Chapter 352: What we’ll do after this

If Kellen had worried that the two Espers had been leading him to his death as liars, that dissipated when he arrived two floors lower, Brent and the crew there, with Brent giving orders to the Espers there.

The area was crawling with Espers, like they were damn ants, and Kellen watched as the intruders that they had gathered and who the Healers had killed were carried out of the broken, cleared window and down below.

"Where are they going?" Kellen asked as he approached Brent.

"To safer Guilds." Brent told him, a deep frown on his face. "Sakura reached out. The two are from a Guild she works with, and who also know our mutual friend. They’ve helped them out a few times, kind of like what you went through." Brent said cryptically, but there was only one friend that linked Brent, Sakura and Kellen.

Carlos.

"Ah. I see. That explains it, then." Kellen said, and that was that. "The intruders first, and then us?" Kellen asked and Brent chuckled.

"Just this batch. They are planning to get everyone out, and that includes the safe rooms as well. Zaria is in charge of that part."

"Where are they going?" Kellen asked, worried, and Brent smiled.

"Somewhere safe. There are apparently a few places in the city that the E.A.G. hasn’t sunk their fangs into, and they are the Guilds that rarely interact with others, who Sakura had reached out to." Kellen was a bit surprised to hear that, but then again, there were a lot of Espers in the world.

"As long as everyone is safe, I don’t care." Kellen said. He was too worried about Rhys and the smoke to fully care about the others. His gut told him that everything was essentially okay, but that didn’t soothe him. He wanted to see it with his own eyes.

After all, Rhys’ powers didn’t work on those he was close to, and Kellen couldn’t deny that his powers were still spotty.

"Glad you’re so straightforward." Brent said with a smirk. "You’ll be going out after this group is delivered. Communication works in the air outside of the building, but not inside. That was one of the reasons it took us so long to come back. Sergei had to speak to his people." Ah. That made perfect sense, honestly. Kellen nodded, and turned his gaze to where Brent was looking.

Another flying type was hovering in the air outside the broken window, a phone to their ear. They were clearly in communication with those below, and were acting as the phone for Brent and the others.

As much as Kellen said that it didn’t matter as long as everyone was safe, a little worm nestled in Kellen’s mind as he watched them interact.

"Brent, your shitty family is rich, right?" Kellen asked. Brent turned to him, giving him a confused look.

"Yeah, and?" He asked. Kellen could feel the others watching him as well, wondering where his mind was going. They clearly thought he was going to suggest they might have played a role in this. That was a possibility, but not where Kellen was going at the moment.

"So they have a huge waste of space for a house, right?" Kellen asked. Brent shifted, his brows drawing together as he stared at Kellen.

"I mean, yeah, it is huge, but it doesn’t exactly have good memories for me. Plus, I served them all eviction notices and none of them left." Brent said. Kellen felt his lips curl up maliciously.

"Well, thanks to their lovely E.A.G., we are now displaced and you are the legal owner of that place. Why don’t we do a hostile take over while Aunt Dina gets the Guild building repaired?" Kellen asked, and watched as Brent stared at him, shocked.

He’d clearly not considered that as an option, but the more he did, the more he seemed to like it.

"Oh dear." Brent said, trying to cover his mouth to hide the bright smile crossing his lips. "I’m afraid that’s one of the best things you could have said to me. We get to evict them personally?" He asked and Kellen laughed.

"Yeah, of course. You’ve already served them, and we have a lot of people who need a place to rest their head. Actions have consequences. I just thought of it because we’ll have to leave the safe grounds of the Guild Building and I know Aunt Dina will hate to impose on others. If they’re good people."

Brent and Kellen chuckled darkly in unison, causing a few of the Espers nearby to smirk, and shiver. It was a good thing they were on the same side.

"There is one issue, and that’s safety. I don’t know the place well enough, and who knows what they’ve done to the interior since dear old gramps left." Brent made a good point, but Kellen just shrugged.

"We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, just consider it. It’s your property after all, and I don’t want to just invite myself there." Kellen said. The Esper outside gave a signal to Brent, which Kellen assumed was a ’go ahead’ symbol. The Espers with Kellen glanced at him before they hesitated.

Kellen chuckled. It was clear they were awkward in asking Kellen to either grab them, or lift him into their arms. Kellen gave them an olive branch.

"What do you need me to do? Where do you need me?" Kellen asked and the man let out a soft sigh.

