Just as the Exalted One breached through the Freehold barrier—Just as his law's effect spread down towards the residents of Freehold—Just as he charged directly towards the source of the tremendous levels of energy... For the briefest of seconds… Every single person saw a flash of the brightest light they all had ever laid their eyes upon.

It barely registered to their perception, but that short moment was enough. It seared through their retinas, burned through their skins, fried every cell, every nerve ending in their bodies, scrambled every synapse in their brains. For that brief millisecond, every of their senses were jumbled together in a mishmash. Their brains interpreted touch signals as taste, hearing as colors, smell as sound, all at once and within an instant, right before their senses were burned to the point they couldn't even sense anything again.

Their worlds went dark and totally silent…

In that moment, there was no 'them'... there was no self… there was no pain… no feeling at all. There wasn't even a sense of nothingness…

And within that same instant… just as it had come… it went… almost like nothing had happened at all…

But the damage had been done. The whole Freehold Sanctuary was deathly silent, without a single sound to be heard.

The people closest to the flash had been dematerialized into nothingness and even the buildings closest to it were no more. The whole area had been sterilized cleanly.

Only the people furthest to the edges, who had been affected by the Exalted One's law as he entered Freehold, were safe.

The Exalted One roared and charged straight after the pocket space, but it was all to no avail. There was nothing to chase after. The pocket space had totally disappeared, bypassing his law entirely. He could not sense it in any space no matter how he tried.

He floated in the air above Freehold with a deep scowl on his face, staring at the spot the estate previously was.

Was there a Flaw in his declaration? Because this wasn't supposed to be possible at all. He knew it was surely tied to that tremendous amount of energy he felt earlier, but even at that, where could the Pathfinder have gone? He frowned, pondering for a while before turning to face the people below with a hard gaze.

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.

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"Uurgghh" Zephyr immediately bent over, retching the contents of his stomach as the pocket space around stabilised.

Komi had passed out right after slotting in the value for the last parameter of the spell model, so he was the only one conscious, but because of that he had borne the full brunt of the effects of jumping to a higher energy state.

"Uugghh," he groaned. 'We're never trying that again, Aegis…'

This was actually a smooth jump for one with such extreme conditions. No spaghettification, you were not burned to stellar dust, the structural integrity of the pocket space is fine too… In fact, by all means, this was a very excellent outcome.

'Spaghettifica—What? What's all that,' Zephyr heaved as he leaned up, "Whatever… I'm still never trying that again," he muttered, standing up from his position. He needed to get Komi to a room and nurse her to health. Without her unrelenting spirit and grit, they would never have escaped from Freehold alive.

Up until this moment, he still did not know who exactly was after him. He didn't see them physically, but he trusted Komi's decision. The fact that she had unhesitatingly decided to take this step showed how dire the situation was.

He lifted Komi up after checking for a pulse, before slowly walking out of the laboratory and to his own room since that was where he knew.

'Where exactly are we right now Aegis,' he sent an inquiry. The rush had made him not even care previously, as long as they survived. But now that they'd survived, Zephyr wanted to know what their current situation was. Were they screwed? Had they jumped from a pot only to end up in a fire?

Right now, we are hidden beside the planet's natural satellite.

Zephyr stopped abruptly. "Huh?"

We are hidden in a space near the planet's moon… Aegis repeated like it was simply talking about an everyday occurrence.

Be mindful of Komi, host. She needs proper care as quickly as possible.

That jarred Zephyr back to attention and he rushed to his room quicker, laying Komi on his bed and nursing her to the best of his capabilities.

But even though he was busy cleaning up Komi and trying to nurse her back to health, Aegis' words couldn't stop ringing his head the whole time.

'Beside the moon…? What the hell did Aegis mean by beside the moon'

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.

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Back in the remains of Freehold

"Oh Exalted One. Your humble servant bows before you," Lionel fell with a thud to his knees just as the Exalted One released the effect of his laws on the surroundings. It was not needed to handle the rest of the Freehold Sanctuary. So long as he was here, no one was escaping.

"You are Cipher?" The Exalted One asked Lionel with a blank stare as he looked down on them from where he floated above.

"Yes, Exalted One," Lionel bowed even further, pressing his head to the ground. "This servant has failed you. Please I ask that you punish me accordingly!"

The Exalted One didn't bat an eye at his display. "And your offense?"

"Letting the Pathfinder escape!"

Whoosh

One of Lionel's—or rather, Cipher's—hands immediately fell to the ground as he finished his statement.

But even as he watched his arm fall, he didn't so much as let a grunt of pain out, simply smiling like he'd been shown a great mercy. "I thank the Exalted One for his magnanimity!" he yelled with fervor and a burning gaze.

"You allowed the Pathfinder to escape, a sin for which even your life cannot atone for. But in consideration of your monumental deed of finding Freehold, I shall allow you to live with only that as your punishment."

"Your mercy knows no bounds, Oh Exalted One!!" he yelled with fervor, without a single trace of dissatisfaction.

The Exalted One turned his gaze away non-committally. "Call out your aides, I want to wipe Freehold from this world," he waved a hand towards the small mass of survivors.

They were weary and beaten. Most were already blind, deaf, and burned to their very cells from the short dose of radiation that reached them during the flash—mostly those who didn't enter the range of the Exalted One's law quickly enough. These people would even welcome the relief death would provide compared to a life with their current state.

The others further behind them, who were fully within the range of the Exalted One's law, were only blinded by the light. Only their sight was gone… All except for three. They caught the Exalted One's eye as they were the only ones staring at him.

He snorted, about to wave a hand to shred them out of existence at their audacity, but he stopped abruptly, staring at one of them. The male. His gaze was particularly annoying, because even as a look of fear crossed the other two's faces, there wasn't a trace of it on his face.

But that was a minor annoyance; it wasn't something that could move the Exalted One to stop his action. Rather, it was the young man's features.

His face. It was uncannily familiar to someone the Exalted One knew personally.

The young man looked like his long-dead sister.

A/N:

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