Chapter 426: _This One’s Gonna Be Bloody

Hale-Ferguson Residence

When Ambrose’s eyes finally opened, air hit his lungs way too fast and hard. He gasped, springing up on his bum.

"Whoa, whoa," Devon, who’d been sitting on a stool beside the couch he’d left him on all this while, immediately got alerted. "You’re okay. You’re safe." He rubbed his shoulder with one hand until the SS-Rank turned to face him.

Ambrose’s breathing gradually steadied.

He left the black mask on his face—too anxious that the second he took it off was when it would come crashing down. It would be him accepting that he really was gone.

The original Ambrose Hale.

Orion’s actual father.

One of the most powerful and wisest figures he’d ever known... was gone.

[System online.] Aura’s voice chimed in his head. [Hey, sweetheart. You’re sweating bullets right now.]

Usually Ambrose would say something sarcastic about her stating the obvious.

He couldn’t.

"Is he awake?" Viktor’s voice echoed from the stairs, making him and Devon snap their necks there. The Ice Prince’s expression shifted to relief when he spotted Ambrose. "I knew it. Little bird, how are you feeling?"

Rose stayed silent.

His face alone gave the Ice Prince and redhead all the answers they needed.

"Did your..." Devon coughed. "Did your future self say anything? About Orion?"

Ambrose’s lips quivered to answer.

Before he could, noise from the television made them all stop.

"We’ve got breaking news on the Amazon’s SS-Rank Rift," The anchor began. "After some of Earth’s most powerful Espers arrived at the rainforest, new reports suggest the Rift has been closed."

Images flashed across the screen behind the anchor—Valentine, Gabriel, Ji-Hoon... even Ambrose himself, as well as every other SS-Rank involved in the mission.

"The Argentinian Federation’s President has agreed to have a virtual interview with us this evening concerning the Rift. Although we’ve tried reaching out to Hunter Ambrose, Valentine and Gabriel, they’ve all proven silent. We at the..."

Whatever he had to say got filtered from Ambrose’s head as he got to his feet.

A wave of his hand activated the system’s storage space.

[ItemPulled: Black Key.]

The obsidian key landed on his waiting palm, all while his back faced Devon and Viktor.

Both S-Ranks exchanged a glance.

Devon was the first to speak. "Rose, what’s going on? Come on, you’ve been dead silent since you woke up, and now you’re holding that weird key. The same one you used in—"

"I’m going to be away." Ambrose finally looked over his shoulder, eyes wandering between Devon and Viktor. "I’m sorry for my silence. But yes. I need to be away for a while."

Viktor blinked. "Away? For how long?"

"... I don’t know yet. I just know I’ll be back. Eventually."

"That doesn’t sound very promising, Ambrose."

His grip tightened around the key.

Eventually, he brought it forward and twisted it in the air as though there was an invisible keyhole there. A heartbeat later, a black door materialised, bursting open with a blinding stream of white light.

Devon and Viktor shielded their faces with their arms.

Ambrose merely squinted at the familiar spatial energies spilling out.

"If anything new comes up about Orion, the Archons or anything important at all... alert me through the link. Tell Valentine, Gabriel and Loki that I’ll be back."

He slid the key into his pocket.

Without looking back, he crossed over to the other side, the light swallowing him like a hungry beast.

The door blinked out of existence the second he was gone, leaving nothing but a harrowing silence and barely noticeable spatial ripples.

"Shit." Devon found a smile cracking his lips despite himself. "He’s back."

Viktor gave him a questioning look, still mostly disoriented.

He’d been away at Glacier Talon for most of today and rushed back when he was filled in on everything that happened... including Ambrose fainting.

Now he just woke up and left like there was nothing wrong.

"You remember how he was with the random disappearing acts," Devon went on when his old friend stayed silent. "Each time he came back different."

Could it be?

Was Ambrose about to take the steps in becoming—

A knock from the front door cut through their thoughts.

"Come in!" Viktor yelled, brushing a hand through his hair.

The door opened.

To their surprise, the person who stepped in was Thoth. The SSS-Rank Guide’s face was stoic as ever, but behind those eyes he appeared... apologetic.

"Gentlemen," He managed a smile, nodding at Viktor and Devon. "I was hoping to speak with Hunter Ambrose. Isn’t he back from his mission?"

Devon opened his mouth.

"You just missed him." Viktor beat him to it, pulling out his phone to do literally anything else.

Thoth frowned.

"Missed him? Where did he go?"

★★★★★

Ambrose walked out of the other end of the door, which sealed shut behind him.

The first thing that welcomed him was the air. It reeked of sulphur, brimstone and soot—all things that would probably suggest an absence of life.

[WARNING: Numerous powerful energy signatures detected. Host advised to proceed with absolute caution.]

His head tilted to the skies above.

Raging dark thunder clouds covered the skies as far as the eyes could see. Golden and blue lightning crackled in them, occasionally providing some light to the desolate rocky landscape below.

He stretched out his right hand.

Grave Keeper appeared between his fingers, the runes on its surface gleaming with necrotic energy. His shadow stretched behind him, spatial awareness pulsing.

Before Aura’s warning, he could sense them already.

Energy signatures belonging to existences that would give the Amazon parasite a run for its damn money. Even the least powerful ones made his muscles tense.

SCREEEEKKK!

Monstrous chittering noises resounded from every corner. A hill several meters behind him trembled.

He spun around, fingers coiling harder around Grave Keeper.

Several bloodthirsty eyes glowed in the darkness, the rolling lightning briefly illuminating silhouettes that would’ve made most shit their pants.

The corner of Ambrose’s lips curled with the faintest smirk.

"This one’s gonna be bloody."