For a second or so, Sister Xuan just numbly stood there while looking at the mayhem in the stands.
"XUAN, DID YOU HEAR ME?! RESPOND, DAM-"
As the Matron"s voice abruptly cut off, she finally regained her senses and said, "Matron? I heard you! Matron?"
However, no matter how much she tried, there was no response from the other side.
Feeling a hand tap her shoulders, she looked to the side to see Molan staring at the sky with her mouth wide open.
A few figures were standing there in the sky, but the main thing that surprised and shocked both of them was that one of them was familiar.
They had seen him before during a visit to their sect, and he had become famous everywhere as the Champion level powerhouse who actually became shy around women.
His goofy smile was his trademark, but his disciples had told them that when that smile was wiped off his face, it was when things were serious.
And right now, there was no smile.
There were a total of 3 individuals in the air, and from the way they were standing, it was clear that two of them were on one side.
These two wore s.h.i.+ning black armor that shone, and their capes had a symbol of a sword piercing through a round object with rays surrounding it which looked like the sun.
As for the other man whom they were familiar with, he wore a sleeveless tattered full-body grey training jacket that showed off his scarred muscles. He was very tanned, as if he had spent a lot of time under the sun, and his s.h.i.+ny bald head actually reflected the sunlight, signifying how smooth it was.
"They just appeared. I was just looking where we could fly to."
Just as Sister Xuan was about to respond to Molan, the bald man split into 7 people.
In response, the other two men also mirrored his action, but they each split into 5 each.
The newly arrived clones could easily be distinguished in both cases by the different clothes, and all 17 figures shot into the stadium in a blur.
She didn"t know what had happened between them, but it didn"t require a genius to know that the two black-armored men were probably the ones from the Church.
She wasn"t clear about their targets, but the answer to this question became apparent just one second later.
"They are…the rulers!"
In the exact same spot from where they had raced away before, the 17 figures reappeared and the clones disappeared.
However, there were an additional 5 figures floating beside the bald man in a transparent ball.
These 5 were the rulers of the 5 Kingdoms taking part in this event, and the bald man had a triumphant expression on his face while the other two seemed to be frustrated.
What…was going on?!
Just as Sister Xuan and Molan were trying to wrap their heads around everything that was happening, a gigantic opaque barrier appeared above them.
The sky was blocked out, but the barrier seemed to let in the sunlight, so everything was still visible.
However, in the air, the 3 figures and the rulers were missing, as they were apparently outside the barrier.
BOOM
A sound like a thunderclap suddenly resounded across the entire stadium, making the frenzied crowd look up with shock to realize that they were now also trapped in a barrier.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Almost as if two giants were battling somewhere nearby, the entire stadium and the surroundings were subject to these repeated sounds which apparently had the effect of scaring the hundreds of thousands of people more, as screams of fear started to appear which filled Sister Xuan and Molan"s ears.
So much had happened just now that the two were still trying to take in everything, but these screams fraught with pain and terror woke them up.
The first thing that Sister Xuan did was take out the communication trinket that the Matron had just screamed through, but she stamped her foot in frustration when she saw that it wasn"t working.
Next, she took out the one that connected her with Daneel, and a smile filled with relief appeared on her face as she managed to send a message through.
Yet, the response shocked her, and actually almost made her faint as she had already had too many surprises so far.
"YOU B#@S! I"LL KILL YOU! JUST GET OVER HERE! SEE HOW I RIP YOU TO SHREDS! ARGH! ARR-Ignore what I just said. Come to Lanthanor"s booth. Quickly."
....
In the private booth of the Lanthanor Kingdom, Luther, who had just witnessed one of the strangest sights in his life, was rubbing his eyes and wondering whether he was going senile.
One second, all three of them had been staring at the horrifying things happening in the crowd, and the next, a hole had appeared in the ceiling above them.
The strangest thing was that there had been no sound when that hole had been made, making him wonder whether some spell had been cast to make him go deaf.
However, what happened afterward was even stranger.
2 distinct blurs had raced through the hole and s.n.a.t.c.hed both the Daneel and Faxul before making another hole and leaving.
Barely a millisecond after that, 4 more blurs which were a different color appeared in the room, but they only voiced sounds of frustration before leaving.
One second later, a naked Daneel appeared on the floor which had become empty after the disappearance of the two Kings.
"NO! STAY OUT! EVERYTHING"S FINE!"
Seeing the mages in the room about to enter the opaque barrier, Luther shouted these words so that no more subjects of Lanthanor would have to see this sight.
Immediately stripping his armor, he placed it on the King"s body, who actually opened his eyes in the process.
For a second, the two men looked into each other"s eyes, with only a chest piece covering Daneel"s genitals which could still feel the cold breeze coming through the holes in the room.
Immediately, Luther stood up and looked away, refocusing his attention on the crowd, as if nothing had happened.
This made him really forget what had happened, as what he saw appalled him.
This was when the booming sounds from outside also started to be heard, so even he, someone who had spent decades on the battlefield, started to become overwhelmed before Daneel"s calm voice settled his thoughts.
"Aaron is outside the barrier. Give me the clothes he brought. Ask him to leave for how; his questions will be answered later."
Nodding, Luther followed the instructions and gave the clothes to the King before turning away.
"YOU B#@S! I"LL KILL YOU! JUST GET OVER HERE! SEE HOW I RIP YOU TO SHREDS! ARGH! ARR-Ignore what I just said. Come to Lanthanor"s booth. Quickly."
Hearing this shout, Luther turned around just in time to see the transformation in the King"s face.
The bloodl.u.s.t from before had obviously been the one that said the first few words, but the redness in the eyes and the face gradually receded away from Daneel"s face.
Astonished at the fact that the King had managed to get over the enraged state by himself in such a short span of time, Luther was just about to speak but he was interrupted by Sister Xuan and Molan who appeared in the room.
With a dead serious expression on his face, Daneel quickly said, "Tell me what you know. Its not important why I screamed at you; I"ll explain later."
Sister Xuan looked like she wanted an explanation right now, but the constant BOOMs which had started to shake the decorations and paintings in the room made her decide otherwise.
"King Daneel, the Church is attacking the Event. A Champion-level member of the Big 4 has interrupted them. Their target seems to be the rulers, as the last thing we saw before the barrier appeared around the stadium was the 5 rulers all floating behind him. But…you"re here. This must be your clone. What"s going on outside?"
Daneel widened his eyes slightly on hearing his suspicion confirmed, but it had been obvious from everything that had happened so far that the attackers must be either the Church or someone at the level of the Church.
"I don"t know. My main body was rendered unconscious along with all the other rulers as soon as I was taken out by that man. He said something about "protecting us from mind attacks"."
"The-then how is your clone still functioning?! To make this happen, you must be using the unique clone technique, which is peak Warrior level, even bordering on Champion level!"
"Leave it, Molan. We should concentrate on the matter at hand. The Church is attacking, and all the rulers are incapacitated except King Daneel. I don"t know if anyone else also has functioning clones. We need to set our priorities."
In response, Daneel looked out the observatory gla.s.s in the room and said, "Yes. It"s probably best to stop mosquitoes from killing thousands of people first. Agreed?"
With a start, the two women looked at the crowd and hurriedly nodded, before all of them immediately flew out to a.s.sess the situation.