“Almandine, keep a three-meter distance from them; I’ll teleport you back home.”
Bahyun’s voice snapped Almandine out of her confused state as she felt the sincere hug from Morganite. Although Morganite displayed a different attitude from what Almandine remembered, she recalled Bahyun’s analysis and knew it wasn’t safe for her to expose herself. Morganite might be friendly, but that didn’t guarantee a similar reception from the Special Mage Armed Force.
After all, she was a body composed of a magic circuit, and that alone was enough for someone with malicious intentions to exploit her. Plus, she still harbored half of a FayOra stone in her body. It would be logical for the Special Mage Armed Force to want to extract her stone, completing the other half and gaining an additional Mage to enhance their combat capabilities. It made more sense to them than keeping her, whose origin same as that of dark beasts, with dark energy flowing in her body like blood.
She was the antithesis of the Special Mage Armed Force, representing illegality in the eyes of authorities and justice. Morganite’s opinion couldn’t guarantee anything in their eyes.
“My dear...” Morganite finally loosened her hug to get a better look at Almandine, but Almandine suddenly pulled away, leaping backward and distancing herself from the others. Before anyone could react, a teleportation rune gathered around her - another new rune they had never seen before. Although they recognized it as teleportation magic based on the rune’s appearance, the knowledge contained within was far beyond their understanding. Almandine disappeared into thin air, as if she had never been there.
“Wait...why?” Morganite couldn’t comprehend the reason, “Why did she leave? Shouldn’t we have chat for a while or something? Is she...guarding against me? But why?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll meet again!” Paraiba reassured Morganite, patting her shoulder. “We shall meet and speak soon. By then, we shall take her with us if possible, avoiding her being used by any humanoid dark beast again. She’s left with half a FayOra, I’m afraid she’s vulnerable now...But it’s okay, we are far more powerful than we were ten years ago; it would never happen again.”
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“Yup! We can safeguard her now. What happened in the past will not happen again!” Charoite clenched her fist tightly and nodded.
Meanwhile Cymophane’s focus shifted to another point, “You addressed her with “my dear”...I never knew you were such a passionate person who gives hugs to anyone.”
Ever since the incident involving the death of dark replicas, Morganite’s personality had undergone a drastic change. She went from being carefree and jovial to a calm and reserved individual who would always think twice before taking any action. While she was polite, she wasn’t typically given to displays of passion like hugging and using endearing terms.
“I...I suppose she has a name of her own.” Morganite signed, “Though she was recorded as Dark-Morganite in our documents, that was just a code name we gave her. It’s not her real name at all...We were like twins, identical in every aspect, but she never told me her name. She shouldn’t bear my name or be addressed as my replica. I’m happy to see her, but I can’t find a suitable name to call her...I consider her my sister, yet I don’t even know her name!”
The others couldn’t help but be reminded of the shock they experienced as they processed Morganite’s words. Indeed, even though they couldn’t voice the names of their dark replicas after all these years, they thought about them whenever they faced discouragement or problems. This drove them to get back on their feet and keep improving themselves, so they wouldn’t have to witness the same tragedy again. The feeling of regret and sorrow lingered whenever they tried to summon the names they mourned for, yet they couldn’t uttered a single word, as their regret left no name for them to call upon.
Morganite took a deep breath and offered her team members a smile, adopting her usual working attitude, “Okay, let’s get back to our work. Contact the rear service to clean up the place, and we’ll search for any victims who need help. After that...”
“Let’s check the surveillance cameras around here as well.” Jadaite suggested, pointing at the building outside the barrier, which miraculously remained intact, “We might find some clues.”
The team of five agreed and began to busy themselves with their tasks.