Chapter 407: _The Whole Truth

Blue Diamond Academy

The office was a wreck. Splintered wood and glass dust crunched underfoot. One wall bowed inward from where Viktor’s ice had detonated outward moments before.

Ambrose sat on what was left of his desk, Orion curled against his chest, small fists twisted into his shirt.

"Is she gone?" Orion’s voice was muffled, barely above a whisper.

"She’s gone, buddy." Ambrose pressed his lips to the boy’s hair, trying to hide the slight tremble in his voice.

That was close.

Way too close.

Devon hadn’t fully powered down—faint heat still shimmered off his shoulders, flames dying reluctantly under his skin.

Viktor stood near the shattered window, frost still crawling in slow spirals over broken glass.

Gabriel hadn’t said a word since his space-lock failed. He just stared at his own hands as though they’d betrayed him. Valentine kept close to the door, shadows pooling faintly at his feet.

Loki was the only one who moved, crouching to pick through the rubble like they might find answers buried in the drywall.

Outside, the chaos had organised itself into something more orderly.

Hunter Augustus stood at the perimeter with his arms crossed, S-rank senses straining toward the building his gut told him not to approach.

Magnus watched the academy’s broken windows.

Beside him, Irina Morozov crossed her arms, frost curling faintly along her collarbone even at rest. Standing here, knowing her son was in there with a being more powerful than the Void Entity, had her on edge.

"We should go in," Augustus finally said.

"Give them a minute," Magnus mumbled. "They’ve earned it. And something tells me the Archon is no longer in there..."

★★★★★

A few minutes later, several Hunters were sent into the academy, sweeping through every classroom, hallway and office for anything suspicious.

Ambrose and his family were escorted out... except Loki, who had slipped out to meet the Pantheon outside.

They were indeed hiding in the shadows like Magnus suspected earlier.

The lord of chaos opened the door leading into the café they’d decided to lounge at. The place had a glass façade with a great view of Blue Diamond Academy across the street.

"Well?" Wukong dropped his half eaten sandwich as Loki approached the table the group quietly sat around. "From the explosion... I’m guessing—"

"She slipped away." Loki collapsed into the seat beside Yemoja, lazily grabbing a piece of bread. "Everyone is safe. Physically at least."

"And she was still using the human woman’s body?" Apollo pushed. "Were you all able to wound her?"

"If we did, she escaped before we could notice."

Yemoja sucked in a breath. "Her escaping should count for something, no? Perhaps she truly was cornered." Her eyes scanned everyone present. "Which would mean these things aren’t as unstoppable as we thought. Right?"

Slowly, all eyes turned to the only other person aside from Ambrose who seemed knowledgeable about the Archons.

Kali remained silent.

Despite remaining at the café with the others, she’d quietly dispatched one of her projections the instant Ramona escaped Blue Diamond. It had shadowed the Archon across half the city before following her through a spatial jump.

"I found her," Kali finally said, breaking the silence. "For approximately thirty seconds."

The table’s attention sharpened at once.

Apollo leaned forward. "And?"

"I lost her."

Even Wukong stopped chewing.

"You... lost her?" He repeated, genuine disbelief creeping into his voice.

Kali nodded once.

"My projection followed her as far as Los Angeles. She emerged inside a narrow alleyway, heavily injured and still inhabiting the woman’s body. Before I could approach any closer, she simply..." Kali searched for the proper word. "... vanished into humanity."

Apollo frowned. "Vanished?"

"Not physically. Conceptually." Kali rested her elbows upon the table. "One moment I knew precisely where she stood. The next..." She slowly shook her head. "It became impossible to distinguish her from the countless lives surrounding her."

Silence settled over the group.

Yemoja folded her hands together. "If these Archons possess power capable of bending reality itself," she murmured, "why are they hiding at all?"

Wukong snapped his fingers. "Exactly! That’s what I’ve been wondering."

Kali’s violet eyes lifted toward the academy across the street.

"Because they don’t belong here."

The answer immediately erased the casual mood around the table.

"They’re invaders," she continued. "This universe and the multiverse as a whole recognise them as foreign existences. Every second they remain here in their true forms, reality rejects them much like a body rejects incompatible blood."

Apollo’s brows gradually knitted together.

"So that’s why she’s possessing humans."

"Precisely." Kali gave a small nod. "The vessels shield them from immediate rejection. Without one, the universe itself would begin correcting the inconsistency."

Yemoja released a slow breath. "Then they aren’t invincible."

"No." Kali’s voice remained calm. "Only patient."

Her gaze drifted toward Blue Diamond once more.

"The longer they remain concealed, the more opportunities they have to learn. Today’s confrontation wasn’t merely an attack. It was reconnaissance."

Nobody argued with that.

★★★★★

Outside Blue Diamond Academy, emergency personnel continued moving in and out of the damaged building while investigators cordoned off entire sections of the campus. Teachers comforted frightened students, Hunters exchanged hurried reports, and repair specialists had already begun assessing the structural damage left behind.

Gabriel stood several metres away from everyone else.

His attention remained fixed on his own hands.

Ambrose noticed almost immediately.

After making sure Orion was safely occupied beside Devon, he quietly walked over until he stood beside the Space God.

"You’ve been awfully quiet."

Gabriel gave a humourless laugh. "Wouldn’t you be?"

Ambrose didn’t answer.

For several seconds, Gabriel simply stared at his palms before finally speaking again.

"She didn’t break my spatial lock."

Ambrose looked at him.

"When someone overpowers one of my techniques, I can feel it. Space resists. It fractures. There’s always... something." His fingers slowly curled into fists. "This time there was nothing."

He swallowed.

"It wasn’t destroyed. It wasn’t unraveled. It wasn’t even wiped out of existence like with the Void Entity."

His voice dropped almost to a whisper.

"It was as though that section of space had never been manipulated to begin with."

Even saying the words aloud made them sound impossible.

"I’ve manipulated space for as long as I can remember," Gabriel continued. "I’ve fought monsters, Espers, even conceptual entities. Nothing has ever... denied my ability like that."

Ambrose remained thoughtful, his expression growing heavier with every word.

Gabriel finally tore his gaze away from his hands and looked directly at him.

"Ambrose." A long pause stretched between them. "Don’t you think it’s about time we told the Pantheon the whole truth about Orion?"