Chapter 24: End of Portal 1
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[DING]
[LINK TERMINATED]
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Amelia’s eyes widened as the last line of the notification faded from her vision. She slowly covered her mouth, trying to hide the smirk tugging at her lips.
"Wait..." Minato narrowed his eyes. "Are you... Are you laughing at me?"
"No," she replied quickly, shaking her head sideways... but her shoulders trembled, exposing her lies, and within seconds she couldn’t hold it in anymore. "Pff—Minato, seriously! Just how unlucky are you?"
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with a deep frown. "Hilarious. Go on, get it out of your system."
Amelia laughed even harder, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "A succubus curse? Of all things... You really do attract trouble."
"Ehm," she cleared her throat briefly, trying to sound composed. "But whenever you need help with anything regarding this issue," she said, looking away, her ears turning slightly red, "tell me. I would see what I can do."
Before Minato could reply, the floor trembled violently. The atmosphere became heavy... blue lightning surged throughout the chamber.
Then...BOOM!
A massive portal tore open in front of them, its swirling blue and white vortex lighting up the entire chamber.
Minato quickly shielded his eyes with his elbow from the blinding light bursting out of the portal. Beside him, Amelia did the same... though in her own way. With a quick snap of her fingers, thin streams of blood swirled from her wrists and solidified into red goggles that covered her eyes like tinted glass.
The light pulsed one last time before it began to fade out. Slowly... the blinding blue light dimmed, their vision adjusting almost instantly.
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DING
[ENERGY SURGE DETECTED]
[EXIT PORTAL LOCATED]
[STABILITY — 3 MINUTES REMAINING BEFORE COLLAPSE]
↓
[WARNING: FAILURE TO ENTER BEFORE TIME LIMIT WILL RESULT IN HOST EXILE.]
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Amelia placed her hands on her hips while looking forward at the bright blue portal. "That’s the exit, isn’t it?"
"Yes," Minato nodded, while squinting his eyes a little bit. "The system just notified me... but it won’t stay open for long. We’ve got about three minutes before it closes."
She tilted her head and smirked. "Are you sure you’re not forgetting anything?" she asked mockingly, mimicking his tone perfectly.
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(Chapter 13 for reference).
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"Stop it," Minato groaned, rolling his eyes before letting out a tired sigh. "Let’s just go before it closes."
Without another word, Amelia reached out and grabbed his hand. The moment their fingers touched, the light from the portal intensified... and together, they stepped through.
Seconds, minutes, hours... neither of them knew how long they’d been inside the exit portal or how long it took to get back. But one thing was certain for Minato: they had left that chamber.
Instantly, sound flooded in, the environmental noises coming back all at once.
"Pi pi..." (The sound of cars.)
Birds chirping in nearby trees. The hum of a city with civilization.
Minato winced, his hands instinctively covering his ears as his hearing adjusted to the sudden rush of sound. Amelia, however, stood perfectly fine, unfazed and composed as always.
But something else caught Minato’s attention. Something that made it undeniably clear... they were back on Earth.
"Hey! You two... put your hands in the air!"
"What?" Minato froze for a second, standing upright immediately.
The area around them was completely swarming with people and police officers.
Flashing camera lights, phones recording, and police officers with weapons drawn.
Minato briefly turned around in confusion... and realized the exit portal had dropped them right where they started. The entrance point of portal 1. To make matters worse... the portal was still active.
"Don’t move!" one officer shouted, pointing his gun at Minato.
Then, just as suddenly, the purple portal 1 entrance began to fade out, its light collapsing in on itself before vanishing completely.
"I said, don’t move! We will shoot if you move!"
Phones were out everywhere, people recording the scene, whispering, panicking.
Amelia exhaled lightly, crossing her arms with mild irritation, her voice dripping with irony. "What a warm welcome for their protectors..." she muttered.
"Come on... Amelia, don’t be like that. It’s not their fault," Minato muttered, raising both hands slightly to show he wasn’t a threat. "People freak out over what they don’t understand. I’m sure they’d be grateful if they knew... and besides, I was the one who started all of this."
Amelia crossed her arms, her expression a bit cold. "That still doesn’t excuse their bad behavior... peasants."
Minato turned to her, giving her a sideways look. "You should’ve seen your own face the first time you showed up in my apartment."
Her eyes narrowed, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "That’s different," she said, countering his claims.
"Sure it is," Minato said under his breath, trying not to laugh.
But as the officers began closing in, Minato’s mind raced... analyzing every possible outcome, every way this could all play out. And all of them led to one conclusion.
"Amelia," he said quietly, "could you... Use that mind thing of yours? What’s it called again?"
She tilted her head, placing one hand on her hip. " Vampiric Mind control?"
"Hey!" Minato whispered with his side-lips. "Don’t move too much."
Amelia just laughed, resting one hand on her breast. "Relax, Asian. No weapon in your realm could ever land a scratch on me."
"Wow," Minato muttered mockingly, rolling his eyes. "She is so strong." Then he sighed, exhausted. "Alright, mind control them already. I want to sleep... I haven’t closed my eyes in nineteen hours."
"Hmm... you know, you’re starting to get boring, Minato," Amelia said, her tone flat but her lips curving into a teasing little smirk.
Minato glanced at her, unimpressed. "Boring? I nearly died twice this week. I think I’ve earned a little peace."
She tilted her head slightly, her red eyes glinting. "Peace is dull. Chaos suits me better."
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You’re impossible, you know that?"
Amelia let out a small laugh, shaking her head briefly. Then her eyes shifted a few times... red light glowing faintly in the center of her iris.
"Sleep," she whispered with a feminine tone.
An invisible aura spread across the street like a wave of heat distortion. One by one, the officers’ eyes went completely blank.
Each of them lowered their guns.
And within seconds, the entire crowd of people was influenced... standing perfectly still, trapped in her vampiric powers.
Minato blinked twice, a bit impressed despite being sleepy. "Well... that was fast."
Amelia smiled proudly and dusted her hands dramatically. "Problem solved."