2023-05-29 15:40:48"What do you mean, And--"
The punch could no longer be avoided. Andrew brutally and repeatedly struck Orlando's face.
"I'll make sure you die, Orlando! Scumbag!"
"KYAA! Help!" Nadine screamed, calling for security to stop Andrew.
The fight suddenly became its own entertainment for the employees. Instead of separating the two men, they pulled out their phones and started recording.
"I support you, Andrew!"
"Andrew is once again providing an interesting entertainment!"
"It seems like Orlando won't be able to defeat Andrew!"
The whispers from the employees only fueled Andrew's madness. His face now had a smile as he watched blood flowing from Orlando's nose.
Meanwhile, Erica could only cry as she tried to pull her brother's body. But it was all in vain. Andrew was consumed by his anger and the desire to silence Orlando.
"Hey, stop it! What are you doing there, disperse!"
A man shouted from the hall, suddenly causing the employees who were watching the altercation to scatter in a hurry. However, Andrew was completely undeterred. He remained focused on pounding Orlando's bruised face.
A man in a dark blue suit appeared and shouted, "Andrew! Stop!"
Simultaneously, three guards quickly pulled Andrew off Orlando. Andrew grinned widely and spoke to the man in the blue suit, who was the CEO of the company.
"Ah, Sir, this is enjoyable, why did you stop me? Just a little more, and he would have seen hell!"
"Fuck you, Andrew!" Nadine screamed while crying, embracing Orlando, who was about to be evacuated by several guards.
"Ah, I'll send you to hell too, Nadine. Don't worry, you won't be separated!"
"Shut up, Andrew!"
Andrew's gaze then shifted to the enraged CEO. His face turned red, and he took off his black sunglasses, revealing the fierce glare in his eyes.
"Do you know what you did wrong, don't you?" the CEO asked.
"There's nothing wrong, Sir. Imagine if your child or spouse were insulted by trash? What would you do? Would you stay silent? I'm not sure. Self-respect is far more important, you understand that."
The CEO approached and stared at Andrew, then whispered softly. "Yes, but you better understand what kind of trash you're fighting against. Paper trash? Or junk that can kill you with rust and sharp edges? You've made a mistake, Andrew!"
The CEO glanced at the guards behind him. "Finish him off, make it worse than Orlando."
"No, don't do anything bad to my brother! I beg you!" Erica tried to stop the guards from touching Andrew, but to no avail. The sturdy guards pushed Erica aside and prepared to strike Andrew.
Andrew appeared calm and continued to smile. Just before the blow could land on his face, a man suddenly shouted and halted the action.
"STOP IT!"
Andrew and the others turned simultaneously towards a black luxury car parked in front of the company courtyard. A man in a black suit stepped out and approached them.
"I came here to bring Mr. Andrew to meet Mr. William, and I can assure you that the person you're holding is Mr. Andrew."
Instantly, the CEO's expression changed drastically. Everyone looked astonished upon hearing the name mentioned by the man.
In unison, the guards released their grip on Andrew's body. The man in the black suit approached the unmoving CEO.
"Hey, it seems like you have a problem with Mr. Andrew, but let me tell you, Mr. William left a message for me to bring Mr. Andrew safely as he was when they met yesterday. I'm afraid if Mr. Andrew has any scratches, even a tiny one, Mr. William won't be pleased," the man in the black suit whispered.
The CEO swallowed his saliva, shook his head, and said, "Y-Yeah, it's okay. It's all just a misunderstanding. We didn't intend to hit Andrew. You can take him!"
Andrew looked confused by what was happening. He hugged his sister and looked at the man in the black suit standing before him. Nevertheless, he understood that the man referred to by the man in the black suit was the old man he helped yesterday.
"Mr. Andrew, let's go. Mr. William is waiting for you at home."
"Yeah, but I'm with my sister. Is it okay if we bring her too?" Andrew asked.
"Of course, that's fine. It's even better. Let's go."
Andrew walked away from the CEO and the still stunned guards, who watched the luxurious car carrying Andrew until it disappeared from sight.
The CEO then hurried inside to meet Orlando, who had been taken to his office earlier.
Orlando's bruised face had a fierce expression as he stared sharply at the CEO upon seeing the man in the blue suit enter.
"So, how bad does Andrew look? He's surely worse off than me now, right?"
"I apologize, Young Master, but Andrew was picked up by Mr. William's associate, so... we didn't have a chance to hit him."
"What?!" Orlando threw the cloth he had been applying to his face. He rose from his position and shouted in front of the CEO. "What have you done?! You just let him go like that?! Do you want your job here to end?!"
"Honey, calm down," Nadine said.
"I can't calm down! This idiot couldn't even do his job properly, even though his only task was to oversee the guards and make Andrew's condition worse! I won't let him slip from my grasp!"
"I deeply apologize, Young Master Orlando, but hearing the name Mr. William, we all lost our nerve...."
"What does that have to do with me? Who the hell is Mr. William? I don't care! All I want is for Andrew to suffer more and be locked up in prison! I want him to live in torment there, even if it means dying in jail! I will call my father to handle all of this and make sure you receive a warning letter, you stupid CEO!"
"It would be better not to, Young Master."
The CEO's words stopped Orlando, who was searching for his father's number on his phone. "What do you mean?!"
"We're not dealing with just anyone. Mr. William is a powerful figure in this city. Everyone knows how cold and firm he can be. If something doesn't meet his desires, he can destroy it. Especially if it already belongs to him, we won't be able to disturb him. Perhaps, another good thing is that Andrew made a mistake and is being called to receive a terrible punishment. We don't know, Young Master."
