Chapter 614: Forceful Aurora, Onward To The Final Gate! |
"It’s not working!"
The Healer lady’s shout echoed within the ambulance as deep regret washed over her; she really should have run away when she still could!
Despite the fact that it had only been a month, the once poverty-stricken tall lady looked completely different.
Starting by exchanging the cheap make-up she used before with expensive brands that looked even more excessive, her clothes, and even her bag followed, featuring designer brands that only rich people could afford.
Just combining the payment for the last four Gates had netted her an entire Million Units, so why shouldn’t she spoil herself after successfully paying all of her mother’s bills?
At least that was the Healer lady’s original thoughts, faced with her current situation...
"I can’t do it!"
She regretted every penny she withdrew and every penny she spent!
Aurora had always been a great patient who picked herself up after receiving a very light healing session.
"Come on!"
Even after putting in two whole hours, the Thorn Queen lying in front of her was still completely unresponsive.
Her eyelids were open, but her eyes didn’t have a single hint of clarity in them; she was totally lost in her own dark world.
Worst of all, while most of her superficial wounds had vanished by now, the mangled arm didn’t seem to budge, making Yvonne look even more pitiful.
"You don’t have to really fix her up, just make her look presentable for now!"
Unbeknownst to her, the paramedic who had been watching the entire process was even more nervous than she was.
Somehow, their perfect plan to entrap Aurora had ended up backfiring!
The incompetent Healer they picked could never heal the kind of injury the Thorn Queen had, and they couldn’t bring another Healer in, or it would raise questions.
At the same time, they couldn’t afford to retire the Thorn Queen until the final colored Gate is cleared!
’We have no time for this!’
The plan had to proceed, but...
"Fine. You can stop now. I will go make a phone call. Meanwhile, get her ready to be sent away."
Once again, the paramedic decided to stop burdening himself with unnecessary tasks; the one who had to solve this mess was that closet pervert, not him.
"Yes... It’s me. It can’t be done, find another solution. Not my problem, it’s yours, so deal with it."
"Damn it!"
On the other side of the call, the suited man’s expression turned ugly behind his sunglasses. That damned coordinator must have forgotten who he was working for!
"Care to explain yourselves?"
Turning to face the other occupants of the tent, the suited man decided to vent his anger on the ones involved, the useless remainder of the Thorn Trio!
"Unless your lives no longer matter to you, you’d better have a good excuse for what you did."
"I already explained things truthfully. It was a sneak attack, big sis tried to block it for Aurora and failed; there was nothing we could have done."
The shaken Viva that was inside the Gate was nowhere to be seen, instead, the confident Thorn Princess was the one taking control.
No matter what, a normie like this guy didn’t deserve to act as their superior.
"Seriously? Have you been pretending for too long that it messed with your brain? You are supposed to weaken Aurora, not protect her!"
"Do we really need an idiot like you to remind us of that? Of course, we didn’t forget our task. In fact, this was big sis’s attempt at making your lousy plan work."
Having started asserting dominance, the Thorn Princess didn’t plan on stopping. Just remembering Aurora’s terrifying face when she destroyed her big sister was enough to give her the right amount of motivation.
"Huh?"
"I will enlighten you, mister smarty pants. It’s all the sneak attacker’s fault. It was supposedly so weak that it only gave out the faintest Enigma signals, so big sis only wanted to pretend to defend Aurora from a threat she could easily deal with; that way, we could get her to lower her guard enough to finish the job in the final Gate.
"Unfortunately, that thing had the ability to mask his Enigma. Big sis almost lost her arm in the process of enduring its attack, still, for the sake of the mission, she held on like a trustworthy teammate."
Viva’s expression softened as she thought of her big sister’s ’sacrifice’.
"What use are these ’clever’ actions of hers if the final Gate attack isn’t going to happen? Aurora was foolish enough to calm the crowd for us so far, but pushing an incomplete team into the final Gate won’t fly!"
The suited man’s sunglasses almost flew off in anger from Viva’s ridicule, but the dilemma he was put in gave him a much bigger headache.
Forget about toying with Aurora; at this rate, his head might fly off!
"Didn’t I already say that big sis sacrificed herself for this? Unlike you, she is smart enough to prepare for the case where her healing might be delayed. Just make sure to hand her to a proper healer while we are away."
"What do you-"
"Shh. Listen, it has already started."
As Viva gestured toward the tent’s exit, the suited man went silent for a second before picking up on her cue as he rushed outside.
"Aurora! Aurora! Look here, what’s your stance on the government’s neglect?"
"Aurora! Will you be taking a long break from Gate Clearing to make a statement? Is that why you are finally speaking to the press for the first time since the start of this project?"
"Aurora..."
’What the...’
On the premise that they would reconvene again tomorrow, the suited man had pretended to send the entire team away while secretly calling back the Thorn Duo to properly understand what happened inside the Gate.
He didn’t expect that Aurora would use this chance to directly speak to the public!
Looking at the crowd centered around the microphone-holding Aurora, his headache only got bigger.
"I have no intention of answering questions. The only reason I asked to speak to everyone like this is that I have something very important to declare."
"Aurora-"
"Aurora-"
Despite Aurora’s statement, the surrounding news reporters didn’t stop clamoring, trying to get the Hero of Light to look into their station’s camera. However...
Bang!
With a cold look in her eyes, Aurora only lightly clapped on the end of her palm, yet a violent but intangible shockwave spread through the entire street, finally bringing everyone into silence.
"New Team Aurora will most definitely attempt the next and final Gate according to the original schedule. Since Yvonne almost sacrificed her life to make it happen, I can’t not uphold the promise she left behind before she lost consciousness."
"What?"
"Seriously?"
"As expected of Aurora!"
"Hero of Light!"
"Won’t you reconsider-"
The silent crowd couldn’t resist reacting despite the scare they just had not too long ago, showing mixed reactions toward Aurora’s firm declaration.
However, regardless of their intent, Aurora only had one more thing to say."
"This decision is final."
Just like that, Aurora handed the microphone to the original owner before marching off. Naturally, the crowd parted as no one dared block her way as she stepped forward with quick steps, followed by Kara, who had a mischievous grin on her face.
"Told you."
Suppressing her actual feelings, Viva watched from the sidelines before turning to the suited with a face full of mocking smiles.
Next to her, Vera stayed silent, but was internally impressed. It didn’t take a genius to cook up a story like the one that Aurora made up, but having the persona and strength that enabled her to forcefully pull off something like this was rare.
If they truly managed to survive this ordeal, Vera believed that she could achieve personal growth by learning a thing or two from Aurora.
Meanwhile...
As the gathering before last finally dispersed, a nearby ambulance sped up in the direction of the nearest hospital. With a Great Hero on board, they didn’t dare drive slowly.
Lamentably, before the driver could make much of a head start, the shadow extending from the gurney in the back slightly shook. A second later, the accompanying paramedic silently slipped into a deep sleep.
There was nobody to observe what had just happened, but if there were, they would all come to the same conclusion.
Something eerie was about to befall the Great Hero.