It took Nathan almost ten minutes to reach the blast site. The outskirts of the area were a maze, so he had to make a lot of turns to get there.
When he saw what had actually happened, he couldn't help but curse.
"What the hell happened here?"
There was a large crater, several hundred meters in diameter, which made him realize that something much bigger than he thought was going on. Some of the buildings around the crater were on fire, but they seemed to be slowly dying out.
He looked around the edge of the crater for Mary, but could not find her, instead he saw dozens of ordinary people peering fearfully into the hole.
Among them, Nathan could sense several people using essence, but he did not care, not when he could sense people in the center of the crater far more powerful than those watching.
Two people seemed to be fighting, but they were so far away and moving so fast that he could barely see them, even with his sight enhanced with essence. He had to wait for them to stop before he could see who they were.
It took them a couple of minutes to stop, then backed up dozens of meters as they caught their breath. It was then that Nathan could see the two people clearly, but as he did, he felt a strong pressure in his chest.
"W-why, why is she here?" his voice trickled out in disbelief.
One of the people fighting in the middle of the crater was a muscular but white-haired man, who still looked fit for a fight like the one that was taking place.
The problem came with the other person, a young woman with straight black hair and eyes as blue as the most beautiful sky. Although more than seven years had passed, Nathan could not forget the young woman's face.
A few years older than him and his brother Noah, her sister Faye Aeterna.
His sister had not been at the military facility when the tragedy occurred. She had gone to a government academy to become an agent, and looking at her uniform, Nathan knew she had succeeded.
It was the first time he had met anyone from his family, and Nathan did not know what to do. The feelings that began to swirl in his heart were hard to explain, he felt a heaviness he had never felt before.
"What is she doing here?"
A week ago, he had wondered why there were several government agents outside, but it seemed they weren't the only one's present.
Not just government agents, all sorts of people had gathered to see what had happened. Unknown to Nathan, he was now surrounded by dozens of technicians.
Without thinking, Nathan pulled out his mobile phone and tried to call Dilliard, surprised when it was the men that called him first.
Accepting the call, Nathan put the phone to his ear.
"What happ...?" Nathan couldn't finish the question before Dilliard's voice interrupted him.
"Get out of there! Quickly!"
Not understanding what was going on, Nathan heard a loud cheer echo through the crater.
He looked at his sister, who was responsible for getting everyone's attention.
"This place is guarded by the central government, I advise you to stay away if you want to avoid trouble"
The man arguing with Faye growled angrily.
"The government doesn't have the right to do whatever it wants in my territory!"
Faye shook her head at the man's words.
"According to the law, the government owns all the rifts for the safety of the people"
'A rift' Nathan thought as he heard his sister's words, then he looked at the center of the crater and saw how the air was slightly distorted.
Then he heard Dilliard's voice again.
"I told you to get out of there! Wait for the reinforcements!"
Nathan started to ask what was going on, but suddenly he felt a great uneasiness in his body.
The man and Faye, who were still arguing, fell silent and looked at the rift at the same time. Not only them, Nathan noticed the people around him grimacing in discomfort as they held various parts of their bodies.
Faye closed her eyes slightly, cautiously, and cursed a second later.
"Well... shit"
A second later, her body was sucked into the rift that suddenly opened without warning. Nathan's eyes widened as he saw his sister suddenly disappear, but he didn't have time to worry about her when he felt her body begin to float.
"What?!"
He tried to support his body with essence, but he was already floating, so he had nothing to hold on to. Not just him, but the hundreds of people around the crater were floating, rapidly approaching the rift.
Nathan cursed and did not hear what Dilliard said as his body was completely sucked into the rift.
The mysterious explosion killed thousands of people instantly, then hundreds of others disappeared through the rift in the center of a large crater. The surrounding area was completely empty and silent.
Suddenly the rift closed and disappeared without a trace, leaving only a huge crater in the middle of the outskirts. A few minutes later, more people began to arrive, the first being those who lived outside and had taken a while to come and look around. They had unwittingly saved themselves from being swallowed up by the rift.
Then came a dozen armored trucks, from which dozens of government agents began to secure the area, preventing curious onlookers from approaching any further.
Almost another twenty minutes later, a group of about 50 people arrived at the site of the explosion, just opposite the crater where the government was present.
Dozens of Khan's soldiers were at the front, along with Dilliard and the other brown-haired general. Behind them, Syril, Maya and Lloyd, Marlon's apprentice, frowned at the large crater in front of them.
Syril approached Dilliard without taking his eyes off the crater.
"Any news?" she asked with some concern in his voice.
Dilliard looked down at the screen of the mobile phone in his hand and shook his head.
"No, he's not answering any calls. Not even our contacts outside... it's like they've all disappeared"
The General frowned at Dilliard's explanation.
"What about the upper rift, where is it?"
Dilliard put his mobile phone in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and smoking a little before releasing the smoke into the air.
"Gone"
Syril frowned.
"Gone…?"
Dilliard nodded, and the general beside him clicked his tongue.
"Then that means the rift exceeded its capacity"
Usually the rifts didn't close, that only happened when the number of people entering them exceeded a threshold.
Dilliard took out the cigarette and sighed, blowing the smoke out of his mouth.
"For now, all we can do is wait and see what happens. Let's hope the government doesn't decide to go to war" Dilliard looked sharply across the crater. There was a black-haired man with blue eyes staring at him in silence.
Syril couldn't see clearly at such a distance, but he didn't have to, for Dilliard whispered what he saw.
"It's an honor to see you again, Lord Byron"
Syril opened her eyes slightly in surprise. It was the first time she had seen the leader of House Aeterna in person, and more importantly, Nathan's father.