Isaac gave her a look.
“You’re worrying about the wrong person. That old man took way more damage from me than I took from him.”
Alice smiled faintly. She thought he was just trying to reassure her.
Isaac noticed the look and frowned.
“I’m serious. I beat him way more than he hit me.”
“Okay,” she said with a nod.
“…No, really. I’m not exaggerating.”
“Okay.”
Isaac stared at her.
“Are you doing this on purpose, or do you actually think I’m lying?”
Before she could answer—or deflect—the space around them fractured.
Thin lines of light spiderwebbed through the air, and the Mirror World shattered like glass.
They were back in the real world.
And it was chaos.
The damage from the battle was far more obvious with the people around.
A large commercial building about to collapse, its front entirely missing.
One Awakened, massive in size—his body transformed through some ability—was holding up the upper floors with both arms, preventing it from falling further.
Police sirens rang out in the distance, and several Awakened in uniform were already forming barriers to stop civilians from coming close.
Flames burned in the far end of the street.
Rubble and broken vehicles were scattered everywhere.
Isaac took in the scene, then glanced sideways at Alice.
She didn’t look guilty.
If anything, her face said she would do it again if a similar situation arose.
He opened his mouth to say something, but she was already pulling out her device.
“Who are you calling?” he asked.
“Selene.”
“…Why?”
“We need a lawyer.”
Isaac blinked. “Huh?”
Alice didn’t even glance at him. “We were attacked. We defended ourselves. That’s all that happened. There’s no way we’re paying for this.”
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think we went a bit overboard?”
Alice looked up from her screen and met his eyes. “We were attacked by assassins, Isaac. High-level ones. It’s not our fault it happened in the middle of the city. We didn’t start it.”
“Sure. But we definitely finished it with a building collapse.”
“A good lawyer can handle that.”
Isaac stared at her for a second longer, then looked at the destruction around them.
“Right. A very good lawyer.”
The call connected.
Alice spoke quickly, explaining that she and Isaac had done “a little” damage to the city while fighting off assassins.
Her tone was calm, like someone explaining they accidentally dropped a glass of water.
A few minutes later, two figures arrived before the authorities could even get there.
Selene stepped out of the car first.
She was dressed sharply, tablet in hand, expression unreadable.
Behind her was Chairman Lucius Calloway, looking far less formal than usual, but still giving off an aura that made people instinctively move out of his way.
Alice opened her mouth.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine—”
“Are you okay?” Selene asked, walking past Alice without a pause.
She stopped directly in front of Isaac, eyes scanning him just like Alice had done earlier.
Alice froze.
Isaac coughed and avoided her eyes. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Selene let out a soft breath. “That’s a relief. You don’t look too hurt, but you should still get checked.”
Then she turned, finally looking at Alice. Her expression was filled with concerned, but that didn’t soothe Alice’s hurt heart.
“Alice, what about you? Did you get hurt?”
Alice stared at her silently.
For a second, she didn’t say anything.
Then she looked at Isaac, then at Selene, then back again.
Her expression told Isaac she was sulking because Selene checked on Isaac first.
Chairman Lucius cleared his throat, breaking the moment.
“I suggest we leave before the press gets here,” he said. “There’s too much heat right now. We’ll handle this somewhere private.”
He wasn’t being overly firm, but his tone made it clear that lingering here would only cause more trouble.
Unfortunately, that was when the real authorities arrived.
Several city enforcers stepped through the cordon, accompanied by uniformed Awakened with city crests on their arms.
The leader, a man in his mid-thirties with a sharp expression, stepped forward.
“We need to take both of you into custody for questioning,” he said, looking at Alice and Isaac. “There’s been substantial property damage, and we’ve received multiple emergency reports.”
Isaac looked at Alice.
Alice looked at Selene.
Selene raised a hand calmly. “You’ll be taking statements, not placing them under arrest.”
The lead officer frowned. “We need to bring them in, ma’am. That’s procedure.”
Chairman Lucius stepped forward then, pulling out a silver medallion and showing it without speaking.
The officer’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of the symbol.
Whatever authority Lucius was invoking, it outranked whatever local jurisdiction they were dealing with.
“I’ll take personal responsibility for them,” Chairman Lucius said. “Let’s not waste time here.”
The officer hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod. “Understood, Chairman. But we’ll still need to follow up.”
“You will. Through proper channels.”
Selene was already motioning for Alice and Isaac to move.
Alice didn’t hesitate. She walked ahead along with Selene.
Isaac followed a few steps behind, glancing at the broken streets one last time.
Fires were being put out.
Cranes were arriving.
Civilians were still gathering beyond the police barriers, trying to catch a glimpse of what had happened.
The damage looked worse now that he wasn’t in the middle of it.
They didn’t take the usual hospital route.
Selene brought them directly to the Calloway Conglomerate’s private medical facility.
It wasn’t a massive complex like a public hospital, but more like a high-end medical suite tucked into one of the upper levels of a secured building.
