The bearded man shouted at the top of his lungs.
He tried to get his subordinates nearby to report the situation and figure out what had happened.
However...
No one answered.
And barely ten seconds later, every sound abruptly ceased.
Then.
The darkness all around them vanished before their eyes in an instant, like a bubble bursting. There was still no mental preparation, no gradual contraction.
It was as though it had never existed at all.
His vision returned.
His senses returned.
The bearded man hastily looked around, but the sight before him made him feel as if he had fallen into hell.
The thousand people he had just brought.
Whether ordinary constables or Special Ability Users, every last one of them had vanished.
All around...
The ground was a complete mess.
Powdered fragments of charred remains lay everywhere.
On the ground.
By the walls.
On the steps.
Dense black Imprints covered every surface. They were the shadows branded there after the dead had died in those spots.
Not far ahead.
At the entrance to Locust Tree Alley.
The two young men stood there calmly.
And beside them was a gigantic, terrifying centipede.
Its enormous segments gleamed with a purple-black metallic sheen, its eyes flickered with ghostly green fire, and arcs of electricity crawled over its body.
All of it chilled the bearded man to the bone.
He opened his mouth.
His eyes were filled with despair and disbelief, as though he could not accept what he was seeing.
After a long while.
He finally forced out two words:
"Thunder..."
"Thunder Centipede..."
"You... I... I..."
The bearded man trembled violently, his legs going weak. He only barely managed to keep from collapsing.
But he could no longer speak properly.
The scene before him.
Had shattered his worldview. His head was