2023-05-29 15:40:02The sunlight streaming through the window in Andrew's room didn't wake him up. It was already eleven in the morning, and Andrew had been sleeping soundly since the previous evening. In fact, this could be considered the first time Andrew had gotten such a long and uninterrupted sleep.
However, the ringing of his phone eventually forced Andrew to leave his slumber. His still-red eyes scanned the room for the phone, which was on the bedside table.
"Erica?" His younger sister's name appeared on the caller ID, and Andrew quickly answered the call.
"Andrew! Hi! Why did it take you so long to answer my call? By the way, I miss you, so I visited your office. I forgot which floor you're on, but I'll wait for you in the cafeteria, okay!"
"Erica--"
Before Andrew could respond, his sister had already ended the call. Immediately, Andrew got up and hurriedly left the room to meet Erica. Luckily, the clothes he wore yesterday were still decent enough to be worn outside.
"This is bad. If she finds out I'm no longer working, she'll be disappointed."
Andrew ran and raced against time. Fortunately, the distance from his home to the office wasn't too far.
"Quiet! Stop crying!"
Nadine's voice made Andrew halt in his tracks. His eyes widened as he saw Erica sitting in front of the company's door, crying. Her appearance was disheveled, with messy hair and worn-out clothes.
"Erica! What happened? What did you do to my sister!"
Andrew clenched his fists. Erica wasn't alone; she was with Orlando and Nadine. The two couples wore angry expressions, especially Nadine.
"I should be asking you what your family has taught Erica to turn her into a slut!" Nadine said, grabbing Erica's hair.
"Hey! Nadine, don't touch my sister, or you'll regret it!"
"What? What will you do if I do this to this whore?!"
"KYAA!"
Erica screamed in pain as Nadine gripped her face and pulled her hair again.
"You're the whore!" Andrew, angry, grabbed Nadine's hand and held it tightly, causing her pain.
Andrew glanced at Orlando, who remained unmoving. Nevertheless, his face revealed deep anger and frustration.
"What happened, Erica? Why did you come with them?"
"Let me go!" Nadine forcefully pushed Andrew's hand away and folded her arms, kicking Erica's body with her knee. She said, "Answer, idiot! Explain to your pathetic brother here that you're a whore who craves the touch of a man!"
Several pedestrians passing by and employees in the lobby glanced at the commotion. However, Andrew didn't care. To him, no matter how big the commotion was, when it involved his family, especially his sister, who was his last remaining family, it was an important matter that had to be fought for.
"Explain, Erica. Whatever happened, don't be afraid to speak up!" Andrew said firmly.
"I... I was indeed near your office earlier, and coincidentally, I saw Nadine. She was together with that guy, looking very close and laughing together. I was confused because to me, that was unusual since she's your girlfriend. So, I decided to approach her. Nadine said you had already broken up, and when I asked about your whereabouts, they said you were in hell.
Obviously, that shocked and panicked me. I tried to find out, but they only laughed and kept insulting you. At that time, Nadine realized her phone was missing from her bag, so she went inside the office. Meanwhile, the guy stayed near me, and just as I was about to walk away, he suddenly grabbed me.
I was quite startled and reflexively released his hand. He approached me and whispered something awful. He harassed me, saying he wanted to pay me for a night together because my body was too tempting not to be enjoyed. While he was saying that, Nadine suddenly returned and started yelling at me.
The guy fabricated a story, telling Nadine that I was the one seducing him. But that never happened. You know I don't really care about love, Andrew. I wouldn't do anything bad just for money!"
Nadine appeared furious and vented her emotions by hitting the side of the wall.
"Shut up! I would never assault a woman! Your sister does look like a prostitute, but I would never do anything wrong to her, let alone pay for her body! Even if it were given for free, I wouldn't even want to enjoy it!"
Andrew clenched his fists and walked towards Orlando, glaring at him. He said, "Say it one more time, and I'll destroy you, Orlando!"
"Ah!"
Erica screamed again, and Andrew shifted his gaze towards his sister. He found Nadine once again pulling Erica's hair and screaming in her ear. "Don't lie, or I'll send you to jail! A whore like you couldn't possibly be seduced by Orlando! He knows good and bad women!"
"Nadine!"
Andrew's hand was almost close to Nadine's face, but he refrained from slapping her.
"Why? Why don't you slap me? Come on, slap me. Go ahead and defend this whore, because she is guilty. Even if you slap me a thousand times, I won't stop teaching your sister a lesson! Remember, Andrew! You've been separated from Erica for years. How would you know that she's been living this lowly profession without your knowledge? Didn't you tell me that women would flock to Orlando because of his wealth? That's what's happening to your sister now!"
Andrew looked at his sister, who shook her head with a tear-stained face.
Orlando shrugged. "That's right, as I said, my body is too valuable to indulge in cheap and low women like your sister, Andrew."
Orlando's words further fueled Andrew's anger. This time, he no longer held back his fury. He turned his body towards Orlando, grabbed his collar, and said, "Say it again, Orlando, say it!"
