From what Aryan said, the city needed to be emptied in less than twelve hours, or the citizens here would be trapped inside the barrier. But was it really possible to evacuate almost a million citizens within that time?

Of course the government had created separate emergency paths leading directly outside the city for a case like this, but due to the absence of Awakeners to guide them, the city had fallen into complete chaos.

I turned back, held Ume and Nymeria again before teleporting to one building after another, quickly reaching the edge of the city.

At the edge, army tanks and jeeps had surrounded the area. The soldiers and many low-ranked Awakeners were evacuating the citizens as quickly as possible.

"They won’t be able to leave the city in time," Nymeria said, her voice serious as she stared at the chaotic city and roads below.

"Should we help?" she offered. "I know you are barely holding yourself back from jumping into the fight against those strange monsters."

She certainly read me like an open book. I did want to help, but I was more worried about Ume, who had been behaving strangely since we arrived.

"Nymeria, stay with Ume. I will be back in a few minutes," I said, moving toward the terrace of the building.

As I was about to leave, Ume ordered in a sharp voice, "We are returning to Vyoman right now!"

I turned my head, finding her standing there with a serious expression on her face.

After a few seconds of silence, I said, "Alright, we will leave, but first I need to learn why this phenomenon is occurring. Since it happened here, it could happen anywhere in the world. My family and friends live here. I can’t have their lives put in dange—"

"We can’t stay here anymore. We must leave right now!" Ume snapped in a louder tone, clenching her fists and cutting me off mid-sentence.

"No, I can’t," I responded in a firm tone.

"Don’t make me repeat myself!" Ume muttered. Her iris began glowing and her pupils turned into vertical slits as a heavy energy radiated from her body.

"Or what?" I demanded, my brows twitching in annoyance. "I’m not going to listen to your stubborn demands unless you tell me the reason behind them."

Her eyes hardened into a sharp glare, and a sudden burst of Soulforce erupted from her body, hurling me backward. My back struck the railing with a loud thud.

"Taranis," Nymeria gasped, running toward me. She tried to help me to my feet, but I waved her hand away and rose on my own.

"The skill you used to reach here can be activated to return as well. You can leave this place on your own," I declared, wiping the blood from the corner of my lips.

"What did you just say?" Ume demanded, her hair fluttering violently in anger.

"Stop fighting, you two!" Nymeria shouted, her eyes turning moist. "Please calm down, both of you."

"I’m completely calm right now," I said, turning away. "Can’t say the same for her."

Before the situation could escalate any further, I jumped off the railing.

---

Nymeria ran toward the railing to call out to Taranis, but when she reached it, he was nowhere to be seen.

Now she was caught in a dilemma: whether to follow Taranis, who had clearly left in anger, or to stay with Ume, who was obviously not in a stable state of mind. How could she even choose between the two?

After a few seconds of contemplating, she decided to go after Taranis. She could feel a strangely ominous presence emanating from the crack where the monsters were emerging. Taranis was not even at a quarter of his strength, did not possess Ruru’s Blessing, and still carried the Corruption of Death on his Soul.

Nymeria resolved to calm him down first. Just as she was about to move, she heard a low, hitching breath from behind.

She turned to find Ume trembling, her cheeks wet with tears.

"Sister Ume," Nymeria murmured, immediately running to her and pulling her into a hug.

"Please don’t take that idiot’s words to heart," Nymeria said softly, trying to soothe her. "He only said them in the heat of the moment."

"H-he didn’t say...hick-hick... anything wrong," Ume said between gasps. "I w-was asking too much...hick-hick... without any explanation."

After crying for a few seconds, she pulled away from Nymeria and said,

"Please go and look out for him. He must remain calm or the Corruption of Death might overpower him."

"But Sister Ume..."

"Don’t worry about me," Ume said, wiping her cheeks. "I will help the citizens evacuate in the meantime."

Nymeria was reluctant to leave Ume alone, but Taranis’s state of mind was equally important. After giving one last glance to Ume, she jumped off the ceiling as well.

Once she left, Ume clenched her fists so tightly that her sharp nails dug into the skin of her palms, seeping out blood.

"I knew I couldn’t avoid the prophecy by simply telling him to leave," she muttered to herself. "Still, no matter what, I won’t let anything happen to him."

Her skin began glowing with a radiant pink hue. Numerous plum blossoms materialised in thin air and began spiralling around her body. When they vanished, the dress she wore changed into an ethereal garment with a pink top adorned with intricate golden embroidery and a black skirt made of shining cloth.

Her feet lifted from the roof as her body hovered into the air, moving towards the nearby building where the citizens had not yet evacuated.

With a successive series of hand signs, a large magical circle materialised above her head and from within it, a huge burst of plum blossoms erupted outward, coiling around the building.

The attention of the citizens on the road, the army at the edge, and the awakeners who were helping to empty the buildings turned to Ume as a never-before-seen spectacle began unfolding before them.