Within just a few seconds, the entire massive building was completely covered in glowing petals, the light from them painting the surrounding pink.

When the petals vanished, every presence inside the building vanished along with them.

Outside the city where the army was stationed, hundreds of people suddenly appeared in the sky out of thin air, accompanied by spiralling petals. Though they materialised at varying heights above the ground, some as high as fifty metres and others at a hundred, not one of them fell to the force of gravity. Instead, their bodies descended slowly, guided gently downward by the plum blossoms. Once they reached the ground, the blossoms disappeared.

"Wh-what just happened?" Jerry, a B-Ranked Awakener who had witnessed everything from the window of an adjacent building, gasped in shock. He had been wearing heat-sensing goggles that allowed him to see through walls, and just now, before his very eyes, the readings of hundreds of people had vanished as though they had never been inside the building to begin with.

"Jerry, we don’t have time for this. The trolls have already covered twenty percent of the city. We need to move deeper in and check for any citizens who are still stuck," Tom, another B-Ranked Awakener, shouted, snapping him out of his daze.

"H-hey, do you happen to know any beautiful pink-haired S-Ranked Awakener?" Jerry asked, his eyes still fixed on the airborne figure of Ume. "I think I have fallen in love."

"This is not the time, idiot," Tom muttered, pressing a hand to his face. He stole a quick glance at Ume before continuing, "I’ve studied the faces of every S-Ranked Awakener in America. She doesn’t look someone from America. She is either from a different country or a secret agent from the Association."

He tapped the small camera embedded in his protective helmet and revealed with a smirk, "Whoever she is, the answer will come out once I upload this footage to Youtube tomorrow." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The two quickly ushered the remaining people out of the building before pressing further into the city. They were searching for any survivors who might still be trapped somewhere.

From the upper floors of the buildings deeper into the city, they could see the destruction the trolls had already wrought.

Towers of thick smoke filled the sky, buildings were set ablaze, the wide roads had been reduced to rubble and charred debris, and the vehicles upon them were torn to smithereens. A few trolls could be seen smashing street lights and toppling the poles that held the electrical wires, all while rumbling with laughter.

"Th-these monsters..." Jerry muttered, clenching his fists. The City by the Bay, one of the prides of America, was being mercilessly destroyed right before their eyes.

"Jerry, we should focus on what we can do," Tom said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Jerry nodded and rotated the dial on his goggles. The lenses glowed bright green, allowing him to scan for any moving presence in the vicinity.

"There are four people hiding in the coffee shop at Stonestown Galleria," Jerry said, pointing toward the distant mall where a couple of trolls could be seen prowling around.

"Damn, we need to hurry," Tom muttered, fastening a small metallic hook to his gauntlet, which was connected by a sturdy wire to his waist.

With the press of a button on his gear, the hook shot forward toward the next building. The moment it latched on, he leapt off the ledge together with Jerry, the two of them swinging in a wide pendulum arc. Upon reaching the highest point of the swing, he pressed the button again, retracting the hook before firing it toward the next building.

Within a couple of minutes, the duo landed on the roof of the mall.

"Quickly bring the survivors up to the roof. I will keep watch on the trolls," Tom said, adjusting his gauntlets.

Jerry nodded and sprinted toward the stairwell leading into the mall.

Within minutes, he reached the wall on the other side of which the people were hiding. The entrance was from the outside, but since he needed to avoid drawing the attention of the trolls, entering through the front was out of the question.

Clenching his fists, he unleashed a rapid series of punches at the wall, tearing it open.

The moment the debris settled, a fire extinguisher came flying toward his face, striking him squarely on the nose.

"Die, you monst— Huh, it’s a human," the survivor, a middle-aged woman, gasped.

"Ha, I’m not sure the rescue mission was even necessary with an arm like that, miss," Jerry groaned, cupping his nose.

"A-an Awakener," the woman murmured, before bursting into tears. From behind her, two children and an elderly man slowly emerged.

"Th-thank you for coming for us," the woman sobbed. "I thought we were going to die."

The two children each took one of Jerry’s hands and looked up at him with wide, relieved smiles.

"Thank you, hero."

"You are the real heroes for holding on until now," Jerry said in a firm tone, ruffling their hair. He had always wanted to say that line, and now, for the first time, he finally had.

"Jerry," Tom’s voice crackled urgently through the earpiece.

Jerry tapped it and replied, "I’ve found the survivors. I’ll be—"

"Get them out and move now!" Tom shouted through the earpiece. "Three trolls just bolted toward the coffee shop. You need to leave immediately."

"Why didn’t you warn me earli—"

His words died in his throat as the children tugged at his sleeves. Their expressions had gone completely dark, their entire bodies trembling. The terror gripping them was so absolute that they could not manage a single word, their fingers alone pointing toward the entrance of the shop.

Jerry followed their gaze and found three pairs of glowing eyes, each as large as his own face, glaring at them from the entrance. The trolls’ broad tusks cast shadows as long as his entire body across the floor.