No Place Before Me!

Adeline saw the modified crystal above a large number of forces and before she could even think to make an escaping move, it detonated with the force of a Cosmic Saint Attack which meant every single expert still on the ground was thrown apart in various directions.

While she and many others had been incapable of moving away fast enough, they had still been able to activate defenses to protect themselves against the blast... The defenses were just not as effective as they would have wanted.

They were all lucky though... Powerful as the blast was, they were still a very large force that was well spread so it was only those directly beneath the explosion who died or suffered the most injuries.

The Saints as well as Peak Semi-Saints had been in the air when the crystal exploded and had also been quick and strong enough to erect defenses for themselves against the blowback.