Dimensional Descent

While everyone was distracted, Leonel had already moved, making it to Conrad and James in a few steps and grabbing a side of the latter's collar himself. Another person might have chosen to fight off Conrad first, but Leonel was well aware how foolish such a choice was.

No matter what just happened, securing James' safety came first. No matter what happened between them, James was still his best friend. And, luckily, he had the now darkened lights on his side.

As expected, Conrad wasn't able to react. Seeing that Leonel now had a firm grip on James himself, he could only let go, allowing Leonel to pull James up.

"Leo…?" James' words slurred.

It was only now that Leonel realized James had actually been unconscious. It was likely his head that had smashed the window apart, it wouldn't be surprising if he was diagnosed with a concussion. Coupling that with the fact he was drunk and it was a recipe for disaster.

"Heeey, maaan. You're late, my sister-in-law was waiting on yoouu…"

Leonel sucked in a cold breath through his teeth when James heavily leaned on him. He was really in no shape to be taking on such a burden, but he still carried him out, letting him sit on the couch.

"Chef, do you have any gas burners back there? We need some light." Leonel called out.

The Four-Star Chef who had not said a word even when James' life was on the line finally looked a bit shaken. He didn't seem to know what was going on.

"… Yes… We use a blow torch for the finishing touches of certain dishes…"

He absentmindedly fumbled through the dark, pulling out the draw of a hidden compartment to take the torch he was speaking of. But, before he could think to hand it to Leonel, it happened.

In that few minutes, it felt that the planet would collapse. A cacophony of booms so loud Leonel had no choice but to cover his ears sounded. The earth beneath their feet trembled fiercer, the building swaying wildly from left to right.

It was then that Leonel froze. He didn't need to think to know what was causing this…

The Paradise Islands!

'Dad…'

A bout of worry seized Leonel's chest. No Paradise Islands were allowed to have routes that crossed over important landmarks. The top ten Academies, government buildings, and historical landmarks all fit this description. So, they were safe, for better or worse.

However, Leonel didn't care about his own safety. He was worried about his father.

Higher class Paradise Islands like the ones him and his father lived on had several safety features in case an event just like this one happened, however they weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. This was especially so considering the scope of this power outage.

close to the surface — the closest they could get, in fact. If their island crashed into some of the high rise skyscrapers first, it could slow its descent

could

system-wide failure, he would immediately run out of here, even leaving Aina behind. However, before everything happened, their wrist watches had warned of a Class 9 Code Red. It was very

his jaw, Leonel weathered the shaking earth with his hands firmly clasped over his ears. It was lucky that their buildings were built with the highest earthquake technology,

Paradise Islands above their heads. They would occasionally obscure the sun,

crashing boom, they became more and more aware that

floor lobby along with mute sobs almost

even begin, yet billions had already

though he had closed his eyes and clenched

of them were in the same boat. Even if their families were affluent enough to have a home on the surface, not all of them were

swaying beneath their feet. Maybe it was only now that they had become aware of just how many of those islands hovered above their heads… of just how many lives they hadn't even

happened. He carefully took James' shirt off,

only did James have a concussion, but the remnant shards of glass on the bottom ledge of the windowsill had left deep gashes to his lower

candles from a resident of the dorm and lit them, finally giving them a

if they had left to their homes.

he could, he slowly removed pieces of glass stuck in his flesh. Finally, he wrapped them after disinfecting with some

"Love you, man…"

help but think he was the

smiled and shook his head, his gaze turning empty for a moment.

as well. As one of the protected zones, they

more, but he had to admit to himself that he had no real evidence for

this outage actively. It wasn't

room and board. The academy also stockpiles several years

above its usual carrying capacity due to the game and the after party. Also, without

my words, they'll believe I'm being overly paranoid. The food here is enough to last a month easily before they

part understood that unless people had evidence toward how

any of this. He only wanted to go and see if his father was alright, he didn't care about anything

can't stand

second longer. Usually such a mess of vomit would be

walking away, and why would

wasn't destined to get very

shaken by the previous earthquakes and that the dormitory was collapsing. But in the next instant, he saw something he would never forget in his

he ever read the description of one, but he had a vivid enough imagination to know that if there ever was a spatial tear, it would look exactly like this. Maybe

black, starry innards, the way