Shadow

Was everything over?

Everyone wanted the answer to that question, all of the mutants they were fighting against were all motionless on the ground. Although they were relieved, they were also quite confused at what happened until Ena spoke up.

"It seems the gem, Alex, and the mutants were all linked together, that meant if the gem died, Alex was killed, the mutants would die with it too," said Ena.

Hearing this, all of the royal members sighed a breath of relief. After the long tiring and gruesome battle, they were finally able to rest. However, some felt sorrow. Some of their friends were killed during the battle and they weren't able to protect them.

Ena noticed the despaired atmosphere around some of the members and called Ellie over.

"Is there anything you need?" asked Ellie.

"Yep and it's something I can't do since it would probably lower their pride by a bit," said Ena.

"Go on," said Ellie.

"I'm sure you can see the despaired atmosphere in different parts of the group, I was hoping if you could give them like a..speech? Cause the battle just ended, we're supposed to be happy and not be dispirited," said Ena.

"This is what you called me for? Without any preparation and rest?" asked Ellie.

"I know, I'm sorry about that. But you understand right?" asked Ena.

Ellie sighed, after everything Ena has done for them, something like this couldn't compare.

"Fine, but don't blame me if it's terrible," said Ellie.

Ena hugged Ellie's waist, "Thank you!"

"S-stop! Let go at this moment!" Ellie exclaimed.

Ena who didn't know what was wrong let go of Ellie and looked at her confusedly. Before Ena could say anything, Ellie rushed off to give the speech to the dispirited members.

"What the heck was that..." Ellie muttered as she put her hands on her flaming face.

Luckily Ena wasn't there to see her embarrassed face, she would've drowned in shame if that ever happened.

Alice was still looking around when she saw Ena hug Ellie, somehow that made her heart tremble and her stomach churn. Her feelings were suddenly overwhelmed with jealousy, Alice wanted Ena for herself, no one else could have her or even touch her.

But the feeling of jealousy eased up when she saw Ellie pull away, however, when she saw the flustered face that Ellie had, her possessiveness over Ena rose once again till she couldn't take it anymore.

"Ena!" Alice shouted as she ran over to give Ena a crushing hug.

Ena was surprised at Alice's sudden action but wasn't the hug a bit too tight?

"A-Alice! I-i can't breath!" Ena said as she tapped on Alice's arm.

Alice loosened her grip, "Sorry, I just-"

Ena knew there must've been something wrong since Alice wouldn't hug her out of nowhere.

"It's okay." Ena said with a smile, "You can keep going." said Ena.

With that, Alice once again hugged Ena, but it wasn't bone-crushing like the other one Alice gave earlier.

As they were hugging, Ena glanced over at the situation with the royal members and sighed a breath of relief. It seems like Ellie's speech was able to lift their spirits.

Before the "wholesome" moment between the two sisters could go any further, the sudden rumbling above them forced them to part and look over to what was happening.

From above, the ceiling collapsed, and several shadow figures descended from above. At that moment, time seemed to slow that down for a moment.

Everyone froze, they couldn't do anything except watch the shadow-like figures slowly levitate towards them. Not even Ena could move at this moment, but she was able to lock eyes with one of the shadow figures.

Their eyes were different colors, on the right eye was purple, on the left eye was black. Ena moved her eyes elsewhere in fear something would happen to her, if they could make the world's time slow down, who knew what else could they do.

The shadow-like figures walked past the royal members, the dead mutants, and went over to the area where Alex's corpse was placed. From what Ena could see in her peripheral vision, the figures kneeled and pulled out several different utensils that Ena couldn't make out.

The figures didn't seem to do anything except inspecting the body, Ena tried using her chi to enhance her vision but her chi was all depleted from her battle with Alex.

When the figures finally got back up, they seemed to talk to each other for a moment before leaving. Except for this time they didn't levitate, the figures turned into shadows.

Once they left, the world's time started to flow again as everyone dropped to the ground. The only ones who were standing were Ena, Alice, the dukes, and the duchesses. Everyone else's strength seemed to be sapped away when the time slowed.

The first thing Ena did was walk over to Alex's corpse and see what they did. However, there were no visible changes that Ena could see that was done to the corpse.

"Was there anything done to Alex?" asked Alice.

"Not that I could see, I couldn't even tell what utensils they were using," said Ena.

"Moreover, who were they? No, what even were they? They looked like they weren't even from this world." said Alice, there was a slight tone of panic in her voice.

Ena couldn't say anything, there wasn't much she couldn't even say since she did not know the figures either. There weren't any books about them either, there was only one possibility.

"Do you think something like a higher realm is real?" asked Alice.

"Maybe, but there's no time to worry about what they were or who they were or whether they came from a higher realm or not. Let's go check on the people who had their strength snapped," said Ena.

Alice sighed, Ena was right, there wasn't any time to worry about them at the moment. As long as Ena was safe, then she was fine with everything. Was her way of thinking a bit too simple-minded? She didn't think so.

Ena who didn't know what Alice was thinking felt relieved when she saw Alice's calm expression and envied her a bit. Although Ena looked fine on the outside, inside her was of mixed emotions and hundreds of thoughts.

"Hmm?" Ena murmured.

There was a black shard from the ground that didn't look like anything they had. Ena kneeled and picked it up, the shard was so cold that it made her almost drop it. She inspected the shard for a bit, but Ena could confirm one thing, it came from the shadow-like figures that were here earlier.

Right when she thought it was just a useless shard that the shadow-like figures left behind on accident, something crazy occurred.

「 New Ability Achieved! 」