Draco returned to the underground bunker with a contemplative expression. He could tell that Amber had left something out, but it was not his place to dig into it.
He liked the current amiable relationship the two factions had and did not want to ruin it. He then shared this information through the mental bond with Eva and Shuangtian, who shared looks and shrugged.
So be it then. The apology was made and no serious harm was done, and they only had to be more considerate in the future. Shuangtian also knew that the message had been sent and if she tried to force it more, Draco and Eva would reject it.
As it were, they glanced at the portal while waiting patiently.
Within boundless, the core members were still absorbing torrents of energy. The Divine Energy halted and then their bodies actually began absorbing trace amounts of Origin Energy!
However, they could feel the world shaking as they did so, and Shadowheart and Essence shared a look. The two nominal leaders nodded and decided to interrupt the other core members.
"Its enough. We've got enough energy to materialize, if we take anymore, we'll do more damage to the world than we care to." Essence stated.
The others could feel it too, so while they were reluctant, they still got up and returned to earth through the portal. Once they left, the portal was closed and the chaotic energy stabilized rapidly.
Once the core members returned to earth, the y could no longer hold it in as their auras exploded. This was not their bloodline, or their control abilities, but rather their class abilities from boundless that had fully manifested!
Each and everyone of them could see screens before them while on earth and could even check their skills, spells, experience and the like. This was condensed by the power of the law of Boundless' universe through the AI, granting them the full extent of the power in the real world.
However, the limitation was that firstly, without Worldly Energy, they could not regen mana or use special skills that required worldly energy… which was most of their Divine class skills anyway.
Secondly, they could not gain experience unless they killed a monster that was also condensed by the laws of the Boundless Universe. So unless the target was also able to have the blessing they received, they could only grow in Boundless.
However, it was enough for them to merge their body and avatar. This meant that any powerful upgrade they got in the game would be fed back to them in real time.
This caused the core members to be excited and want to jump back into boundless, but they had to wait since the update was still ongoing.
As for the Evil Trio, they could easily tell what was going on with their power and this was basically what the expected. In the previous timeline, they had reached Update 7 and while it was not the stipulated update 10, many players had mentioned that they felt their bodies become stronger and more like those in the game.
Draco even knew that Rina had began casting some weaker magic in reality in the previous timeline. The limitation of Worldly Energy limited her and the others greatly though, which was why Draco theorized long ago that the world should have Worldly Energy.
Speaking of that, this limited them in this timeline too. Without Worldly Energy, many force and abilities were partially crippled, especially the lineages who could not supplement their bloodline abilities with it.
The solution was actually were easy for the Evil Trio, given that they could take down primordials now through ambush. With this, they could also restore Worldly Energy to the world.
But… why should they? Yeah it would benefit them, but not by much. They had the infinite bloodline energy to do what they wanted with. The core members now had their classes, but they were not stronger than their natural bloodline abilities.
Those bloodline abilities also had pseudo infinite energy in the sense that they could regenerate endlessly and be used freely. Control too, did not need such things.
Rather, if they restored Worldly Energy now, everyone but them would benefit greatly. The Lineages would become unstoppable, supernaturals members would grow wantonly, superhuman might also display some changes.
The average man might also awakened new abilities and be able to do things. It would be like an urban fantasy or magical realism novel where the world suddenly gained energy and everyone started cultivating again.
There would be chaos, a shift in the world order and a lot of trouble. This would not benefit the Evil Trio in anyway and rather make their jobs harder to do.
So no, there would be no sudden awakening of Worldly Energy for earth, not yet.
Now that all of this was dealt with, Draco nodded to the core members and left with Eva and Shuangtian as well as Anubesetesh who had been quietly watching the proceedings from the side with an expression of mild interest.
Time in the world full resumed and the world began spinning once more. Nathan Rothschild and Li Jian were still shocked that Sengo Muramasa had been easily one shot, while maria was horrified.
However, their expression changed once more as they saw that what they had seen one instant had changed the next. Nathan especially was terrified when he saw that Maria who had been seated beside him was now draped over the shoulder of Shadowheart.
"HOW?!" he roared with confusion on his aged face.
Shadowheart smiled. "Time stop. Our leaders stopped time when they saw Sengo Muramasa open a portal to escape, because that was what they were waiting for."
Nathan went silent as his heart chilled. He remembered that Shadowheart stated that neither he nor the Third Councilor were the targets of this operation like they first thought, but rather the main target was Sengo and the secondary was Maria.
It seemed that everything clicked. Nathan knew that Sengo was from another world, but exactly which world, Sengo never stated. It seemed that the leaders of Shadowheart's faction were after that world and had come here for it.