"Are you alright with other Espers carrying you?" He asked carefully and Kellen nodded.

"Perfectly fine." Kellen said and the Esper gestured to the female, the Flying Esper.

"Then can I ask you to go with her? I’ll have to carry the Healer with their items and it is more important to get you up there first." He said. Kellen agreed, so he easily went towards the woman, opening his arms.

"Front? Back? What’s easier for you?" He asked, cooperative, and after a few exchanged words, Kellen was being carried in her arms in front of her body and she was leaving the Guild building through the broken window. Kellen wasn’t paying attention to much, focusing more on how far up they were and making sure that he didn’t fall.

What he wasn’t expecting was how his phone in his pocket was going to vibrate like it was going to explode as soon as he left the building. It also seemed to surprise the Esper carrying him, but she didn’t drop him. Instead, she gave a soft, amused smile.

"It seems that everyone was reaching out to you." She said. "That’s a good thing. Do you want me to linger outside so that you can respond to them?" She asked. Kellen shook his head without needing to think for a second.

"No. One, I’m afraid I’ll drop the phone trying to pull it out, and two, I can message them soon. I just need to deal with the situation that Rhys is in right now and then I’ll be able to message everyone." Kellen said with confidence. She glanced at Kellen, curious, but she didn’t push it. Instead, she nodded, tightened her grip on Kellen and ignored the vibrating rectangle between them. She moved upwards, and Kellen noticed that she was going towards another form that was hovering in the air above them.

As she approached Kellen realised that it was Sergei. Of course it was Sergei. He was using what appeared to be a door of some sort to hover on and when Kellen approached, he gave a firm nod and Kellen nodded back. Both men acknowledging that this was a rather insane situation, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t worked together in similar situations before.

Sergei was hovering outside of a shattered window, and instead were a few people who were dressed in the same outfit as the woman who was carrying him. Sergei wasn’t freaking out which told Kellen that it was fine. They were friends, unlike the others who had been dressed in black.

She stopped when they were level with Sergei and Sergei glanced at Kellen.

"Brent’s doing okay?" Sergei asked, sounding casual, but Kellen heard it for what it was. He smiled, nodding.

"He’s fine. In his glee, actually. He loves ordering around Espers." Kellen said. Kellen swore he watched something flicker across Sergei’s eyes before the man spoke.

"Good. The team here is going to help you and the others move up the building. If you run into any issues, they are ordered to stop, send a runner, and wait." Sergei leveled Kellen with a serious look. "No running ahead, Kellen. I’m serious. Rhys is indisposed right now, so I’m the one in charge. No running into danger alone." Kellen heard Sergei. He did, but he could see it in Sergei’s eyes as well.

He was saying it just to say it. He laid down the law, he’d done his best, but Kellen had walked into the poison gate without anyone’s approval, really. Rhys just knew that he couldn’t stop him, and poor Sergei had been doing his best not to surge at the time.

Sergei was just asking him to be level headed when he acted out of turn.

Kellen nodded, causing Sergei to frown before he looked towards the window.

"Esper Denvers is in charge of the area right now. Listen to her, Kellen, and if I find out that you didn’t listen to her I’m going to tell Rhys." Sergei hesitated. "And your parents." He was a rat. Kellen was changing his opinions on him immediately.

"Brent would be ashamed of you." Kellen told him and Sergei stared into Kellen’s uncovered eye.

"I think, Kellen, that this is something that we both agree on. We can’t be of help if you don’t let us." Sergei said. "I know that with your personal situation you feel like you can do all of it alone, but don’t." Kellen was a little annoyed with how many times Sergei was saying this. It was like he didn’t trust him.

Had Kellen even done anything that would justify this kind of reaction?

"Have I been reckless this whole time? What do you take me for?" Kellen asked, offended, and Sergei stared at him.

"I take you for a very smart and powerful individual, but your family is involved in this. Emotions are going to come into play, and I just don’t want more people to get hurt, Kellen. Please understand that. I know that Rhys will have done his best to protect everyone, and your Guild, the Saturn Guild, has been able to maintain a visual on the floor even if it isn’t a lot. Don’t worry, nothing’s exploded, but the smoke is concerning." Sergei told him. "They’ll explain more inside. I’m serious, Kellen." Sergei warned again, and Kellen scowled.

It was like they didn’t trust him to be reasonable and collected. It was very rude of them.