment we threw those mana bombs into the air but everything's messed up! Now that it's come to this…' the young teenager who was also staring back at Flynn inwardly thought to himself.
Suddenly, Adrian shouted up at the top of his voice, snapping everyone out of their confusion.
"Everyone! Evacuate and move to the adult's hall! The culprits might still be among us and might trigger another devastating explosion! Hurry up and go!!!"
Upon hearing his voice, everyone swiftly and hurriedly began to run out of the hall while following Adrian's lead.
But even as they did, Flynn walked calmly, his pace blending in with the hurried footsteps of the crowd, all while staring at the culprit with a darkened gaze, causing him to eventually be left behind at the hall as it emptied.
No one had bothered to approach Flynn as they were still very much disoriented, in a state of panic and still very confused from what had just happened and even Adrian was no different, but, he at least had the keen sense to evacuate everyone quickly. As expected of a future king.
As the hall emptied, Flynn realized that all five were now surrounding him, especially considering that they had all already noticed that he had caught their ringleader.
'The only way to fulfill our mission now is to kill him!'
Those were the thoughts in their mind, but as if they had forgotten, their faces began to contort and fade to reveal their respective true faces.
'Fuck! The guards had already been issued an order to leave the moment the explosion went off!' the main culprit cursed in his mind as he and the rest of his minions retrieved ominous looking demon masks from their spatial rings and bracelets before donning it on their faces. A trademark of Obelisk whenever they wanted to start their operations.
Flynn watched on as they all wore their masks, almost as if to tell him that they would take care of him quickly and escape.
'Well they can actually still escape if they can reach onto those high rise windows at the top of the hall if they have a way to get up to it…' Flynn mused to himself.
'But they don't seem to want to do that…'
After realizing that the youth before them seemed unfazed even by the fact that they were ganging up on him, the masked obelisk members became even more wary.
They were all mid to low-tier C-rankers with the exception of their boss, who was a low tier B-ranker.
They had all purposely being selected to effectively blend into the young noble's part of the banquet so as not to arouse any suspicions.
That's why low tier rankers were used even though the operation was this dangerous.
They then began to wonder why the teen before them was unfazed but as if to remind them that they were in a very dire situation, Flynn spoke up, the tone of his voice dripping with an icy spine-chilling coldness as he released a small but concentrated amount of bloodlust.
"Should I come to you, or will you come to me?"
***
(A few seconds after Aiden left on the motorcycle…)
'Leo's right. He'll be fine! Frank will definitely make sure of it' Anna inwardly said to herself while running back into the hall along with her husband and Sebastian.
As they all kept running at a very fast pace, Anna had her gown lifted up to allow her legs extend further as both Leopold and Sebastian ran at her sides while maintaining a similar pace to hers.
She very much knew that they were both being considerate of her and didn't want to leave her behind even though they both could've dashed at terrifying speeds.
The three of them finally reached the adult's hall in about a minute and a few seconds and were surprised to see an influx of various noble children running out of their own corridor and quickly filling up the adult's hall with panicked expressions on their faces, turning their own hall into a crowded space in an instant.
The children then began to explain what had transpired to their parents and guardians in such a disorderly and chaotic manner, so much that everyone's voices just kept interfering with each other's, causing even further confusion to the adults who couldn't even seem to make head or tails about what their children were saying.
Amidst the disorderly confusion, a few things could be gleaned from the chaotic racket of noises.
One, Aiden Belmont broke through what seemed to be an invisible barrier that had trapped them, immediately dashing out afterwards and two, Flynn Belmont protected all of them from a massive explosion that could've claimed a lot of their lives.
Anna upon piecing bits of information here and there, quickly began to search and look around the hall along with Leopold and Sebastian for her son.
"Flynn! Flynn!! FLYNN!!!" Anna shouted at the top of her lungs but the surrounding chatter and noises kept drowning her voice.
Leopold and Sebastian also followed suit and began to shout Flynn's name but he was nowhere to be found.
Even after looking around and shouting at the top of their lungs for the past one minute, the three of them still couldn't find him.
Anna's face gradually began to contort into one of fear and panic, and her heartbeat rapidly began to increase, as if trying to jump out of her chest.
