The referee's body blurred and in the blink of an eye, he grabbed Betty and took out a metallic ring engraved with runes.
Without any reservation, he poured all his aura into the ring.
The ring had three empty slots.
"Stop!"
A thunderous roar reverberated across the stadium as a woman in black suit reached the dome in an instant and slapped the dome.
Cling!
The dome shook violently and cracks appeared on the sturdy structure. But ultimately, it didn't break.
At the same time, a few men and women in audience pierced their own stomach and took out a few explosives.
The level 8s would've left it to others, but the aura fluctuations were too much to leave the task to someone else.
"Stop!"
The level 8s locked onto them and in the blink of an eye, blocked the bombers.
Saaa~
One slot of the ring was filled.
"You retards! Save the miss!" She yelled.
Her voice caused glass to crack, and the weaker among audiences bled from their ears and noses before fainting.
"Control yourself, Moss!" A level 8 awakener created a lightning barrier protecting the audience and yelled.
"Control my ass!" A woman bathed in lightning shot through the stage and thrust the lightning spear into the dome.
Cling!
Kaa!
The dome started to crack and was on the verge of collapse.
Saa~
The second slot of the ring was filled.
"Why aren't you attacking?" The third and final body guard, Hina appeared just in front of the dome and yelled.
She tried twice to teleport in, but there were restrictions. It'd take at least two more tries.
"Out of the way." A heavy voice sounded and the next moment, a figure crashed into the dome.
Boom!
Boom!
The doom was broken apart and the stage began to violently shake as cracks spread like cobweb.
The level 8 awakener's body blurred and he appeared in front of Betty in the split of a second.
Saaa~
The third slot of the ring was filled and space violently fluctuated.
"You!"
The referee was grabbing Betty. Liluh and Vinar were grabbing the referee.
The level 8s hand was only a few inches away from the referee when they disappeared.
"Arggh!" Screams filled with rage and killing intent reverberated throughout the stadium.
The defense members on the scene were already in action and secured the audience from the effects of those screams and killing intent.
Screams were fine. They would only bleed a bit and go deaf temporarily.
But killing intent…it might cause a permeant trauma.
"Don't worry. It's alright."
"It's all safe now."
"Just be seated. We'll take care of this."
The people of Valos were still accustomed to violence, so they adjusted quickly and sat in their positions.
As for the ones that didn't obey, well…they were forced to be seated.
On the other side, the stage had already collapsed.
As they failed to find her traces on the stage, Betty's bodyguards were aghast.
Roth and Moss, the lightning and body awakeners checked their comms immediately.
Betty's comm was custom made—it could withstand a few level 7 strikes. Even if they want to remove it from her, they'd need a few seconds.
"Half minute away." Roth pointed to her comm and lightning wings emerged from her back.
With a flap, she shot into the air and turned into a streak of lightning. The clouds split apart as she vanished into the distance.
"Fuck!" Moss roared in anger and raised her leg.
"No! No! Stop, Moss!" A level 7 near yelled in anxiety. But Moss didn't care.
Boom!
Moss' figure blurred as she reached the clouds in an instant and kept kicking in the air, and moved forward.
Simultaneously, the ground shook and cracks began to spread from the center.
"Damn it!" The security officers cursed seeing the cracks spreading outwards rapidly.
No, not just that, a large chunk of the ground just caved in and formed a crater!
A little girl was sitting in her chair. Right when something happed on the stage, her mom told her to close her eyes and put noise cancelling headphones on her.
But as the chair she sat on shook uncontrollably, an unknown fear gripped her heart.
She was in darkness. She couldn't see anything or hear anything, yet she could feel it.
Her chair started to shake. The little girl started to sob as she cried for help.
"M-Mo—huh?"
Before she could even call her mom, the shaking stopped.
The little girl cautiously opened her eyes and looked around. "Whaaa?"
Her mouth gaped open as she stared at the ground. Why was the ground cracked?
Others also stared with mouths wide open. But for the opposite reason. Why did the ground cracking suddenly stopped?
"…Telekinetic!" Someone in the crowd suddenly pointed out.
"Ah! Thank you, sir!"
"Thanks to every one who is protecting us."
One by one, the crowd began to chant thanks.
If it was in another planet, the crowd would be demanding explanation from the authorities. Heck, they'd even start protesting.
But this was Valos.
As the high awakeners sighed in relief, a different scene was unfolding a few hundred miles away.
"Quick!" Roth's lightning wings flapped as she moved towards the blinking dot on her comm.
"Arghh!" Behind her, Moss followed.
As they got time to think, their anxiety calmed down. Now, they were just angry, not worried.
Because they knew…before either of them, Hina was already chasing their miss.
As a space awakener, she'd should've already caught up with them and should've even killed that damn referee.
But they too wanted to take turns and torture that bloody bastard.
They were…naive.
After all, the three of them were brought up under Colin to be dedicated workers of his family.
They watched Betty grow up and doted on her more than anything.
After that one incident, they left behind everything else and started guarding Betty.
Protect her and practice. These were their only goals.
'Wouldn't the kidnappers know about Hina?'
'Wouldn't they prepared?'
These thoughts never crossed their minds.
And Betty was paying for their mistake.