Emery was still trying to process what was happening when he saw the arrival of not just one, but two supreme magus. The two figures who gave off an aura that suffocated his breath were currently flying in the air, their gazes swept over the devastation around them.
The person in the lead was someone Emery immediately recognized as King Alduin, while the person following right behind him was none other than the Supreme Protector of Golden City, Rosin Karat.
Taking in the present condition of their surroundings, the anger in Alduin's eyes burned even fiercer.
"Look at what you did! You should not have stopped me, Karat!" The king furiously shouted.
Without bothering to care about Karat's reaction, like a falling meteor, the Zodiac City's ruler rapidly descended towards the ground and went into the massive hole that led to the underground prison.
Behind him, the old supreme protector glared in irritation, before summoning a dozen powerful golden humanoid figures. Under his command, the humanoid figures then spread out and began to clean up the area.
Just like that, all the magus inmates that gave the magus enforcers great difficulty were dealt with and taken care of in a flash. They were rounded up by the humanoid figures without them being able to do anything.
While Emery was still momentarily stunned by the scene, Magister Barty approached him with suppressed worry, "Is the headmaster safe?"
Upon hearing the magister's question, the scene where he last saw Headmaster Delbrand inevitably flashed in his mind. As much as he wanted to believe the headmaster was completely fine, he ultimately shook his head.
After all, he had no way of knowing about the man's present condition. Hence, seeing there was nothing needed to be done on the surface, without much hesitation, he followed the magister to enter the prison building once again.
What used to be the building interior had become nothing more than piles of rubble. There, dozens of human corpses lay on the wrecked ground with trails, splatters, and even pools of blood surrounding them.
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Emery's anxiety ballooned out of control with each step as they descended toward Level 4.
After what felt like an eternity, the two of them finally arrived at the destination and the scene of King Alduin strangling a female grand magus inmate in the air entered their sight.
The latter was absolutely powerless in the presence of a supreme being and surprisingly the king was able to burn the Lava grand magus to crisp and took her soul captive.
Looking around, Emery saw the headmaster was sitting against the wall with blood all over his body. At glance, he looked like he had received quite heavy wounds. However, while the magister immediately headed toward him, Emery continued to sweep the place, looking for a certain red-haired girl.
And he found her.
"No... no... no..."
The moment he saw her, Emery's feet instantly moved without even being prompted by his mind. He rushed towards where she was, his mind desperately wishing what he was seeing right now wasn't real.
On the broken ground, her body lay cold. Her open eyes no longer had the luster they once had, her once-luscious hair blended in almost completely with the crimson pool underneath her body.
There was a sudden throbbing pain in his chest, much more painful than being stabbed by a sword.
Emery knelt in front of the girl lying on the ground and he gently closed her eyes. Now looking at the lifeless body up close, he could feel his emotions about to break out thinking about the last words she said.
(Thank you)
"What did you say that for? What have I done to deserve it?" The words were getting quieter as he continued to speak. "I-I am sorry I couldn't save you..." He whispered in a slightly trembling voice, his hand still above the girl's closed eyes.
Emery took a deep breath to calm his turbulent emotions and when he opened his eyes again, he couldn't help but heave a sigh.
Taking a sheet of white cloth from his storage ring, he carefully covered Annara's body before looking away.
Observing his surroundings, Emery found there were at least a dozen magus corpses in the area. He spotted the dead body of one of the grand magus inmates he had seen, but he couldn't find the two he was most concerned about – Cassian and Goto. Lord Esbern and the group of Tiger half-bloods, who he previously saw also went into the prison were nowhere to be seen either.
King Alduin glanced at Emery for a second,"Esbern was here, wasn't he?"
With Emery's nod of affirmation, the king's face turned sour. This got Emery to wonder why the king said Lord Esbern was dead before, but he didn't ask the matter, he knew now was not the time.
A groan sounded in the air, catching the attention of the two. Upon noticing the headmaster opening his eyes, Emery immediately rushed to check up on him. King Alduin did the same.
Headmaster Delbrand took a deep breath before slowly saying what he had discovered.
"The academy... their target... is the academy..."
The moment those words fell, King Alduin glanced at Emery for a second, but didn't say anything. Without waiting to hear Emery's response, he swiftly flew up to the surface and straight to the sky.
Emery was planning to check the headmaster's condition first and take action accordingly, but it seemed to be unnecessary as a group of healers soon arrived. They quickly went for the headmaster as well as swept the area for any survivors.
At this moment, Magister Barty suddenly clenched his hand at a particular corner and shouted "Who is hiding there?!"
Apparently, he had spotted a hidden figure and, with this sudden action, he caught the other party off guard and forcefully pulled them out of their concealment spell.
"It's you!"
To Emery's surprise, it was the Black Jackal. Being in the middle of such a disastrous situation, the mercenary didn't dare to joke and explained at once about what he witnessed.
"There were six... no... seven of them, they all suddenly disappeared as if they were teleported away simultaneously."
Confirming they were Esbern, Cassian, Gotto and the tiger half-blood group who all left by teleportation, once again made Emery worry about the previous recall spell.
Suddenly out of nowhere, he heard the loud ringing of bells. Then to his surprise, this sound quickly sent the magister shocked.
"What's wrong!? Elder, what is going on!?" Emery asked
"That's the city's emergency bell! Something big is happening!"