Chaos' Heir

Chapter 1389: Triangle

"Love you," George eventually said, retracting himself and stepping back. "All three of you."

Anita only had the time to nod at George before he performed the same gesture at his security detail’s leader. The latter understood the assignment, shouting orders to bring Anita, Michael, and all the other soldiers to the whooshing ships.

George kept his eyes on Anita and their son until they entered the ship before turning to look at the horizon again. At times, he hated being right, and that was one of those instances. The black cloud was already upon the city wall, seemingly ready to crash over it like a tsunami of darkness.

The time to leave the safety of the terrace had arrived. If anything, George was already late, but his heightened senses ended up delaying him even further when they updated him about a familiar presence behind him.

"I ordered you to bring my family to safety," George scoffed, peeking past his shoulder to glance at his security detail’s leader. "That included you."

"Patriarch," The soldier called, wearing a stiff military salute, "With your permission, I’ll stay here in case you need an extraction point."

Two of the three ships had already set off and had almost disappeared among the distant white mist, but one was still on the terrace, active and ready to do the same.

"Didn’t you say the mana-based tech has already become unreliable?" George reminded. "I can manage, but you might remain stuck here."

"I’m aware, Patriarch," The soldier responded. "I’m willing to take the risk."

"What did I even do to earn such loyalty?" George cursed, sighing as he stared at the less-distant approaching darkness again. "Is this how that guy tricked me into this?"

"Sir?" The security detail’s leader asked.

"Don’t mind my ramblings," George casually reassured, heading toward the terrace’s corner. "Just try your best not to get killed. I’m quite the lucky fella, and that guy will stop at nothing to save me, but he doesn’t know you."

The security detail’s leader didn’t really understand what the Patriarch was talking about, but never got the chance to question him further. The terrace’s corner featured the building’s elevator, and George only had to step on it for a circular platform to descend through the floors.

’Look at me,’ George mocked himself while the elevator brought him down. ’I’m going around inspiring people to become suicidal now. The world has gone crazy.’

As expected from a luxury location, the building’s elevator was incredibly quick. It reached the first floor in no time, but George didn’t press the exit just yet.

George took a deep breath, only for some discomfort to draw his gaze toward his left hand. The fingers around the dark-grey scabbard occasionally twitched, trying to oppose his firm grasp.

’That’s what marriage does to a man,’ George mentally snorted. ’A few years sleeping with the same woman, and my cool in the face of the battlefield is gone.’

Of course, George knew that the tension he felt had nothing to do with the battlefield. He didn’t fear fighting. He was worried about what he might lose.

"My spirit is one with the sword," George muttered, taking another deep breath that got rid of the annoying twitch. His mantra also affected his aura, calming it down, thinning it, sharpening both its edges and insides.

George slowly lifted his gaze, his face showing no trace of his previous casual, joking mood. His expression was rather cold, almost empty, but his eyes radiated a deadly, piercing vibe.

Yet, when George reached for the surface in front of him, nothing happened. The elevator didn’t open at his touch, and the artificial light soon went off.

’Just my luck,’ George thought, sighing while his right hand reached for the black handle peeking from the scabbard.

Aynor’s streets were a picture of complete chaos. Initially, only the high-tier citizens and their security details were in a hurry to return to their extraction points or reach the city’s teleports. Still, that trend changed once technology started to fail.

Hovering cars and other city vehicles had flown over the crowds, only for the interference caused by the black cloud’s arrival to make them crash into the streets or buildings.

That intensified the mass chaos. No one died, but the first wounded appeared, whom the city’s soldiers tried to help, only to discover that their equipment was abandoning them, too.

That was the turning point. Having the rifles, guns, or medical equipment go dark on the soldiers while they were wielding them finalized the mass panic, making them join the evacuation.

The world of mana, the only world the soldiers knew, was ending, so there was no point pretending to have any amount of control. They joined the panicking crowds, worsening the mess in the streets.

As if running wasn’t hard enough, the buildings also stopped responding to external commands. Some people had been lucky enough to reach their extraction points, only for those structures to remain closed and dark, the non-functioning security measures keeping them out of their potential salvation.

Since George’s building belonged to the Ildoo family, no one squeezed near its surfaces in the hope of getting in, which ended up working in the panicked crowds’ favor.

Rivers of people were running all around the block when two oblique lines cut through the building’s black surface, overlapping at the top to create a triangular shape with the floor.

The lines were too thin and unnoticeable to attract any meaningful attention, but what followed wasn’t. The two-meter-tall triangle slid forward, detaching itself from the building’s wall to crash on the sidewalk.

That finally made some of the surrounding people stop thinking about escaping, especially since a famous figure stepped out of the odd-shaped cavity, climbing over the severed chunk of the wall to assume a valiant stance.

George walked toward the severed triangle’s tip, a silver straight sword with two sharp edges resting on his shoulder. He gazed over the crowds at the distant black cloud, as if he were standing on a solitary peak, despite being at the same level as everyone else.

That stance and the previous event earned George quite a lot of stares, eventually attracting his attention and making him browse the motionless people around him. He frowned as a strange thought rose through his mind, making him peek at the triangular chunk of the wall under him.

"I didn’t crush anyone, did I?" George asked.

Most motionless people didn’t reply, but a few shook their heads, reassuring George, who heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well, resume evacuating already," George scolded, jumping off the severed, triangular platform, landing on a crashed car in the distance before leaping again.