Chapter 138: Disappearance
At peak intensity, the white light had enveloped half of New Washington City. Even the blood moon looked abnormally dull in the night sky.
At that moment, be it Pamela, Professor Brown, or Lolander and the others from the different academies, a sense of dread and an inexplicable hopelessness rose within all of them.
They had underestimated their enemy. More accurately, even though they found their opponent strong, they did not think the opponent could inflict so much damage to Judge Academy. That was the confidence Judge Academy had for countless years.
The confidence did not last too long; the Americans had egg on their face that night. First, the blood moon suddenly appeared, then that mysterious light.
What would happen next? No one had any confidence anymore.
With the confusion and shock, all the Americans had complicated expressions. They did not know what they needed to do and could only wait for their foe to make his next move.
Just as quickly as it appeared, the white light suddenly disappeared.
When Pamela and the others opened their eyes, everything turned quiet. The white light was nowhere to be seen, and the white, converged moons were once again in the sky. The moonlight was no longer blood red, reverting to the original silver hue.
The floor was littered with skeletons, and not far away, people could be heard screaming and shouting. Sporadic explosions could be heard, which were the only remainders of what had happened.
Everyone had a lost, questioning expression on their faces. It was like the sea had sent over a gigantic wave, and everyone had shut their eyes waiting for death, but at the next second, they opened their eyes and the sea in front of them was once again calm.
Everyone felt that; one moment they were frantic, but the next it seemed like nothing had happened. At least, everyone was sure that they were not hurt by the intense light earlier.
“Is it over?” Chloe said suspiciously.
“What were they doing? Was that a light show?” Lolander tried joking to dispel the odd atmosphere, but no one laughed.
“It’s Norn!” Professor Brown suddenly pointed at the direction of the palace.
Everyone immediately tensed up. The Americans quickly picked up their weapons and a.s.sumed a defensive stance, looking over with full preparedness. However, his expression made them curious.
Norn stood at the palace door, dumbfounded. His eyes looked empty, and it took awhile for him to snap back to reality. His lips trembled as he cried out in a low and hoa.r.s.e voice. “What...what is happening! The Gate of The End had opened. Why did I not go inside! Why! Impossible! Why did it happen!”
“What is he saying?” Chloe asked in a low voice.
“What is the Gate of The End?” Professor Brown said, unsure.
“Whatever he was doing, it seemed to have failed,” Lolander said brightly. Whatever the end goal was for that night, from Norn’s expression, it did not seem to have succeeded.
“You! You evil demons! What did you do? How could you have the power to close the Gate of The End! It’s absolutely impossible!” The veins could be seen in Norn’s eyes as he wildly shouted at them.
The cry of a dragon-eagle was suddenly heard in the skies, and a squad of dragon-eagle knights descended close to the palace. Under the moonlight, a tired-looking middle aged man quickly walked over.
“It’s Captain Harry of the knight regiment!”
Pamela could finally relax. The American woman vibrantly smiled for the first time. “We’re safe.”
Harry wore a purple and gold suit of armor, and he held his helmet in front of his chest as he looked at the skeletons scattered all over the ground. He gazed over everyone, finally stopping at the despondent Norn. With a wave, two riders immediately rode their dragon-eagles over, pointing their lances at Norn’s throat.
Harry chose to immediately kill Norn. He quickly determined that the man was no longer his ally. As the focal point of everything that happened tonight, he needed to hear what happened from Norn’s own mouth.
“Captain, what is the situation in the city?” Pamela asked, the skeletal creatures in the air earlier caused her some concern.
Harry solemnly replied, “It’s all been settled. I pursued the origin of the bright light here. What happened?”
Pamela pointed at Norn before noticing the various wounds he had. Those were from the start of the battle, so she hurriedly said, “Captain, be careful. He seems to not be affected by physical attacks.”
“I understand. I fear he might be controlled by some spirit borne from necromancy. No matter, their lances all have anti-magic capabilities. They can directly harm the spirit.”
Harry came prepared, but it did not come as a shock. He looked around before rubbing his forehead. “Pamela, I heard that Lilith was here tonight. Where is she?”
“She was with us the whole time and was very safe. Earlier, she even...” Midway through her sentence, she tried to look for Lilith, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Xiao Lin! Xiao Lin is gone as well!” Lolander cried out in shock.
Everyone started to get nervous, but after looking around, they noticed that only Xiao Lin and Lilith had disappeared, causing Harry’s anger to rise.
Harry’s usually calm face had a look of frustration. “Pamela! I reminded you to ensure Lilith’s safety!”
“That’s...that’s impossible. She was right here. Could she have gotten injured and headed home?” Pamela started to get anxious as well, not even believing her own excuse.
“Have people investigate!” Harry immediately decided.
“Hold on! Xiao Lin too! Xiao Lin disappeared as well! You need to find him too!” Lolander called out to Harry. He had been pretty decent friends with Xiao Lin over the few days, so when he said that, Harry was only focused on locating Lilith, not even noticing Xiao Lin’s disappearance, he immediately spoke up.
“Xiao Lin?” Harry had a confused look in his face, and tried to figure it out. It was only until Pamela reminded him softly did he realize, and say with some uncertainty, “The Chinese boy?”
“Correct!”
“Fine. Perhaps he’s with Lilith.” Harry gave a half-hearted answer. In his eyes, Lilith was a lot more important than Xiao Lin.