"Holy-! Osho just unleashed a devastating attack that incapacitated the majority of the Vermillion Academy’s students in kme attack! What was that?!" Mina exclaimed with genuine shock.
The spectators were in a similar state of shock as the previously bleak-looking situation had suddenly turned around in an instant. Everyone expected a tough fight for the group due to their supposed exhaustion. They didn’t think Osho would just throw a bomb and wipe out most of the competition!
"Damn! I didn’t think that would actually work!" Kurt exclaimed when they saw the aftermath of the explosion.
"... Can you get off me?" An annoyed and also embarrassed voice brought the boy out of his stupor, and he looked up to see Sam looking down at him with an embarrassed blush, which is also when he realized his head was resting on her chest.
Yeah, when it said they were huddled together, that was literal.
He quickly extricated himself from her and forced a cough.
Osho, who had shamelessly pulled Ellie close to him by her waist, let his hand slip off when the explosion died down, pointedly ignoring her pout.
’That was cool!’ Gale said and removed the barriers. Osho had to agree, but more than that, it was devastating.
The ground around them had been totally upturned by the sheer power of the attack.
The group had actually calculated how powerful Clyde’s sonic attack was before, well, mostly Kurt, but he’d told them that the sonic attack was about 180 to 190 decibels loud. One needs to recall that the damage was more cumulative than instant.
Osho judged that the sound unleashed by the bomb, though, was at upward of 220 decibels. In comparison, nuclear bombs produced about 210 decibels on average.
Moreover, this sound was naturally saturated with Clyde’s Mana with the intent to hurt, so it did a lot more than just spread out in a wave. In short, the devastation made sense.
’Seems like there is still some clean-up needed, though.’ Osho thought as he saw a few of the Vermillion Academy students still standing, kinda.
Han Jiwon had taken the least damage. He looked dizzy, but his beast seemed to have created a barrier of milky white light just in time to protect the two of them.
Another person who was still standing, Osho guessed, was the third seed, Ren Yamada. She had blood seeping from her ears and nose, looking a couple of moments away from passing out. Some silk had covered her ears to protect them from the sound, but it had done some clear internal damage.
There were a few others here and there, but it was clear that Han Jiwon was the only one there who seemed capable of doing anything tangible.
"You... bastard!" Han Jiwon growled as he managed to regain his bearings enough to glare at Osho.
"What did you do!?" He demanded, but Osho just smiled.
"I’d tell you... But nah, just fuck you." As soon as he said that, Gale increased the range of his domain and waved his wing.
The atmospheric pressure suddenly spiked, and the already struggling students were pretty much defenseless as they were pressed into the ground by an invisible force.
"Guh!" Han Jiwon grunted as he was brought down to one knee, his beast also making a noise as it strained against the pressure.
’How is this possible?? How can his beast still have this much strength left after fighting that alligator?!’ He questioned inwardly, unable to believe it.
It was at this point that Osho’s smile had finally slipped off his face to reveal something colder.
"I’m not a huge fan of talking to my enemies too much," He said slowly as he walked towards Han Jiwon and stopped right in front of him. He watched as he struggled to breathe and continued. "But I’m not a huge fan when people insult and try to hurt my friends in front of me and expect me to take it lying down.
He crouched in front of him and held him up by his hair, ensuring that both of them maintained eye contact. Han Jiwon’s enraged and slightly terrified eyes met Osho’s calm and cold ones.
"This is the last warning you will get. Try to approach me or my friends with bad intentions, and you will suffer. This is not a threat. It’s a promise." He let go of his hair and let him fall again, then he grabbed his arms and took off his bracelet without any fanfare.
Just like that, his number of points increased by a few hundred while Han Jiwon’s points were reduced to zero.
He walked back to the others who were watching silently, none of them offering an opinion on the matter. To them, it was done.
"Well, then, now that that’s settled...!" Osho started as he got close, but his eyes suddenly widened, and his head snapped up sharply.
Confused by his sudden action, everyone looked up as well, and their eyes also widened.
The dome that was covering the exam area... was turning an ominous shade of black at an alarming rate.
A few minutes earlier.
’It is time.’ ’Gary’ as well as several other technicians who were scattered around the place suddenly moved, the thing in common with each of them was that they were all next to integral parts of the shield generator.
The construct didn’t have a single generator, but multiple that were put in separate spots that supplied Mana into other parts of the machine that spread it out before projecting it into the dome everyone could see.
In unison, they approached these generators and placed their hands on them. As soon as they did, black and purple light lit up from under their palms and seeped into the generators.
Within the generators, dormant magic circles that were not supposed to be there suddenly lit up with the same black and purple light. Each one was complicated. Extremely complicated, and for them to be activated, the Mana needed would be insane.
None of the ’people’ activating it had the Mana capacity to do such a thing.
Which is why they gave up their life force instead.
It was so sudden and so in sync that virtually nobody was able to react.
One moment, everything was going well, in the next, several shriveled corpses dropped to the ground, and the shield generator which had been glowing blue before suddenly took on an ominous black and purple color.
The transparent dome rapidly started to turn opaque with the same color, and the cheering crowd was silenced as everyone watched the scene in confusion.
"Is this part of the event?"
"What happened to those people?!"
"Hey! The Mana screens disappeared!"
A wave of exclamations suddenly sounded out, with the sudden appearance of corpses catching the attention of many.
As for those stronger people in the crowd.
A golden beam of energy shot through the VIP windows and impacted the dome with terrifying force. Those closest to the attack let out startled screams as they scrambled away from the dome.
Inside the VIP lounge, Ellie’s father stood with his palm stretched out, his face dark. Beside him was an orb of light that pulled next to him.
"It absorbed my attack." He said matter-of-factly.
"This feeling..." Mrs Jane, who was already on her feet, muttered as she turned to the Citadel Lord, Simon, and Lady Haggai. They met her gaze and nodded.
"Haggai, ensure that no one leaves this place." The Citadel Lord instructed.
"Done." The scientist said curtly.
Around the event venue, a large barricade of vines surrounded the place, preventing anyone from stepping out or going in.
"I’ve contacted Major Thompson." Simon also spoke as he stood.
"Simon, Haggai, try and destroy the shield generators. Jane, Stephen, the three of us will try and destroy the shield generators, Fredrick, Timothy, the two of you will try and calm the crowd down, but also try and sense any traces of corrupt Mana. I doubt the perpetrators would escape just like that." The Citadel Lord gave out his orders and everyone nodded as they acted immediately.
"Allow me to assist." Everyone turned to see Mrs Jocelyn who had been quietly observing from the beginning speak up.
"My beast can cover a large area easily. It will help with searching for the suspects. She explained and summoned her phantom.
"It will be appreciated." The Citadel Lord nodded and went to the edge of the broken glass before jumping out, the others following suit.
Mrs Jane, despite seeming calm outwardly, was cursing herself inwardly.
’I should have known something was going to happen. I got too relaxed and this happened right under my nose. Dammit.’ Her eyes sharpened slightly as she went to the closest shield generator.
Inside the exam area, where one of the Adept rank beasts was located, which was a cassowary-type beast, the creature appeared to be sleeping.
Its minions moved about, but from the beginning till now, the thing hadn’t moved an inch. It was also the creature that Han Jiwon and his people planned to hunt before they shifted their attention to Osho and his group.
It hadn’t done anything noteworthy, however, as soon as the dome darkened, it opened its eyes, and they were pitch black.
Not just it, but all its minions, and around the simulated forest, a similar scene played out.