James' boisterous laughter filled the night sky.
"You dog." James punched Leonel's shoulder. "You actually disappeared for half a month with my sister-in-law, since when were you two moving so fast?"
Leonel laughed and shook his head. It seemed that James was still the same old James.
"We had to save your ass. Who asked you to be so useless." Leonel rebutted.
James stumbled backward, putting a hand to his chest as though he had truly been hurt.
Leonel's banter with James was light hearted and fun, but it made the officer's break out into another cold sweat barely moments after surviving through their first bout.
Though they didn't know who Leonel was, they definitely knew who James was.
Beneath the Governor Duke's family, there were several other supporting families of great, albeit lower, standing. James' Bennett family was one of these forces, or how else could he be coming out from the Governor Duke's mansion?
The truth was that this place looked like a mansion from the outside, but it was more accurately described as an estate or maybe even a castle. It looked like one massive home, but the inside was separated into the living residences of several prestigious families.
In normal times, with how arrogant these families were, it was simply impossible for them to share space like this. Unfortunately, due to the apocalypse, space was limited. So, though they could live in better luxury than the normal citizens within the walls, they still had to bunch up as well.
That said, it wasn't as though they were suffering.
James finding Leonel here was actually just a pure coincidence. The towering double doors of the mansion were perpetually open. After all, it was just the entrance to an inner city of sorts and no one dared casually offend so many nobles.
He had been tasked with receiving some prisoners. Obviously, with their low standing, these officers had no right to enter the inner city. Since it was an easy method to gain some easy contributions, he had come. He had just never expected that the so-called prisoners would actually be his best friend and his 'sister-in-law'.
"… This is ridiculous, don't even worry about it." James said with a casual wave of his hand. "I don't know what you did wrong, but I assume it has something to do with entering a Zone without first registering. But, considering the timing, you entered during the grace period."
Hearing these words, Leonel's sighed a breath of relief. He really would rather not fall out with the Empire so quickly. He didn't have the means of dealing with them, even if he wouldn't be chased with the full brunt of their power. Plus, Earth was his home. He would rather not escape to some unknown world.
James ignored the officers and led Leonel and Aina up the wide stairs and toward the looming double doors.
It should have been no different from crossing another threshold, but Leonel felt that upon stepping through the doors that he had just passed a misty rain. He blinked in shock, only to find that the scene before him was completely different from what he had seen from the outside.
It was like he had gone back in time to the day he left for school. Royal Blue City was back and the Paradise Islands hadn't fallen.
However, Leonel knew that this couldn't have been true. At best, this was a small replica of the once luxurious city. But what still remained unchanged was the fact that unlike the outside, this place had no restrictions on technology at all.
'How…' Leonel's brows furrowed. 'Spatial abilities? This place seems bigger on the inside than it was on the outside… There's even a sky here. What's going on? No, it's impossible for an ability to have such a large scale already… right?'
"Cool, isn't it?" James grinned as he looked toward Aina and Leonel. It was rare that he could be aware of something these two Class A students weren't.
"Governor Duke's eldest son is managing this place while his father was recalled to the capital. Well, all Tier 6 officials and above were recalled. They want to clear out the Ascension Province and restore its peak glory as quickly as possible, so not to mention Tier 6 and above officials, even those monsters with S-grade abilities and above were recalled as well.
"However, they didn't leave us without any protection at all. The Junior Governor Duke also has an S-grade ability. He calls it Illusion Mist. From the outside, this Fort only seems to be ten kilometers in diameter, but the truth is that it's almost double that with most of the space being taken up by this hidden city."
"An S-grade ability, huh.." Leonel muttered.
The scope and power of an S-grade ability left Leonel feeling cold. To hide such a city right beneath the eyes of so many, and for him, even with his sensory abilities, to not even notice. He wouldn't be able to handle such a person in battle even if all of this Junior Governor Duke's stats were 0.10.
This was exactly why Leonel hadn't rashly attacked those Tier 3 Officers. Not only was he worried about their technology, he was also worried about what abilities they might have. Even if his stats destroyed them in all areas, what could he do against an overpowered ability?
It was the same as that metal bodied A-grade Invalid he had killed. Leonel's stats had still been better than it at the time, but its ability made it frighteningly difficult to kill.
Still, even with all of this being the case, Leonel remained calm. His ability didn't have such outstanding immediate effects, but he believed that its potential was no less frightening. If given enough time, his future prospects were unfathomable.
Leonel wasn't an ambitious person. He didn't have lofty goals or a hunger for power. Sometimes, he believed that it was precisely due to this disposition of his that the Gene Analysis results slotted him the way that it had.
However, Leonel was also maturing slowly. Currently, he had no goals or aspirations, but that was only because he hadn't decided what he wanted to do with his life yet. He was just like any other normal 18 year old, wandering a bit aimlessly.
That said, there were two things Leonel did know. For one, he wanted to help Aina. And two… He didn't like the methods of the Ascension Empire. In fact, they sickened him.
If this was the case, he only had one task: grow stronger.
James' lip twitched when he felt his best friend start emitting that scary aura again. He had grown a bit used to it, but it still made his knees weak.
He knew that Leonel had a slumbering beast hidden inside him that only lifted its head every so often. If there came a day Leonel met something that let him completely release that beast…
'… If you weren't so soft, you would truly be a monster.'
"Come on. I was supposed to bring you to Tier 5 Admiral Millan. I was confused before, but you guys probably did something big, huh? It's fine, my dad doesn't fear that old guy. It should be easy to smooth things over. Plus, talent is exactly what we need right now."