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4-43
The fused being walked through the ruined city like a silent storm given form, each step trailing faint ripples of light and shadow that bent the air in unnatural curves. The sky remained torn above him, the cracks glowing with a slow, pulsating radiance that resembled a heartbeat too large for any mortal world to contain. The atmosphere trembled softly, as if the world were whispering ancient instructions through the wind.Behind him, the team followed at a cautious distance, unsure whether they were witnessing salvation or calamity wrapped in familiar faces. Jiro kept one hand hovering over his weapon but did not draw it, knowing full well that anything he wielded would be meaningless against the fused king. Yuki held Sahara tightly as the seer trembled with each step the being took, sensing visions too powerful for a child’s body to endure. Rayan and Mika walked silently, trading glances that conveyed questions none of them were ready to voice.The being stopped at the edge of a cr
4-42
The world did not recover after the fracture of Solus. It simply went quiet, as if reality were inhaling sharply and waiting to see whether it would be permitted to exhale again. The sky above remained carved open with a violent wound of shadow and broken light, the cracks pulsing faintly like the scar of a god struggling to comprehend its own injury. Even the wind moved strangely, as though the atmosphere was afraid to disturb the aftermath of something it could not fully understand.Andrew knelt beside Noir beneath that broken sky, still holding him tightly as shadow heat bled slowly from Noir’s body. His breathing was thin and uneven, each inhale sounding like someone swallowing fire and ice at the same time. Andrew pressed his hand to Noir’s cheek, feeling the tremble beneath his fingers, feeling the instability echo through their bond like a faultline refusing to close.“You’re here,” Andrew whispered, voice shaking with relief and fear in equal measure. “You’re here with me. Sta
4-41
The first sign that the world had begun to choose was not an explosion, nor a vision, nor a divine proclamation carved into the sky. It was silence—an unnatural, spreading silence that rolled across the ruined city like a held breath, suffocating every sound until even the crackle of distant fires faded into nothingness.Andrew felt it immediately.His chest tightened, not with pain, but with pressure, as if the Sapphire inside him had suddenly become aware of something vast and unavoidable moving toward it. The faint blue-white glow beneath his skin pulsed once, then again, growing warmer with each beat, as though responding to a summons it could not refuse.Noir stiffened beside him.His shadowfire did not flare.It recoiled.“That feeling,” Noir muttered, voice low and strained. “It’s happening again.”Yuki’s head snapped up sharply, eyes wide as white energy rippled around her uncontrollably. “All the Relics just reacted at the same time. Every single one of them.”Sahara collapse
4-40
The ruined street stretched before them like a battlefield carved from molten glass, illuminated by the distant glow of burning buildings and shards of fractured streetlamps buzzing weakly with dying electricity. The city still trembled under the aftershock of Noir’s meteor storm, and every echo of collapsing metal rang like a warning bell that refused to be silenced. But the greatest tension did not come from the destruction around them. It came from the two figures standing in the very center of the street, facing each other with expressions caught somewhere between dread and inevitability.Andrew stood with both feet planted firmly despite his trembling knees, his breathing rapid yet determined as faint traces of Sapphire Reborn shimmered unwillingly beneath his skin. Noir stood nearly ten meters away, his posture hunched but dangerous, shadowfire slithering around his arms like restless serpents seeking anything to burn. They were close enough to see each other’s pain, yet far eno
4-39
Smoke still curled upward from the shattered skyline, rising in thin spirals that looked almost delicate against the ruined concrete. The city below was a bleeding mosaic of collapsed structures and smoldering rooftops, the aftermath of Noir’s near-eruption painted across every ruined silhouette. Even the air felt exhausted, hanging heavy and metallic as if unsure whether the world had just survived disaster or narrowly postponed it.Andrew stood on the fractured rooftop with his knees barely holding steady, every breath burning like frost slicing through his lungs. The remnants of Sapphire Reborn dimmed along his skin in faint blue-white patches, flickering unevenly like a dying constellation. Yuki kept one hand braced against his back to steady him, while Jiro hovered nearby with a strained expression, torn between protecting Andrew and scanning the shadows for lingering threats.Behind them, Noir lay unconscious on a slab of broken cement. Mika and Rayan had dragged him away from t
4-38
The world reassembled violently after the forbidden merging, hurling Andrew and Noir out of the Gate like two mismatched pieces attempting to fuse before the ritual was complete. They crashed into solid ground—real ground this time—hard enough to crack stone and send dust exploding upward. The smell of fire and iron hit Andrew instantly, along with the distant sound of panic echoing through streets he didn’t yet recognize.Mika landed nearby, coughing. “Where the hell did it throw us?”Rayan pushed himself upright. “Somewhere… awful. I can feel the rent price already.”Yuki helped Sahara steady herself as the trembling child whispered, “This realm is not a Gate. This is… a city.”The dust settled.And it was clear.They were on a cliff overlooking a sprawling metropolis below—its buildings sleek and modern, its roads glimmering with neon, its skyline painted with colors that should have signified safety.But the sky above the city was wrong.Very wrong.Black fire bled across the clou
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