Chapter 453: Chapter 452- Unknown creators and backstab

The next morning, Annabelle woke up in a daze.

Her head was ringing, and her body felt heavy.

She took a few moments just to truly wake up rather than struggling between dream and reality.

When her vision finally cleared, she called out, “Dar…ling?”

“Ah, she is awake now,” Annabelle heard—a voice… heavy but female.

She turned and saw a rushing woman moving away from her.

Annabelle frowned, trying to get up. But then, a hand held her shoulder.

She turned, cautious.

A familiar voice told her, “Just rest. He will be here soon.”

Red, fiery hair. A pair of familiar eyes.

“Ruby…” she breathed, her body naturally lying back down. Her presence calmed her.

Ruby smiled warmly. “How does it feel?”

Annabelle sighed. “Heavy… drained… upset.” She glanced around and asked, “Where… are we?”

Ruby felt strange and sad seeing her friend—the same girl whom she had never seen weak or harmed like this before.

She was the strongest Warden, not just in name. She had never retreated from a battle, never backed down, never yielded.

Whatever the situation, how disadvantageous and despairing it felt… the battle never ended in her loss.

So when Ruby heard that Annabelle was injured and unconscious, it was natural for her to be worried.

“In the infirmary. Don’t worry, everything is under control,” Ruby said after tucking a few loose strands of Annabelle’s hair behind her ear.

“What about Ariana and Darling?” Annabelle asked, her vision still swimming a little.

Ruby sighed and assured her, “Ariana is safe and recovering. She hasn’t woken up yet, but Adrian said she was fine.”

Annabelle visibly relaxed upon hearing those words. She hadn’t forgotten the sight of Ariana standing on the battlefield, her left arm completely burnt because of thunder.

Annabelle caused it.

The memory still made her heart tremble with grief and regret.

Ruby blinked and then called out, “Hey, hey… what happened? Why are you crying, Anna?”

Annabelle closed her eyes and shook her head. “I failed… Ruby… I failed to protect them… and even injured Aria. I am such a sore loser.”

Ruby wiped her tears and gently replied, “No, you are not. These students survived because you kept those monsters away from the premises. Ariana had hope of surviving the ambush just because you were there with her. I can tell that without even hearing it from her.”

Annabelle sniffled. “But I failed… Darling gave me the responsibility to protect Ariana and the academy in his absence.”

Ruby sighed and told her the truth.

“You are not invincible, Anna. You are a human with limits. You did your best. You fought foes that could have shattered the academy and killed everyone. Just because you failed to fend off a single enemy doesn’t make you a failure.”

Annabelle covered her eyes with her forearm, not ready to listen.

Ruby smiled helplessly and whispered, “Your Darling would be sad to see you like this. Adrian is very tense at the moment… for you and Aria. At least, not for me—but for him, don’t make that face, Anna. He would be devastated to see you like this… he will blame himself for everything.”

Annabelle flinched at the last part.

She removed her arm and looked at the redhead, her eyes still brimming with tears.

Ruby smiled softly and said, “You can cry to me all you want, but for the sake of the man we both love, please be your usual confident self, Anna. Adrian needs that.”

Sniffling, Annabelle inched closer to Ruby.

Snuggling into her lap, she wept silently, not holding back the frustration and grief she was experiencing.

Ruby held her close, softly caressing her back, silently assuring her that she was here and everything was okay.

….

In the other room, one specifically arranged for Ariana’s recovery, Adrian stood near his fiancée.

Thanks to Umbral and the Tower’s cooperation, the academy was being repaired and the aftermath of the ambush was being handled.

The soldiers who lost their lives in the battle—their families were being compensated.

Adrian himself was donating one thousand gold coins to every family that lost their pillar yesterday.

He contacted Valor through the Dimensional Chat and asked if he could wait with the training until Ariana woke up.

Valor instantly responded, “Yes, of course. Please take your time. I will be waiting for you.”

