Chapter 662: Long-Awaited Revelation

Without waiting for an answer to his question, Leo’s circle of shadows engulfed the two girls in an instant before fading into nothingness.

"They are..."

The fake Heroes were still convulsing on the ground from the aftereffects of getting their Abilities stripped by force, but the suited man was quick to stop running once things grew oddly quiet for too long.

"...gone?"

He was late to realize it now, but this wasn’t an assault operation but an extraction.

The horrifying attack that his goons had received made him mistake this for the start of a massacre, but...

’Even if I saw through his intentions, there was nothing that could be done to stop him.’

It didn’t really matter; the only fighting force on their side had been incapacitated in an instant.

Naturally, the scum that had been brought to exploit Aurora using hostages were undependable against a real threat.

"Damn!"

The suited man’s face crumbled as he stomped heavily on the ground. This wasn’t his fault!

’I told them we should prepare for such a possibility!’

When he asked his superior for more manpower, all he got was ’I will think about it’ before being shooed away.

Yet, the exact dilemma he presented to back his request had truly occurred.

"Useless!"

Seriously! Was it really hard to imagine that the super strong villain who slipped into a previous Gate that Aurora cleared would do it again?!

’Report to your direct superior, my foot! It’s my fault his brain is inferior. Seriously, that geezer will be the end of me.’

Obviously, having been proven right by chance, the suited man completely forgot that he had only been using that past instance of Leo’s appearance as an excuse.

He merely wanted to wield more power so he could further crush Aurora’s heroic spirit, all to satisfy his kink, but since what he preached really did happen...

"Rick!"

"Boss?"

"How many times do I have to say it? It’s yes, boss! Quarantine the area temporarily, and make sure to send our recordings of what just happened directly to the council!"

"Yes, boss!"

"Don’t go just yet. Get someone to take away these fools, and... Don’t forget to ask for more manpower! We are the City Council’s people; we shouldn’t be forced to run away from criminals like this!"

By chance or not, now that he had the upper hand, the suited man was never going to let go.

This high wave that was meant to overtake everything, he was going to be the one riding at the very top of it!

`~~~`~~~`

At the same time...

"There we go. We should be in the clear."

Inside one of the high-society villas, Leo emerged from the side of one covered sofa, following which, both Aurora and Kara were spat out from his own shadow.

"Cough... cough."

As soon as she was completely out, Aurora fell to the ground and had a coughing fit as if she was just being suffocated.

"Sorry, was it a little rough? I’m not used to carrying passengers."

Having actually had his chance to move around with Gene, Leo wondered if the leveled-up speed of Shadow Movement was the cause.

However, turning to Kara who seemed to be totally fine, he assumed that the contradicting nature of his and Aurora’s ability was the main cause.

After all, it was hard to expect the person holding the essence of Light as an Ability to have a nice time being engulfed in shadows for several minutes.

Aurora’s reaction was likely similar to that of claustrophobia.

"It- Cough! It’s okay."

Having recollected herself, the sprawling Aurora stood up as she patted the dust out of her clothes.

Looking around, she wasn’t really taking in any new information as her head was still stuck at the scene of the confrontation ten minutes ago.

She knew that the suited man was a scumbag all along, but Aurora couldn’t understand how he was given the authority to do something like this.

No one was supposed to find out what happened to the Thorn Queen; the assurances she put in place should have guaranteed that.

So what could have caused this unexpected change?

Had she been clumsy in some way? Or was this just a shot in the dark made by the suited scumbag in order to torment her?

Weren’t they supposed to keep using her like a puppet? Or did she finally outlive her use?

"...Thanks for taking us out."

Despite being lost like this, Aurora still didn’t forget to show her gratitude.

One of the questions still lingering in her head was whether she would have been able to carve out a path of blood... And Aurora was glad she didn’t have to figure out its answer today.

However, beyond all of that, something was terribly nagging at her mind.

The confrontation just now had totally blindsided her, but...

’Why does something so out of place feel this familiar?!’

The disorientation only took over half her head; the other half acted as if it knew that this was going to happen.

"No worries, we did agree to cooperate in some way or another."

Leo slowly shed away his cold persona, warming up to the protagonist in preparation for the finale.

"You really shouldn’t be this worried though. All these accusations... They made it up."

"No... I."

Feeling the trust transmitted through Leo’s words made Aurora feel some long-lost warmth, but at the same time it stirred the guilt deep inside her.

She had the urge to confess her crime right this instant!

"It’s not like you would do something like this without a reason, but even if you did, they wouldn’t go to the trouble of figuring that out."

However, Leo didn’t give her the chance as he opted to reveal the true nature of the conspiracy at play.

"They just picked the simplest charge they could frame you with. The City Council is out for blood."

"Why? Why now?!"

Sensing the certainty that Leo spoke with, Aurora couldn’t resist grasping at what seemed to be an answer, to which Leo didn’t reply.

Instead, he took several steps forward until he reached the 65-inch screen and started messing with it before managing to turn it on.

"You wanna know why? Here is your answer."

Making sure the channel was right, Leo handed the responsibility of Aurora’s revelation to the screen as he pointed at it.