Leopold who noticed his wife's ever increasing unstable state of mind decided to try something, hoping that he would be right.
He quickly activated his mana sense and increased it to its maximum range covering the entire expanse of the hall from the main entrance to the very last one.
Leopold's face immediately contorted into a frown when he realized that in the last hall the young nobles had run out of, a light green figure was battling five other individual figures who all had different colors of their own.
"Flynn's in the last hall!" Leopold declared, causing both Sebastian and Anna to look at him.
Anna's eyes which had been darting around frantically gradually settled and her heartbeat slowed down considerably.
However, Leopold next words sent her into another state of panic.
"He seems to be in a dangerous situation though! We have to hurry on over!"
Anna didn't even wait for her husband to complete his sentence before she began to run in the direction of the last hall while weaving her way through the now crowded hall with a sense of urgency.
Leopold and Sebastian immediately followed after her, afraid she was going to do something really crazy.
Anna upon reaching the corridor to the last hall noticed that the King along with his Queen and the big noble families were giving orders to a bunch of other noble families.
King Arthur had also instructed one of them to erect a strong barrier there to possibly prevent the culprits from escaping, especially considering that he and the other dukes and duchesses had sensed some people left in the hall with his mana sense too, along with the corridor that led to the reception hall.
Anna without even so much as an explanation immediately shouted at the guy who had just completed the erection of the barrier with an authoritative tone.
"Remove this barrier now!" she commanded.
The noble who had erected the barrier was taken aback by the brazen attitude of the woman whose silvery green hair was disheveled and was even going against the orders of the King.
"Did you not hear me?! I said take this barrier down now!!!" Anna shouted even louder, attracting the King, Queen and other big noble families along with their kids who were nearby.
"I cannot do that. The King ordered for the barrier to be erected and I will not go against his Majesty's command" the man responded resolutely.
The King and Queen, along with the other people Anna had attracted with her shouts and even Leopold and Sebastian who had finally made their way over were about to calm her down while the others wanted to request for an explanation but Anna's next words took them aback and really shook them to the core.
"TO HELL WITH THE KING'S ORDERS!!! MY SON'S IN THERE AND HE'S IN DANGER!!!" she bellowed!
Anna without even allowing anyone to recover from her words, outstretched her arm and released a destructive spell.
"[Luminescence Series: Radiance Burst]!!!"
A concentrated beam of bright golden light shot out like a laser out from the palm of her outstretched arm and immediately blasted through the blue pulsing barrier, immediately rendering it useless as the barrier cracked in multiple places and disintegrated into dust-like particles.
Anna immediately ripped off the lower part of her yellow gown, took off her heels and threw them to one side, much to the confusion of everyone watching from afar and ran past the noble who had erected the barrier and the now broken barrier itself with a pace so fast you wouldn't expect it from someone with a stature like hers, all in a matter of literal seconds.
"We're so sorry your Majesty! We'll accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate for my wife's immense rudeness and disrespect" Leopold said with a slight bow before also hurriedly running after his wife.
Sebastian also gave his own apologies to the King and Queen before dashing off after his friend.
Everyone in the hall had been attracted by the blinding light which suddenly appeared out of nowhere and had moved towards it due to their curiosity.
Although a lot of them were still in disarray by what had transpired, their curiosity got the better of them.
Some even thought that the culprit for the explosion had been apprehended.
The King and Queen, along with their children who had arrived at the scene, in addition to the Big Noble families and their own children who had watched everything transpire prior to the release of Anna's destructive spell, immediately shook off their shock and also ran after the Duchess and the Duke of the Belmont Family with a sense of urgency after realizing how grave the situation was.
All of Arcadia would not let them live it down if even one single noble died at a Royal Banquet where all the powerhouses were gathered!
Their competence would be called to question and they would be under severe scrutiny for a very, very long time, especially the Royal Family.
Anna who had now gotten to the large doors of the last hall with Leopold and Sebastian, including the other nobles closely behind her watched as Flynn stood up after seemingly bashing two masked men's head into the ground.
Flynn stood up weakly from the ground with a pained wince while clutching the sides of his white shirt which was now stained with a huge patch of blood.
"Flynn!" Anna shouted worriedly while immediately running over to him.