Before anyone could respond, new presences approached.
These ones less subtle and less careful, their arrival marked by hurried footsteps and agitated voices.
Five S rank awakeners materialized, their appearances suggesting rushed deployment.
They wore the colors of the Murdock Imperial family's subordinate forces, their ranks marking them as retainers rather than direct bloodline members.
Their eyes found Elizabeth immediately, widening in shock at her condition.
One arm missing, one leg severed, blood soaking her clothes…
Her purple hair was matted and disheveled and her face empty of emotion.
They looked at Vermont next, their expressions showing horror at his aged appearance, at the way decades had been burned away from his life force.
But none of them had purple hair.
None of them carried the distinctive features of the Murdock main bloodline.
These were subordinates of the Murdock, loyal perhaps, but not the immediate family Elizabeth might have expected.
