The creators of those footsteps would make themselves known.

It was the same people who made their way in.

They didn’t seem different.

There was nothing eerie about them at all.

Arthur immediately rushed to question one of them.

He said it was fine. He called faith a beautiful thing. He had nothing but praise and adoration to sing.

Arthur left him and went on to question someone else.

They all seemed to have the same thing to say. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

This was just unproductive blabbering.

There was truly no value to their words.

They began getting concerned.

Their explanation of their experiences sounded forced. It was too cheery. It sounded forced, but it didn’t feel forced.

The others also went out of their way to reach out to individuals as they made it out of the hall.

The answer was pretty much the same. It had begun to feel monotonous.

Roe asked the others to also read their mana while asking the questions.

Everyone noticed the same thing. These people were now all without mana.

This wasn’t all that surprising. After all, Quentin had told them earlier he would relieve them of mana and its constraints. They were really just surprised because they had doubts, but seeing was believing.

They had seen back when Roe announced Quentin was without mana. They had believed as well, but now they didn’t just believe. Now they knew.

"It’s an emergence, alright," Perzeus said.

"There’s no way this power isn’t abnormal."

Quentin stepped out. He asked them why they didn’t make their way in.

"Do you not believe?" he asked.

They were about to give their answers just then. Quentin noticed someone.

"Lot."

The door he came from slid shut. He was now inside, and a rift for the first time ever opened not in the sky but on land.

"What? That’s impossible," Lot noted.

"If this doesn’t scream abnormality, then I don’t know what would," Perzeus added.

"Rift in the sky or on the ground, it makes no difference. I’ll handle it, Arthur said. You guys just head for that guy and make him talk."

Roe nodded.

’Whatever,’ Lot thought.

Andrew just raced for the door.

"You’ll be fine, right?" Perzeus asked.

"Just who do you think you’re talking to?" Arthur responded.

Perzeus smiled, and he too made his way to the door.

It was locked.

They couldn’t open it.

"It must be some kind of spell. Mana might be able to disrupt it," Andrew said.

"It wasn’t a spell. At least not one fueled by mana."

Everyone turned to Roe to disrupt it.

If mana was to be expended, then they thought it would be best if it was Roe’s mana expended. After all, he had the largest pool.

They all turned to look at him.

He initially didn’t get it, but after he understood Andrew’s earlier statement, he knew what he had to do.

’What kind of adults are these?’ he thought.

He funneled mana through his palm to the door.

Lot reached for the handle and pressed it down.

It still wasn’t opening.

"I guess that couldn’t settle it," Andrew noted.

"It’s probably not mana then," Roe said.

"Let’s just break through the normal way," Perzeus said with a weird grin.

It was more creepy than weird, really.

"Dork," Andrew said to Perzeus in response to the expression he was carrying.

He immediately returned his face back to normal.

Roe summoned his staff. He charged up a beam. Nothing too crazy.

He fired.

The beam came back. It was reflected.

His staff in hand, he flew.

Lot stopped it using some kind of time spell to slow things down and take the others out of harm’s way.

This was when they noticed the people outside were falling apart.

Something wrong was happening.

Maybe a reaction to faith.

"What’s happening over there?" Perzeus pointed.

"Look, some of them are even fighting the monsters alongside Arthur," he added.

"Yeah, and some of them are falling unconscious," Andrew added.

"What’s happening?" Lot asked.

"It’s probably a destabilization," Roe said.

"Yeah. It’s probably not that," Lot said.

He looked to Perzeus.

Perzeus immediately knew what to do.

He phoned Elijah and gave him the details.

"Well, it’s probably some kind of destabilization," Elijah said.

They all turned to Roe.

He just coughed.

He didn’t pout. He didn’t give them any ’I told you so.’

He was being mature. He probably didn’t want to raise any brows, but this reaction of his was even more embarrassing for them.

"So how do we stop it? What do you think could be causing the destabilization?" Lot asked.

"Oh, hi Lot," Elijah greeted. "I didn’t know you were there."

"Not the time," Lot responded.

"Well, it’s possible some of them were never awakeners to begin with. Maybe they’re less compatible with faith.

"It’s a theory, though. Nothing solid."

Meanwhile, Arthur was cleaning house.

This was barely challenging for him. It just wasn’t.

"Ok. So do you think they’ll be fine?" Roe asked.

"I’m not usually one to say this. Really, I’m not. But those civilians are the least of your problem right now. Why aren’t you guys pursuing the circle?" Elijah asked.

"About that. There’s a door between us and who we believe is the big bad."

"Ok, so?" Elijah waited for a follow-up.

"The door won’t open," Roe added.

"It’s probably not mana, so you can’t just destabilize the spell," Elijah said.

He was thinking.

"You said what?" Andrew asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud," he responded.

Andrew didn’t actually want to hear what he said. He heard it the first time. He was just amazed Elijah was able to figure that out naturally, whereas they had to first make an attempt before coming to that realization.

"It could probably reject raw mana as well," Elijah said.

"Lot’s there, right?" Elijah asked.

Immediately, Lot chanted.

"Time talent. No 5. Lone Reversal."

The door shined and then opened.

"Let’s go already," Lot said.

The Lone Reversal applied the time reversal mechanic on only specific items or people the user wanted to. It’s a very limited spell.

"What? How did you know what to do?" Roe asked as they went in.

"It’s simple. Elijah asked if I was there, meaning my spells would still be effective. After all, they command a universal concept.

"Time.

"Whatever this faith thing is, it’s not stronger than time."

"Yeah, but it’s still a spell. How did you know it was going to work?

"I mean, it used mana after all," Roe asked.

"I already told you. Elijah asked if I was there. It was Elijah asking.

"Elijah was basically saying it was going to work."

’If Elijah said so, then it was just going to work.

’Cause Elijah said so.

’That’s the answer,’ Roe thought.

They raced through the hall.

They raced to the end and noticed different paths.

"These guys were ready," Lot said.

"Yeah, they were expecting us somehow.

"But how?"