Chapter 51 Beyond it All [4]
At Francis' instructions, the group did not proceed and watched the scene in horror.
From behind Raven, Francis' voice reached his ears.
"I have no use for the girl anymore."
He then locked his gaze with Raven.
"But you on the other hand..."
The moment those words left Francis' mouth, a chill ran down Raven's spine.
"...An anomaly."
"...!"
'An anomaly? What is he talking about?'
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Raven's heart pounded in his chest as Francis' cold eyes bored into him. The others in front of him shifted uneasily, watching him in horror.
They couldn't move.
They couldn't help him.
If they did, who knows what might happen to Raven.
"What—Ukh!"
Francis' grip on his neck tightened even more.
"Your abilities, your very existence...it's all wrong. A defect in the universe itself."
Raven's mind raced. He had always known he was different, the system, his abilities.
But to be called a mistake, a defect by this man...it chilled him down to his core.
Raven clenched his fist.
Francis seemed to know more about him than he had ever known himself.
But each and every one of his words made Raven wonder what exactly was so special about him, to the point where he would be granted a system.
No, what exactly is the system?
'And why do I have it?'
Regardless, he knew the only one who could answer his question was Francis.
At least, that's what he thought.
And as Raven was about to open his mouth to ask the question...
BOOM—!
The window shattered and tore down the blinders while the room shook intensely.
Glass shards sprawled all over the floor.
Unexpectedly, the force of Francis' grip on his neck loosened.
And as he turned his head to look at Francis—to his surprise, blood dripped down from Francis' mouth.
Thud–!
As Francis' grip loosened even more, Raven fell to the ground.
Raven then motioned back and turned his attention to what exactly happened.
What met his sight was a hollow golden spear that impaled Francis.
Thump!
Francis knelt on the ground and he seemed to turn his head behind him.
Following his direction, Raven looked behind the shattered window as well, only to find...
Evelyn, a pair of hollow golden wings protruding from her back as she floated in the air.
Her eyes—once purple—had shifted into a bright golden glow.
Raven then shifted his attention to Evelyn's hand–or rather–the man Evelyn was holding.
The familiar sight of the man with red hair, and blue eyes, instantly registered within Raven's eyes.
It was none other than Clint.
They seemed to have made it in time to save him.
But...
Raven felt uneasy.
Francis must have been the key to him solving the mystery regarding the system.
But it seemed like Francis' days were over.
Just one attack from Evelyn had him bleeding profusely.
The gap between them was too large, and despite wanting to know more about the system, Raven couldn't jeopardize the operation.
However, as he was lost in his thoughts, something–or rather—someone caught his attention.
From a rooftop, quite a significant distance from Evelyn, a man stood still and watched the entire scene.
Though Raven couldn't quite see him as his vision was blurry, the man seemed to don a white a mask.
After the fight with mages back in the lobby, Brandon realized just how severely disadvantaged he was when it came to a contest of strength.
Once his stamina was drained, his strength would gradually diminish in the process.
Thus, Brandon decided to pour it all into [STR] until it advanced to the F+ tier.
And with the remaining stat point, he poured it into [AGI].
After that, he closed the system and decided to leave the scene.
Step—
But... The moment he did...
"Not bad."
A voice from behind reached his ears.
He turned around to trace the source of the voice.
However—to his surprise—there was no one there.
"I've set the stage for you, and..."
The voice.
From behind.
He turned around once again, only to find...
Nothing.
"...You've completely exceeded my expectations."
Brandon turned around.
But once again, there was nothing.
No one.
'What the fuck is going on?'
From what he could register, the voice sounded like it belonged to a man.
But the voice was unfamiliar to him.
"Those documents you found..."
Again, there was no one.
"...Did you really think Osborn left it there on purpose?"
"...?"
'What is he talking about?"
No one.
No one was there.
Just a voice.
But Brandon couldn't shake off the feeling of the man's presence.
He was definitely there, but would move fast enough before Brandon could see him.
"Congratulations, Brandon Locke."
The man...
'He knows my name...'
Despite adorning the Mirage Mask.
"You have passed the screening test."
Brandon stood still and stopped turning around whenever the voice registers.
Yet he could definitely hear the man speaking from behind him.
Finally, Brandon opened his mouth to reply.
"What are you talking about?"
The moment those words left Brandon's mouth, the entire area shifted.
No, it was warping.
A black void cascaded the sky, and gradually sealed off the entire rooftop.
'This ability...'
There was no doubt within Brandon's mind.
It was the [Space] affinity.
But who?
From what he remembered from the novel, a character had never appeared with the [Space] affinity.
So who could it be?
As the entire area had finally been sealed off by what seems to be a reality domain, the voice once again reached him.
"Greetings, Brandon Locke. We've finally met."
Turning around, what met Brandon's line of sight was a man with jet-black hair and ink black eyes, sitting on what seems to be a throne.
"How would you like to join the Primordials?"