Adrian was truly blessed with kind and understanding people.

But… there were certain aspects and incidents that made him feel like an unfortunate man.

The people he desired to protect, those for whom he had been preparing, planning, and training—only for him to find those same people getting harmed and he couldn’t do anything to prevent it…

Rather than being unfortunate, he was a failure.

“Aria…” he breathed, his voice a little shaky. “Anything could have happened to you… If only Nytharos hadn’t planned on cornering me.”

Adrian understood it well… Nytharos could have killed Ariana and Annabelle both.

Valor arrived when the Fallen God had already knocked them out and was taking them away.

The realization struck him hard.

The foe targeting him could appear right before him again, push him aside, and harm his people once more.

How many times could he call Valor? How many times could he evade the attack by teleporting away? Was there any end to this while he remained this weak?

“Stop.” He shook his head and pushed away the negative thoughts. Remembering what Avirin, in his memories, had said—he must control his emotions.

He had experienced it several times in these few hours since the previous day.

If he started to blame himself, he would continue until he found himself more guilty than the ambusher himself.

And his sane mind knew that such a line of thought was not normal.

He couldn’t let his thoughts wander.

He needed to be with Annabelle and Ariana at the moment. And rather than fearing Nytharos, he had to think about how to deal with him.

[Host, the entities blocking the world transfer are being identified. While the system couldn’t name them, those beings would ensure that any entity beyond a certain power level would be blocked from traveling to the Host’s world.]

[Calculating the presence value: Host Valor, Host Dark Knight, and Host Scarlette would most likely be prevented from making any journey to the Host’s world for the time being.]

Adrian frowned. “Tell me, what are their… these cosmic entities’ intentions? Why are they helping Nytharos?”

[It couldn’t be discerned whether the act of blocking the World Transfer was to support the Fallen Divinity or simply to prevent a worldwide disaster.]

Adrian questioned, “What exactly would happen if a person like Valor stayed in our world for long?”

[World imbalance. That would lead to the birth of something meant to balance the power levels. If someone like Host Valor stays for long, the world would register him as a resident and balance things out by allowing the birth of an equally strong foe.]

And that… would be disastrous, Adrian muttered.

Valor couldn’t stay here forever. However, if something as strong as him were born, it would surely remain—and possibly pose a greater threat than someone like Abraham or the Acolytes.

’Point noted. But are these rules applied by the Gods we know?’

[No, Host. The Gods whom everyone worships are merely the Administrators of the World.]

Adrian remained silent for a few moments before asking a question he hadn’t hoped to be answered.

’Then… who is the Creator?’

And just as he expected, there was no response.

Knock

Hearing the knock, Adrian called out, “Yes, coming.”

He glanced at Ariana’s sleeping face, smiled briefly, and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“I will be back in a minute, love.”

Leaving three golems, seventeen traps, and ten alarms behind, he stepped out of the room.

“Hmm? Sir Albec?” Adrian was surprised to see the dark-skinned man standing there, wearing formal attire unlike usual.

“I… just arrived. I am sorry for what happened,” the man said in a quiet voice, his tone heavy with grief.

Adrian sighed and told him, “Thanks for visiting. Anyway, did you need something from me?”

Albec glanced at the door Adrian was shielding before he said, “I… was supposed to tell the Headmistress only. But considering you two are quite close, I will tell you what I have heard recently—and the world will know in a few days.”

Adrian nodded, listening intently.

Albec glanced around before lowering his voice even further. “Every single major academy, including Aegis Academy, is going to release an invitation to the public… or rather, to the parents of students.”

Taking a brief pause, he finally revealed, “Every other academy has decided to boycott Runebound by offering direct transfers to their institutions. Their reasoning is the security concerns surrounding Runebound Academy. And given there are several paranoid parents who want their children to graduate from a prestigious academy while remaining safe… I believe they might take this opportunity.”

Adrian bit his lower lip. Was the ambush not enough that those bastards were now backstabbing Runebound?

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