Every hallway was clean and quiet.
The lighting was soft, and the staff was efficient.
Checkups began almost immediately.
There were no waiting lines, or unnecessary questions.
A doctor checked Isaac’s ribs, scanned his vitals, and monitored his mana levels through some specialized equipment.
Blood tests were taken, though Isaac wasn’t exactly sure what for—probably to see if any foreign curses or mana residue remained.
’Selene really went overboard for the check-ups.’
His left arm had some cuts.
They treated those right away, wrapping it in cooling gauze that numbed the pain within seconds.
Meanwhile, Alice was in the room next door, getting the same treatment.
Every so often, a nurse passed between them with charts, moving quickly and quietly.
While one of the doctors was checking the bruises along his back, Isaac pulled out his phone and called Emily.
It was late, but she still answered quickly as if she had been waiting for him.
“Isaac?”
“Yeah. Hey,” he said, trying to sound casual. “I might be staying out overnight again.”
There was a short pause before she spoke. “Did something happen?”
“No, it’s nothing serious. Alice just said she wanted to spend another day at home.”
“Okay,” Emily said. “Come back tomorrow. I miss you.”
“Got it. Good night.”
After hanging up, Isaac stared at the ceiling for a moment. He let out a small sigh.
’If only I had Celia’s teleportation ability, I could’ve gone to Emily right now and told her everything in person.’
He didn’t tell her the truth since Emily was the type to worry too much.
He would tell her everything after he met her in person tomorrow.
The checkups continued for another hour.
By the end, the pain in his body had dulled, and the medical staff told him there weren’t any lingering issues.
Still, he could feel the exhaustion starting to weigh down on him.
The adrenaline from the battle was wearing off.
A nurse came in and told him Chairman Lucius had requested a meeting.
He was asked to go to the private conference room on the same floor.
Alice was waiting outside in the hall.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” She replied. “I healed myself with my skill. They didn’t need to do so many check-ups for everything.”
“Well, there are quite a thing that can’t be healed. Curses, poisons, nanotech virus. Selene must’ve been worried about those.”
“Yeah.”
After a short talk, they walked side by side into the room.
The space was quiet, tastefully furnished. A long dark table ran across the center. There were several people already inside.
Chairman Lucius was seated at one end, looking over a document.
Selene stood beside him, arms folded.
Next to her was a tall man in a navy suit. He was probably the lawyer. His glasses were thin and rectangular, and he gave a polite nod when they entered.
At the far end of the room stood a man with black hair streaked with silver.
His coat was buttoned neatly, and the fabric looked expensive. He had the kind of posture that didn’t need to say much to command attention.
Governor Marcellus Dane.
Beside him stood Vale Rae and a woman Isaac hadn’t met in person before, but he knew immediately who she was.
Asha Fenn. The leader of the Black Wing Guild.
Her presence explained more than anything else in the room.
Black Wing had supported Oran Fennel during Fennel corporation’s recent actions against Isaac.
Only after Selene’s involvement did they back away, quietly retracting their support.
Now that Isaac saw her here—at the Governor’s side—he finally understood just how deep the ties ran.
The governor smiled gently as they entered. “I’m glad to see you’re safe, Mr. Isaac.”
Isaac nodded slightly. “Thank you, Governor.”
“There’s no need to thank me,” he said, waving the formality aside. “We’ve settled the details with Miss Selene Calloway. You won’t face any penalties for tonight’s events.
“Tomorrow, the official statement will confirm that you and Miss Alice stopped a high-level terrorist who intended to harm civilians.
“Thanks to your timely actions, the threat was neutralized before it could escalate, and not a single life was lost.”
Isaac offered a faint smile. “I appreciate it.”
Alice, however, remained silent.
Her arms were crossed, and her expression was unreadable.
Isaac didn’t blame her.
It was a strange feeling, being praised and swept into a clean narrative after such a destructive fight.
It felt like they were being rewritten into a more convenient version of events.
Still, he smiled and nodded. That was the easiest thing to do right now.
Inwardly, though, one thought stood out.
’The governor’s influence is insane. To clean this up so quickly.’
Governor Dane’s tone remained kind, but there was weight behind his words.
“You’re a citizen under my care, Isaac. It’s my responsibility to protect my people, especially someone like you. Someone who, with the right support, can help feed all the hungry children and families still struggling out there.”
Isaac froze for just a second.
He met the governor’s eyes and smiled again, just a bit slower this time. “Of course.”
That line—feed all the hungry children—wasn’t just metaphor. The governor had already dug into his background.
That was expected. If someone like Governor Dane didn’t do his research, that would’ve been surprising.
But Isaac hated when his past was dragged back into the conversation.
Even so, this wasn’t the place to show it.
He kept his face calm. His voice steady.
Alice, meanwhile, creased her brows tightly at the Governor’s comment.
She glanced toward the governor, then at Selene, then at Isaac, as if wondering she could act.