Slowly but surely, Neo-Vatra regained its life. The population remained on high alert, unsure if the disaster had truly come to an end. Soon after, very few still had the matter in their minds. The world wasn't coming to an end, and with that being the case, there was no need to concern themselves with it.

The same couldn't be said about those living in Red Hill, especially those close to Red Garden. To them, the world did look like it had almost reached its end. Deafening explosions, lightning strikes, powerful storms—all of it came in the span of a few minutes. The chaos had the makings of an EI incident, and going by the scale, it was unclear whether they would survive.

Just when they thought it had come to an end, those brave enough to go out and check were met with the sight of a massive crater, one that looked like it was left behind by a falling meteor. The wealthy neighborhood was no more. Everyone and everything that had been inside it was erased from the face of the earth, leaving not a single corpse or a piece of debris behind.

The destruction had spread to some of the surrounding buildings as well. Looking at it from the outside, one could see that something had erased everything within a large sphere, leaving behind the massive crater and a number of cleanly cut buildings.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn that was close…"

A short distance from the site of the disaster, on the rooftop of one of those buildings that looked like it had half of it scooped away by a massive spoon, a shadow sat at the edge and gazed down at the scene of devastation. Though he had the silhouette of a person, a closer look revealed that he was nothing more than a human-shaped cloud of smoke.

Power had yet to return to the surrounding area, so the entire area was plunged into darkness. That should have completely masked his presence, but the moon was especially bright that night, and so was the cloudy sky above.

Heaving a long sigh, the human-shaped darkness leaned back and turned its head, the two white dots it had for eyes wide as saucers.

"He almost got you, didn't he?"

The one he spoke to was a man in tattered clothes. He didn't seem to have wounds of any kind, but his hair was a mess, and most of his red cape was gone. For someone who supposedly represents absolute strength, the state he was currently in didn't seem all that flattering, especially with the way he was sprawled on the cold floor.

It took him seconds, but he finally came back to his senses. As his face regained its impassiveness, he slowly lifted himself, floating up until his feet no longer touched the floor. As he gazed down at the humanoid shadow, a look of deep displeasure overtook his face.

"Erebus…"

"What?" The shadow expanded one of the white disks he had for eyes and cut the other in half, simulating the look of a raised eyebrow. "You aren't going to thank me for saving you?"

"Why didn't you act sooner?"

"I just arrived, you know?"

A heavy pressure fell on the surroundings, and the tension returned to the devastated area.

"HEY HEY HEY HEEEEEEEEY! CALM DOWN, WILL YA?" Erebus quickly shot up to his feet, waving his hands frantically. "I'm telling the truth! I only arrived near the end! It's not like I just sat around and watched the entire time!"

Paragon had trouble believing a teleported would arrive late to a disaster scene, so his eyes grew more judgmental with each word the shadowy hero spoke.

"Listen, that thing already had control over all the space around here, okay? I barely managed to pull you away at the very last moment!"

Though that sounded more plausible, Paragon's expression remained unchanging, and neither did the pressure he released. Eventually, his face seemed to relax. The incident was over, and the villain had escaped. It frustrated him to let it go, but he decided the matter was no longer worth his concern.

"That thing already knew you were here." He said, crossing his arms as he looked down at the massive crater. "It wouldn't have unleashed such an attack otherwise."

"Really?" Erebus raised an eyebrow once more. "From where I stood, it just looked like it was trying to hit you with a black hole to the face."

"It teleported every last living being in the area right before that." Said Paragon. "At the very least, it didn't intend on claiming lives other than mine and yours."

The shadowy hero widened his eyes at the comment then narrowed them and turned away, letting out an annoyed grunt. The truth was that he knew. He had noticed the villain teleporting people away, and he even tried to trace where they were taken, but to no avail.

The black hole that followed required his full attention. Though he put all of his focus into isolating the space around it, it still managed to swallow a few blocks. Paragon might be the world's most powerful Genome, but even he wouldn't have survived that attack if Head-on. When everything is said and done, Erebus still saved the day. It wasn't a perfect victory, but it was a victory nonetheless, and he wanted some recognition for his efforts.

"We need to do something about that purple armor of his." He said. "We can't have him teleporting us as he pleases."

"The council is working on a countermeasure, but it might take a while." As he spoke, Paragon slowly floated up. "Be on guard from now on. You won't get a third chance."

Leaving those words behind, the Level 6 Genome took off flying, leaving behind a loud boom that blasted the surrounding air. Watching him go, Erebus then turned his gaze back to the wide crater and let out a long sigh.

"Asshole." He muttered to himself. "Is this what I get for saving his ass?"