CHAPTER 401: LET’S FORGET ABOUT WHAT I JUST SAID, OKAY?

"Hey, Esma, what the hell are you doing here?"

Arabel’s question echoed in Esma’s mind as she stared up at the sky, as if mesmerized by the two bright figures.

"No, no, it’s not her, it’s not my little sister," Esma denied to herself. However, no matter how much she denied it, the bond that existed between them made it clear to her that this was not just an illusion, but reality—this was indeed Arabel, her sworn younger sister and the one with whom she had signed a contract.

"Little sister, is that really you?" she managed to squeeze out, addressing Arabel through their connection.

"Yes, it’s me, — Arabel replied, and the admission seemed to explode like a bomb in Esma’s mind.

"Little sister! When did you manage to master the Spirit Form?" Esma exclaimed to Arabel.

All this time, Esma denied that it was Arabel, because she immediately recognized the two suddenly appeared figures as beings in the Spirit Form. As the avatar of a Legendary-ranked being, Esma was well acquainted with the information about Spirit Forms. And as she knew, her younger sister didn’t have a Spirit Form.

However, Arabel’s confession completely destroyed this slight resistance, causing surprise and disbelief instead.

"It’s only been about half a month since the two of you left, and during that time, not only you, but also Idan have already mastered the Spirit Form?" Instead of answering, Esma continued to ask questions.

"Even my main body has not been able to achieve this in many years, and you have done it in less than half a month?" Esma’s amazement was genuine when she realized that these two really have a Spirit Form.

"I’ll explain everything later. Now tell me, what are you doing here?" asked Arabel, a little annoyed by Esma’s questions.

"I came here with Irene and the other so—called Awakened Ones at the call of the Awakened Association," Esma replied, surprising Arabel.

"What? Is Irene here too?" asked Arabel with concern in her voice.

"Yes, she’s here, next to me," Esma said, and then hurried to reassure her, "Don’t worry, little sister, as long as I’m here, nothing will happen to her."

"Good, — Arabel said with relief. Then, noticing the growing rage on Erza’s face, she kept her seriousness and turned to Esme, "Esma, take Irene and the others and get as far away from here as possible."

"Huh?" — Esma was surprised, but when she saw the dark woman in front of Arabel and Idan, she immediately understood what they were talking about.

"Okay, — Esma replied, but before she turned to Irene and the others, she remembered a recent event.

"Little sister, there were other outsiders here recently, not like this dark woman, but those who had an affinity with the element of Light. And I have a suspicion that they haven’t left yet and are watching everything. So be on your guard."

With that, Esma turned to Irene and the rest of the Awakened Ones who had not joined the so-called Guardian of Light.

"We need to leave as soon as possible," — Esma said to Irene.

"Eh? What?" Irene, torn from her contemplation of the figures in the sky, looked at her.

"I’m saying we should leave this place as soon as possible," — Esma repeated.

"Okay," — Irene agreed, taking another quick look at the sky.

Then, the group of Awakened Ones, led by Irene, Yulaya, Hazel, Esma, Ren, and Rachel, began to hastily retreat. The SUVs were nearby, and they quickly reached them, and then hurriedly started the engines and set off.

Ren and Rachel separated from their groups and joined Irene’s group, easily fitting them all into one SUV.

But they had not traveled far from the Stone family’s property when they heard the sounds of a battle starting from behind.

"Do you know what’s going on there, Esma?" And who are these creatures? Irene asked, peering out of the SUV.

"Ahahaha!" Esma couldn’t help but laugh when she heard Irene’s question.

"These two bright figures in the sky are my younger sister Arabel and your younger brother Idan," Esma explained with a smile.

"Wait, wait, what?" Irene was stunned by Esma’s words. "Are you saying that these two are Arabel and Idan?"

Not only Irene, but everyone else in the SUV was stunned, and they all turned their gazes to Esma.

"Yes, that’s them," Esma confirmed without hesitation and nodded.

"But how? Shouldn’t they be at the northern border, in the city of Rumbus, together with Arslan?" asked Irene perplexedly.

Esma, who herself didn’t understand how the two of them ended up here, finally noticed the stares of the others present and froze. It was only now that she realized that Arabel and Idan didn’t seem to want their return to be made public.

"Hehe, — Esma smiled awkwardly. "Let’s forget about what I just said, okay?"

Irene, who was waiting for a guess from Esma, after seeing her awkward smile and then hearing her call, also came to her senses and remembered the intentions of her younger brother and his future sister-in-law.

But the cat was already out of the bag.

"So your so—called little sister is Arabel? Arabel Morgan?" Yulaya asked Esma, connecting all the dots.

Esma did not immediately respond, but instead hesitated, realizing that she had made a mistake.

"Didn’t your younger brother and Arslan’s older sister disappear more than a year and a half ago?" Rachel asked Irene. "Haven’t you been searching for them in both worlds all this time? Were you just pretending and deceiving us, asking for help in finding them, when in fact you already knew where they were?"

Rachel’s question caught Irene off guard. She also noticed the glances of Ren, Hazel, Yulaya, and even Katie, who was casting glances while driving the SUV.

"Hey, hey, hey, — Esma started waving her arms, drawing attention to herself. "Let’s forget what I just said, okay?"

"Esma, stop, that’s enough. They have a right to know," Irene said with a sigh. "After Idan and Arabel disappeared, they provided significant assistance to Arslan and me in our search for them."

Irene continued, "We didn’t lie to you when we asked for help in finding my younger brother and Arslan’s older sister in Junonia. They got in touch about half a month ago and said that they had been trapped in a strange place all this time, unable to leave Junonia. It was only recently that they managed to find a way out and return home."

They did not have time to realize what they had heard, as their attention was distracted by the explosion of two SUVs driving ahead.

"What’s going on?" Everyone was caught off guard and surprised by what had happened.

Esma, who was sitting in the front seat, was also caught off guard and immediately felt angry. In those exploded SUVs were members of Irene’s Guild and members of the Guilds of her two newly named younger sisters.

Burning with rage, Esma kicked out the front door of the SUV and flew out, spreading four huge wings the color of sea water behind her back.

As she rose into the air, she immediately noticed two figures standing in the way of the SUVs. Esma recognized them immediately—they were Alistair and Arianna Royce.

Her anger intensified, and she no longer held back her power, unleashing a peak Platinum rank power that far exceeded what these two beings of Light could display.

Her presence was so palpable that Alistair and Arianna Royce, who had previously been full of confidence in their abilities, trembled when they saw Esma’s sudden appearance and felt her might.