Chapter 43: POrtal

Normal people and hunters were caught up in the same chaos, rushing through the streets with unmistakable panic written across their faces. Loud warning sirens echoed throughout the sector, their piercing sound cutting through the night as emergency announcements continued to ring out in the distance.

The wide streets, which were normally packed with vehicles and pedestrians, had been cleared in a matter of minutes. Barricades had been hastily established along the roads, leaving behind a broad passageway for First Responders and emergency services to move through without obstruction. The atmosphere was tense, almost suffocating, as everyone hurried to get as far away from the danger as possible.

Looking at the scene before him, Jackson immediately understood what had happened.

A portal had opened somewhere in the sector.

Portals were mysterious gateways capable of connecting Earth to distant and unknown realms. Through these gateways, terrifying monsters could enter the human world, turning peaceful cities into slaughterhouses within moments. Depending on the realm on the other side, a single portal could pose enough danger to wipe out an entire sector.

As if confirming Jackson’s thoughts, he soon overheard several hunters discussing the situation among themselves in hushed voices.

"Oh my heavens, when will we finally get rid of these portals for good?"

"Technology has advanced so far, yet we still haven’t been able to get rid of these things..."

Their voices carried a mixture of helplessness and relief.

Helplessness because humanity had spent countless years developing increasingly advanced technology, yet portals remained an unavoidable threat.

Relief because, thankfully, this particular portal had not opened anywhere close to them.

Jackson initially paid little attention to their conversation. He was already preparing to continue toward home when a familiar place suddenly entered the discussion.

His footsteps stopped.

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

"Lion and Tiger Dojo."

The portal had opened at the Lion and Tiger Dojo.

The very place where Aella was training.

For a moment, Jackson’s mind seemed to short-circuit.

Aella...

His thoughts instantly spiraled toward the worst possible outcomes.

No.

Why did it have to be there?

Of all the places in Sector Sixty-Seven, why there?

Jackson knew exactly how terrifying portals were. Anyone who understood the horror they brought knew that once one appeared, surviving the ensuing disaster was nothing short of a miracle.

His face gradually turned pale.

The strength seemed to drain from his entire body all at once. His legs lost their support, and he stumbled before finally slumping heavily onto the ground.

For a moment, everything around him seemed to fade away.

The sirens, the hurried footsteps, the panicked voices...

None of them mattered anymore.

Only one thought remained in Jackson’s mind.

Aella.

And for the first time in a long while, genuine despair filled his heart.

The fact that Jackson possessed the Golden Brush, a treasure capable of rewriting reality, did not help him in the slightest at this moment.

What could the Golden Brush actually do?

Could it even bring someone back to life?

The thought had barely emerged when Jackson’s eyes suddenly lit up. A faint trace of vitality returned to his pale face, and the despair that had been weighing down his heart was replaced by determination.

No...

I can’t be like this.

I have to go there and see the situation with my own eyes.

With that thought, Jackson immediately got to his feet and started running.

The sudden appearance of the portal had thrown the entire transportation system into chaos. Public transportation had either been suspended or severely disrupted, leaving countless people stranded as emergency services took control of the roads.

Jackson didn’t care.

He simply ran.

He didn’t know how long he had been running, nor how many streets he had crossed. His lungs burned with every breath, his legs gradually grew heavier, and sweat soaked through his clothes once again.

Yet none of that mattered.

The fear and unease in his heart refused to diminish.

If even he was feeling this terrified, then Jackson could not imagine what his mother must be going through right now.

The thought of her waiting helplessly for news about Aella made his chest tighten.

He pushed himself even harder.

Before Jackson could reach the dojo, he suddenly saw a massive column of black smoke rising into the night sky in the distance. The smoke twisted upward like a dark serpent, blotting out part of the sky.

Below it, a long convoy of emergency vehicles raced toward the same destination, their sirens screaming through the streets.

Jackson’s heart sank.

The closer he got, the more horrifying the surroundings became.

The familiar high-rise buildings and bustling commercial streets had completely disappeared.

They had been blasted to smithereens.

Buildings had collapsed into heaps of shattered concrete and twisted metal. Vehicles lay overturned across the streets, some still burning, while fires flickered among the ruins. The air itself seemed thick with ash and smoke.

Then the smell reached him.

Burnt flesh.

Jackson’s face turned pale.

Every few steps, he saw another mutilated or charred corpse lying among the wreckage. Some bodies were barely recognizable, reduced to little more than blackened remains.

And some of them...

Some of them belonged to hunters who were clearly stronger than him.

Jackson’s heart tightened painfully.

Damn it...

How could this happen?

If even hunters stronger than him had failed to survive, then there was no need to think about what might have happened to Aella.

Logic told him to prepare for the worst.

But his heart refused to accept it.

Jackson could only pray.

Please...

Please let her be alive.

If something had happened to that little girl...

Jackson’s breathing stopped for a moment.

He immediately forced himself to stop thinking about it.

He couldn’t.

He didn’t dare continue that line of thought.

"Let me go! My sister was training at the Lion Dojo! I need to save her!"

Jackson pushed desperately through the barricades, ignoring the shouts of the soldiers trying to keep civilians away from the disaster zone. His eyes remained fixed ahead as he forced his way through the chaos.

Soon, the ruined remains of the dojo came into view.

The three-story building that had once stood with grand martial elegance had been reduced to a pile of shattered concrete and twisted steel. Large sections of the structure had completely collapsed, while thick dust still hung in the air, mixing with smoke that drifted through the surrounding streets.

And some distance away from the ruins, something even more extraordinary caught Jackson’s attention.

A blue portal floated silently in midair.

Its surface pulsed and rippled like a living thing, blue light continuously swirling across its depths. Looking at it from a distance, Jackson could not help but feel as though he were staring into the enormous eye of some prehistoric beast.

But Jackson didn’t care about the portal.

His only concern was Aella.

He immediately rushed toward the ruins of the dojo.

Inside the devastated area, numerous hunters wearing Green Soul Corporation uniforms were moving through the wreckage. They carefully carried out dead bodies one after another, their expressions grim beneath the flashing emergency lights.

Nearby, several soldiers were escorting injured students and frightened survivors away from the ruins. Some were covered in blood and dust, while others were barely able to walk and had to be supported by the soldiers as they were taken toward temporary medical centers.

Jackson wasn’t surprised to see Green Soul Corporation hunters here.

In this part of the sector, Green Soul Corporation was the strongest force, so it was only natural that they would be among the first organizations to respond.

As Jackson looked around, he even spotted a familiar figure.

Veronica Green Soul was standing among the foreign hunters, issuing rapid commands and directing the response. Although Jackson was too far away to hear her clearly, it was obvious from her actions that she was preparing a team.

A team that would enter the other side of the portal.

After all, a portal could not simply be closed from Earth’s side. The monsters on the other side had to be dealt with before the portal could finally be sealed.

But none of that mattered to Jackson right now.

His attention quickly shifted toward a large board displaying the names of students who had been injured or killed during the disaster.

Jackson rushed toward it.

His eyes immediately swept across the list of deceased students, but he quickly forced himself to look away.

He didn’t want to see that list.

Not yet.

Instead, he focused entirely on the list of injured students.

His gaze raced down the names.

One name after another.

Then suddenly...

He found it.

Jackson’s heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

Aella.

She was alive.

A huge weight that he hadn’t even realized he had been carrying suddenly disappeared from his chest.

As long as she was okay...

That was enough.

Jackson quickly memorized the location of the medical center where she had been admitted. Without wasting another second, he turned around and moved swiftly toward it.