The CEO's brief explanation made Orlando think. He turned off his phone and said, "Okay, in that case, I want you to gather information about Andrew's condition. If he's still fine, I swear to God, I won't let him go. I don't care if he's locked up in a cage with a thousand adult tigers! He must suffer!"
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4-49
The world reassembled without courtesy, snapping into place like bones set without anesthesia.Andrew hit solid ground hard, air tearing from his lungs as gravity reclaimed him with obvious irritation.He rolled instinctively, shoulders screaming as muscle memory compensated for power that no longer answered.Dust and ash coated his tongue, bitter and metallic, grounding him in harsh reality.When his vision cleared, he recognized the skyline immediately.They were back near the coastal ruins where the city had first fractured weeks ago.The sky here was wrong.Clouds hung unnaturally low, stretched thin like torn fabric, light bleeding through uneven seams.Every shadow felt sharper, more deliberate, as if cast by intention rather than physics.Andrew pushed himself upright slowly, careful not to provoke whatever invisible tolerance the world still extended.A faint warmth pulsed beneath his sternum, unfamiliar yet persistent.Not the Sapphire.Something else had taken root in its ab
4-48
Andrew woke to silence that felt artificially enforced rather than naturally earned.It pressed against his senses with an unnerving precision, like a system holding its breath.He lay unmoving for several long seconds, afraid that movement itself might trigger retaliation.The Sapphire beneath his sternum was inert, colder than it had ever been before.No pulse answered his cautious focus.No resonance acknowledged his existence.Panic threatened to rise, sharp and feral, but Andrew strangled it before it reached his throat.He had survived worse than emptiness.When he finally pushed himself onto an elbow, pain answered immediately and enthusiastically.Every joint protested as if resentful of being asked to function again.The chamber was gone.In its place stretched a vast plain of cracked obsidian, extending endlessly beneath a sky drained of color.No horizon was visible, only gradients of gray folding into one another.Andrew’s breath fogged faintly in the air, though there was
4-47
The throne did not activate immediately, and that delay unsettled Andrew more than sudden violence ever could.Silence pooled inside the chamber, thick and deliberate, pressing against his ears like an accusation waiting to be spoken.Noir straightened slowly, his movements stiff as if invisible restraints tugged at his joints.The cracks along his arms glowed brighter, leaking shadowed light that flickered with unstable rhythm.“You feel it,” Andrew said, forcing his voice steady despite the tremor in his legs.“This place isn’t choosing yet. It’s waiting.”Noir exhaled sharply, eyes never leaving the empty throne at the chamber’s center.“It’s verifying compatibility,” he replied. “Seeing which of us breaks first.”The walls began to shift almost imperceptibly, reliefs of shattered suns rearranging themselves.Stone groaned as ancient mechanisms awakened, responding to proximity rather than command.Andrew took one step forward, and the chamber reacted instantly.A wave of pressure
4-46
Andrew did not fall so much as he was unstitched from where he belonged.Space peeled away in layers, each one tearing loose with a sensation like breath being stolen mid-inhale.There was no up or down, only momentum without direction and time without patience.His body tumbled through overlapping fragments of places that never fully existed.He saw cities mid-construction and mid-collapse simultaneously, buildings flickering between futures.He saw oceans frozen in vertical walls, waves paused like indecisive thoughts.Pain arrived late, dragging itself behind awareness like an afterthought.Every nerve screamed out of sequence, confused about what it was supposed to protect.Andrew tried to summon the Sapphire instinctively, reaching inward the way he always had before.The response came delayed, distorted, like an echo bouncing through unfamiliar caverns.Light bled through his veins unevenly, blue-white pulses stuttering instead of flowing.It felt less like power now and more li
4-45
The first thing Andrew noticed when consciousness fully returned was the sound of breathing that was not his own.It was slow, deliberate, and layered beneath the ambient hum of fractured reality, creating an unsettling counterpoint.He opened his eyes cautiously, every muscle tense with the expectation of resistance.The world did not recoil this time, but it did not welcome him either.Andrew lay inside what appeared to be a circular chamber carved directly into black stone.The walls were smooth yet alive with faint, moving sigils that pulsed in irregular intervals.Each symbol carried a resonance disturbingly familiar to his Sapphire.Not identical, but close enough to feel like a distorted reflection.He pushed himself into a sitting position, jaw tightening as a dull ache rippled through his spine.The pain was manageable, but the absence of feedback from the Sapphire was not.“Still alive,” a voice said calmly from somewhere behind him.Andrew turned sharply, instincts flaring
4-44
The moment Andrew opened his eyes, the world felt heavier than it ever had before.Not physically crushing, not painfully oppressive, but fundamentally resistant, as if reality itself hesitated to acknowledge his existence.The sky above the fractured city trembled faintly, its color unstable, shifting between shades that should not logically coexist.Clouds froze mid-drift for a fraction of a second before resuming their motion, creating an unsettling rhythm that made Andrew’s chest tighten.He tried to sit up, and pain answered him immediately.It was not the sharp agony of broken bones or torn muscle, but something deeper and colder, radiating from beneath his sternum.The Sapphire pulsed weakly inside him, its once steady resonance now irregular, like a heart struggling to remember its purpose.Andrew clenched his jaw and forced himself upright anyway.His breath came slower than usual, measured not by exhaustion but by uncertainty, as if his lungs were negotiating with time itsel
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