Ember froze in her place. Her eyes stared at the empty air — in other's perspectives, yes. But in her own vision, she was staring dumbfoundedly at the floating screen before her.

'Realm Guardian' was written along with the other geometrical visuals decorating the screen. She pressed on the upside-down triangle visual just beside the name of the blessing. Soon after, a smaller panel screen slid down from the main screen.

She had received a new blessing after imagining she was interacting with the red star above the city skylines. But, unlike the other blessings, skills, talents, or techniques she possessed that had their functions being explained by the system, the 'Realm Guardian' was an oddity.

The screens presented in her vision did not give any explanation or so whatever but question marks filled over the smaller screen. Never she saw or remembered anyone, especially Enhanced individuals had experienced a thing like this.

She was the first to experience an error in the absolute system that had been a part of Enhanced individuals' life.

'This is certainly a strange occurrence I've encountered but..'

Ember looked ahead to the silhouette of Octagram City. The too-early-lit fireworks already decorating the starless sky when it hadn't been passed 00:00 yet. Everyone was just that excited for the new year.historical

Taking a look at her Nova Watch, she thought:

'If only they knew what would happen..'

Shaking the bad feeling that began to make its way to her mind, Ember took a last glance over the skies outside before she headed outside of the room, walking down a spiraling staircase connecting the highest floor to the first floor.

The staircase was just an illusion, though. With the help of the wizards, the academy set up an invisible door that worked like a wormhole, or simply call it 'Teleportation Spell', several steps away after entering the tube in the middle of the library's first level.

It was similar to warp gates but did not have a physical appearance and sensation similar to them.

Once outside, Ember took in her surroundings as she walked toward the south gate.

The campus had fallen into slumber. Quiet and peaceful. No single students roaming around. Either they were joining the celebration at the city square or somewhere else.

"..."

Feeling lonely, she played with her Nova Watch as she walked. Tapping the wrong icon, the Nova Watch opened the exclusive messaging app for Octagram Student instead of opening a streaming platform.

She clicked her tongue with a pang of annoyance. Before she could close the app, her gaze locked on a particular chat she had with Zio Varrez.

It had been a few days since he wasn't seen around the campus. She was wondering where he had gone. Her message from yesterday was left unread until now. Thus, she decided to look for him.

Not only because she was curious but she had several reasons to look for Zio. That was; she needed to fulfill the promise between them three years ago, Silver Hound's request, and she had something she wanted to ask him — about the red star.

'But where should I go first?'

Ember only had 30 minutes to look for him and yet, she had no idea where Zio was.

'Maybe I should try with his house first.'

With the knowledge she had about Zio's house thanks to Silver Hound and her Eidetic Memory. Perfectly recalling the information she had stored inside her brain database, Ember was able to find his house in less than 15 minutes,

Knock—!

She knocked on the door but there was no answer coming from the inside. Noticing that the door was unlocked, she carefully entered the house.

"Zio? Are you there?"

She looked around the first floor but found nothing. The furniture — everything was untouched. The sofa was cold, no hint of someone had been occupied there for a long time.

After finding nothing on the first floor, she went upstairs. Soon as she stepped foot on the second floor, she noticed a room with the door leaving a small gap.

Not wasting more time, she walked toward the door and pushed it gently.

Peeking her head from the gap, her eyes quickly widened as she found Zio sitting on a chair. He turned his head, staring at Ember with empty eyes as she approached.

'Am I too late..?'

"Zio?" She extended her hand, trying to reach his face.

It was at that moment her eyes widened like a tennis ball, and her heart skipped a beat when something grabbed her wrist. It was Zio's hand.

"Caught you."

"Wha—!"

Before Ember could react, Zio was already pulling her close to him. Ember's weight fell on Zio. Her head was buried in Zio's toned torso, and the warmth of his body immediately spread on her.

Ember could hear his heartbeat while she was in that position. Looking up to glance at his face, she just had to have a dumbfounded expression on her face. Eyes as wide as a tennis ball and mouth hung open like a cave.

Then her eyes locked on the fingers between her eyes above, ready to flick them at her smooth and soft forehead. Slightly shifting her gaze on Zio, she noticed a grin on his face. His empty eyes had regained their life.

"This is the price for hiding secrets from me."

He flicked his finger, it carried much force with it, hitting Ember's forehead with a loud snapping sound.

"Ouch!"

The area of her forehead which had the finger snap landed on it was throbbing, leaving a temporary red bruise. That was proof that Zio hit her hard with his finger snap.

Ember quickly covered her forehead. She still had that dumb face sprayed over her face, seemingly processing what just happened.

But Zio was still not done yet. He grabbed Ember's hand in front of her forehead and pulled it down then quickly assumed a finger-flick gesture again.

"This is for lying to me."

A loud snapping sound resounded in the air, filling the entire room. Not giving her time to rest, he did another one.

"And this one is just me venting my frustration."

Snap—!

The sound of Zio's finger-snapping echoed through the room once again, causing Ember to flinch and let out a small yelp. Her forehead throbbed with pain, and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Confusion mixed with hurt as she looked up at Zio, trying to make sense of his actions.

At best, she could only give him a few blinks out of confusion while rubbing her forehead, trying to soothe the pain and wondering how he could manage to bring such pain to her.

As far as she knew, his strength was two ranks below hers. So, how could he deliver such force with a flick of his finger? The obvious answer would be ranking up. But the problem was how did he improve in a short time.

Releasing Ember's hand, Zio stood from his chair. Looking at Ember's expression, he couldn't help but chuckle. Leaning forward, he reached out to gently wipe away the tears welling up in Ember's eyes.

"Does that hurt?"

Ember blinked a few times before answering.

"It does.."

Zio grinned, throwing his gaze away toward the window. There, he watched as the fireworks painted the starless night sky, filling the atmosphere with a celebration for the new year.

"I'm not going to apologize for that.

Then he caught the cracks and odd energies tearing apart the dimensional space.

Turning around, he tapped Ember's shoulder as he walked toward the exit, leaving the building. Ember gazed at the scenery outside the window and witnessed the horror view of a crack of the dimensional space unfolding before her eyes. Swallowing the dry saliva stuck in her throat, she rushed to follow Zio outside.

"That's the demon."

They stared solemnly at the sky. Their attention was fully focused on the gigantic dimensional rift hovering above the city. Peeking from the black void of the rift was a yellow eye. The scene itself was like a God's eye revealing itself to the world, observing what the inhabitant did in their life.

"!!!"

"!!!"

Shivers ran down their spine as the Eye in the sky met their gaze — which was true but also not true. Because of its size, they just felt like their gazes were contacting each other when it was actually not.

Every living being who saw that might also think what Zio and Ember thought.

"I expected this sh*t but.. It's different to experience this scene directly as a character.."

Growl—!

Suddenly, a deep, loud growl reverberated in the air. Not only did the sound make people who heard it tremble in fear but it also made the Earth shaken.

"Insect.."

As the first word voiced, it sent millions of people across the world to collapse in place simultaneously because of the overwhelming pressure the voice carried. Mostly, it was civilians who collapsed.

The Enhanceds, even those who were ranked <F> were able to withstand the pressure of the first word. But, what about the next word?