He also mentioned something about time stop. So did Shadowheart's people have the ability to stop time in an area? It was possible because Nathan knew of some who could theoretically do so for a few seconds in a very small area encompassing a few meters.
The portal Sengo had created was gone while the man himself was barely conscious, and dying, held like a sack of potatoes by Elle. Nathan's face darkened as he thought that the reason why the leaders Shadowheart spoke of had disappeared into the portal and invaded that other world.
His heart couldn't help but burn with envy. Such a new world with new resources, powers and abilities like what Sengo had would be extremely lucrative.
However, this world had no fate with him. Currently, his survival was even up in the air. He couldn't help but glanced at the shocked Li Jian and his eyes flickered with distress.
What to do?!
His beloved Maria was in the hands of another and his best general was captured. Even if he tried to evacuate, it was useless since they could reach him in seconds.
Nathan also had no plans to abandon them. He was not a holy person, or even qualified to be a normal person, but he had been raised to believe that family was most important, and while Sengo didn't reach that level, Maria definitely did.
Li Jian definitely had no such qualms and attachments as he only thought of how to escape. Before he could enact his plans he noticed that Ghostpro stepped forward and patted Shadowheart on the shoulder.
"Erm, Shadow. Right, you see, I have this girlfriend called Amelia… and she's kinda the niece of this guy. So can we like, spare him?" Ghost asked with am embarrassed expression.
"Oh?" Shadowheart muttered with surprise, glancing at Ghostpro up and down to check if he was real.
With a smile, Shadowheart nodded. "Sure, his life and death is not much. I'm more surprised you got a girl behind our backs."
The other core members seemed interested as well and planned to capture then interrogate the fellow later, which was exactly why Ghostpro tried to keep it under wraps.
He wanted to back away but Misery and AP placed their arms over his shoulders with wolfish grins, making Ghost's heart sink to his stomach.
There was no escape.
"What about the other one? Anyone want to spare him?" Shadowheart asked the other core members with a smile.
The others shook their head except Armonia. He pondered for a bit and made a request. "I'd like to capture him alive so I can dissect his brain and body to find a way to develop a methods to unlock control for sub-humans outside of training."
Shadowheart's eyes lit up. "Sure, no problem."
Meanwhile, Nathan and Li Jian had different reactions to the discussion of the core members. Nathan felt tired and surprised that his fate was so casually decided, also surprised that he got to live because of his exceptional niece Amelia.
As for Li Jian, he was horrified. As an upper echelon in his country, he had naturally abused the citizens of his country many times using his status, but had never had his life and death decided so freely like today.
There was nothing more bitter in this world than one's own medicine, and Li Jian was getting a healthy serving of it today. He roared and pushed himself up from his seat to escape, but could he?
Armonia simply stepped forward and barged through the sturdy wall of the faraday cage-like room, entering the control center. He waved a hand and threw talismans that attached themselves to the other superpowered leaders who were present in the room.
Each of them froze in place and then got up, walking into the area with the core members like zombies. As for Li Jian, he was booking it away when Armonia smiled and shouted.
"Ground Shrink!"
Immediately, the space between Armonia and Li Jian was eliminated as the former appeared right behind the latter. Before Li Jian could even beg, Armonia struck him in the back, breaking his spine and crippling him for life.
Armonia then broke his arms and legs before taking the screaming man who was still conscious and in endless pain away. Nathan could only watch helplessly as he was a normal old man with no super ability.
The core members were done here. They had killed or captured everything they could and it was time to leave. As they made their way back, Nathan rushed over and asked with a look of trepidation.
"W-What about Maria?"
Shadowheart glanced at him coldly. "She will suffer the pain she caused others, and if she is still willing to, she can return to you."
After that, no matter how Nathan begged or pleaded, Shadowheart ignored him as he and the core members left the estate. Misery then took down his barrier as they all left the area calmly, allowing those outside to see the carnage caused.
By the time the police and even the army were dispatched, the core members had long return to their base with their spoils. Though Misery and AP were noticeably missing for some reason.
Whatever the case, there were only a few hours left until Boundless' update was done so everyone settled in to wait for it. As for the treatment of Maria, Sengo and Li Jian, those responsible would naturally make time for it later.
Meanwhile, Draco, Eva, and Shuangtian brought Anubesetesh to their castle which had became larger and more expansive since they developed it more and renovated many places over the past few months.
Eva and Shuangtian went to collect Lucitian and Lucitera who had been playing on the castle grounds into their arms while Draco and Anubesetesh sat down and began to chat.