"T-thank you," Ramian told Lucifer, seeing that it's because of Lucifer that the people ran away.
He turned to his dead son, who was just five years old, placing his hand on the cheeks of the little boy.
"I, no, we are sorry for your loss. You shouldn't have lost your son. I can only try to imagine your pain," Zale said, sighing.
Lucifer didn't comment anything. He simply glanced at the dead boy. There was something strange which he was feeling inside himself. He didn't understand what it was, but it was slightly odd feeling.
"We are leaving," he told Zale. "We have people to meet."
He stopped looking at the boy and left the room. He believed that Clarisse had run away by now. The only reason he didn't chase her was because he truly didn't want to fight. He subconsciously wanted to let her leave.
Ramian watched Lucifer leave, letting out a deep sigh. He couldn't help but wonder how different it would've been if they had arrived just a few moments ago. Their son would've been alive.
He got off the bed, picking his son's body in his arms.
...
Lucifer left the room, stepping into the hallway, only to grow surprised that Clarisse hadn't left.
She was standing in the middle of the hallway, unmoving.
There was a man standing before her, dressed in a dark robe. Her eyes were shining in a mysterious black light.
Five men were standing behind him, aiming their guns at Clarisse and Jake.
The man turned his attention to Lucifer in the back, who had just stepped into the hallway.
As Lucifer and Zale were stunned, they were momentarily still as well, giving the dark robed man a feeling that they were under his abilities as well.
"Fire!" He commanded the guards.
All the guards behind him started firing with their machine guns. At the same time as they fired, the man removed his time Barrier to let the bullets through.
Thud~
One of the bullets stabbed in the forehead of Jake. Others penetrated his chest. When it came to Clarisse and Zale, nothing happened to them as Lucifer cast his barrier around them precisely.
At the same time, Ramian had stepped out of the room just before the first bullet was fired.
Thud~
The first bullet hit his knees, second hit his shoulders, while the third one passed through the center of his forehead.
Hearing the painful grunt coming from the back, Lucifer turned around.
"Ramian?"
He cast a barrier on Ramian as well, but it was too late. Ramian dropped to the ground with the body of his son.
"Ramian!" The Dark Robed man yelled, seeing Ramian being shot.
He again cast his time Barrier on the surroundings just as Clarisse had started to use her winds after understanding the situation. She again found herself paused in time.
The dark-robed man pulled out his knife and ran ahead to finish everyone on his own.
This time, Lucifer was sure that he was using the ability of time stop.
"So the trip here wasn't a complete waste in the end." He started flying towards the man as well.
As soon as Lucifer left, the Emergency Negative field moved away from Zale, letting him get stuck in time.
Lucifer cast another barrier around Clarisse, seeing the knife just inches away from her body.
"You! You can move!" The man roared.
"I can do much more," Lucifer replied, thrusting his hand inside the chest of the man, grasping the heart of the man.
He pulled out the heart, letting it fall on the ground since he didn't want to decay it entirely by holding it.
"I'm sorry, it's nothing personal. It's just my ticket back. Don't blame me." After finishing, he placed his hand on the pale face of the man, decaying what was left of his body.
Seeing the strength of Lucifer, some guards started running while others started firing even more intensely.
Lucifer snapped his fingers, sending his wind blades. All the guards dropped to the ground.
The spy was still hiding in the shadows. He wanted to come out and attack when everyone was busy, but he understood that he was going to fall quite fast under that time domain. All he was going to do was give away his position.
He decided not to take any action, especially after seeing the skills of Lucifer. He still needed to understand more.
The time barrier had gone, Clarisse once again came to her senses, sending a fine attack towards the guards.
"Huh?" Even though she had attacked, she was surprised to see that everyone was already dead. The battle was already over? How come she didn't know anything?
She soon remembered that Jake was lying on the ground, dear.
"Jake!"
"He is dead, like everyone else here," Lucifer answered instead.
"You saved me?" Clarisse asked. "You could've saved him as well, right?"
"I could have, but he wasn't worth it," Lucifer replied, stomping on the skull of Jake.
"Zale, leave with Clarisse. Wait for me near the shop where we first met. I'll see you there."
"You aren't coming?" Clarisse inquired.
"I still have some things to take care of. Now get out before I throw you both out," Lucifer replied.
Clarisse looked to Zale, reaching out her hand towards Zale. "I know we did bad by killing the boy, but I can promise that I didn't know Jake was going to do it. Our plan wasn't to kill innocent people."
"I-i will believe you," Zale nodded, holding the hand of Clarisse.
"Come back fast!" Clarisse told Lucifer before she flew away with Zale.
Watching Zale and Clarisse leave together, Lucifer nodded in satisfaction.
"Now time to take some powers. Since both powers are of similar nature, this should complete the time core. With greater control, I should be able to go back whenever I want in the future."
He raises his shirt, stabbing his hand on his stomach before he swiftly picked up the heart and placed it inside his body.
The heart started decaying, turning into pure energy for Lucifer.
Within seconds, Lucifer absorbed the heart. However, as soon as he finished, he started feeling something strange. Unlike before, his body wasn't feeling cold. Instead, it was starting to feel extremely hot now.
"Don't tell me I screwed up again?" he muttered, finding his vision getting blurry. "Hopefully not."
He flew out of the mansion and kept flying to get to some safe place.. After flying for a long time, he finally reached the shop where he saw Zale and Clarisse.