"Cross!! You aren’t supposed to go in—"
The Desire-class woman and other Enclave members tried to stop him, but none of them were fast enough to do anything.
Lucian rushed into the shrine and disappeared.
And...
The entire area turned silent.
Then finally—
"Did he just... enter?"
One of the Demon-Class Blood-Altered Humans blinked.
"Why didn’t anyone stop him!?"
"You! You were standing closest! Why didn’t you do anything!?"
"H-He moved before I understood what was happening!"
Chaos spread.
The officer who was in control of this group was relatively calmer. He simply reported the incident.
"Lucian Cross has entered the Trial."
[He did what?]
And Claire’s voice came from the other side.
The officer glanced at the shrine and repeated.
"He crossed the entrance without authorisation."
"Why?"
That was when the Desire-class woman stepped closer.
"He recognised two civilians. They were the parents of someone he knew. From what I understand, their daughter was inside the shrine when the Trial began, so there’s a good chance she’s trapped inside."
She explained the situation. The officer relayed it to Claire and Claire—
[Of course.]
She sighed.
She didn’t seem surprised that Lucian had done it, she sounded... tired.
"Do we send someone after him?"
The officer asked.
[What’s the point?]
Claire groaned.
[He’s already inside, the Trial will now consider him a participant.]
"What about his assignment?"
For a moment, Claire didn’t say anything. That alone was enough to show how annoyed she was.
Lucian was supposed to be positioned at the inner perimeter, checking arriving supernatural candidates and supporting the evacuation teams.
Now someone else would need to take over.
Claire sighed again, then she began giving orders.
[Move Sigris to Cross’s section, he is on the reserve team.]
"Understood."
Claire continued before anyone could complain.
[And someone keep those civilians calm. Do not tell them their daughter is trapped inside a supernatural Trial.]
"What are we supposed to tell them?"
[Tell them that the shrine is part of the contaminated zone and Cross entered to search for her.]
"Yes."
The officer nodded and Claire ended the call from her side.
For a moment, the place was silent. The officer was thinking about where he should begin, several Enclave members looked at one another in surprise, some even wondered if they should go in as well.
"First he calls her repeatedly, then he enters an Ancient Spirit’s Trial the moment he finds out she is inside."
The Desire-class woman crossed her arms with an amused smile on her face.
"So much for ’only a friend.’"
The rest of the girls grinned as well.
"As expected of a Desire Class."
The Envy-class woman only snorted as she too stared at the Shrine.
...
On the other side, far away from the shrine, Claire sighed for the third time.
She knew she shouldn’t have listened to him when he said he was available. The man had been assigned to two missions until now and he had created problems in both of them.
With a record like this, she should have been more careful.
It was her fault, really.
And the worst part about all this...?
Now that it had happened, she needed to inform Vivienne.
Vivienne had specifically told her to report to her the moment something out of the ordinary happened and... here she was...
’Did she predict it...?’
Claire couldn’t help but think about it.
Then she shook her head.
Even Vivienne couldn’t have predicted this. After all, there was no point in Cross joining the Trial. As a being with Demon Blood inside him, the Spirit would never choose him.
’Well, he might get something out of it, considering the other Trial Takers are quite special as well.’
In the end, Claire just shrugged.
He was no longer her problem now.
It was Aevrienne’s.
...
"Huh...?"
In the middle of nowhere, Naomi opened her eyes.
She noticed that she was lying on top of a cold stone, the air around her had an old, damp scent to it. For a few moments, Naomi had no idea what was happening, then—
She started panicking.
She quickly stood up. The last thing she remembered was sitting inside the shrine and the next thing she knew—
She woke up here, in a completely different place that she couldn’t recognise.
"...where am I?"
She wondered as she looked around.
She was standing in the middle of a narrow corridor, there were tall walls around her, so high that she could not see their tops. The floor was made of cold, dark stone, thin lines of moss growing between the cracks.
There was no source of light in this place, no sun, no ceiling, but for some odd reason, Naomi could still see the long corridor she was in.
’Was I... kidnapped...?’
That was the first possibility she thought of.
’But why?’
She didn’t know.
’Was it... the demons?’
That was the worst possible situation. She had kept her relationship with Lucian a secret, but Lucian always mentioned how dangerous it was, how the demons might still have a way to find out, or they might just target her to make sure.
At that time, Naomi said she was prepared, that she would face whatever came her way bravely, but now that it was actually happening...
She was terrified.
Her body wasn’t moving the way she wanted it to.
Still, Naomi didn’t give in to her fear.
She clenched her fists, trying to brace herself for what was about to come and think calmly. She took out her phone, it was still in her pocket.
For a moment, she did wonder why her phone hadn’t been taken away if she had been kidnapped, but then she got the answer.
There was no signal.
The phone was practically useless here.
It made her gulp, she placed her hand against the wall to steady herself, then she looked down both sides of the corridor she was in.
They looked exactly the same.
And that was the problem.
The logical side of her mind wanted her to move. She had been kidnapped and placed in this strange place, obviously, she needed to leave before her kidnapper returned but...
When everything around her looked the same—
Where was she supposed to go?
She wondered inwardly and that was when she heard a voice.
"Those who answered my Call..."