Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

The friendly match between Southreach and Bloodfall Base hadn’t even finished when a member of the City Guard rushed in, interrupting them.

”City Lord! Something’s happened!”

And it was something big.

The Vortex at the edge of Southreach had formed so quickly that the residents were still just staring at it.

As a result, in just over ten minutes, the Vortex—hovering more than a hundred meters above the ground—grew from a few meters wide into a behemoth: a massive, elliptical spiral at least fifty meters across!

The gray-black Vortex possessed an immense suction, even more terrifying than a tornado!

In an instant, houses, people, plants, stones—everything on the ground was sucked into the Vortex!

The area was instantly filled with a cacophony of wailing and calls for help. Some of the sounds grew more and more distant, while others simply vanished mid-cry...

The Vortex wasn’t stationary; it was slowly advancing toward the city center.

Paige Summers and her people followed Maisie Joyce and her group to get a look at the Vortex.

She couldn’t help but draw a sharp, silent breath.

’It’s terrifying!’

Unless you were there in person, it was impossible to comprehend just how powerful the Vortex truly was.

Humanity’s strength was utterly insignificant in its presence.

It didn’t matter what you grabbed onto. If the Vortex moved over you before you could flee, it was almost certain you wouldn’t get away.

The only saving grace was that the Vortex was moving slowly.

It wasn’t too difficult for a Superpower User to escape.

No, in fact, as long as they had some warning, even ordinary people could get away.

The people who had been sucked into the Vortex earlier had simply been caught off guard.

Now, with the help of The Guard, most of the people were relatively safe.

But that raised a problem.

People could run, but their houses couldn’t, and no one had time to worry about the supplies inside. The Vortex’s suction was too powerful; the protective barriers the Earth Ability Users tried to erect were completely useless and were sucked away just like everything else.

What could possibly stop it?

The people might survive, but then what?

Houses, streets, food—everything would be sucked away.

What would they live on?!

If the Vortex was allowed to continue on its path, the best-case scenario for Southreach was that only a portion of the city would be destroyed before the Vortex moved off in a straight line to somewhere else. The worst-case scenario... it was possible the entire city could be annihilated.

If the former proved true, however, the Vortex’s next destination would be some of the bases in Concordia, which were still under construction.

It might even be Bloodfall!

Alarmed, Paige Summers tore her gaze from the Vortex and looked at Maisie Joyce.

The City Lord’s face was grim.

Clearly, she had already considered the worst-case scenario.

Paige Summers frowned. ’The only way to deal with this is to stop the Vortex.’

’But that’s going to be incredibly difficult.’

’Is this... a natural disaster?’

While Paige Summers was lost in thought, Maisie Joyce, Keith Preston, and the others had moved to one side to confer privately. There was too much background noise, and Paige had no intention of eavesdropping anyway, so she couldn’t hear what they were saying.

But when Keith Preston and his men quickly departed and Maisie Joyce hurried back over, Paige figured it out.

Maisie Joyce forced a strained smile. ”It looks like we’ll have to cut your visit short. The city is in chaos right now, so you should head back as soon as possible for your own safety. If something were to happen to you, I’d have no way of explaining it to Captain Monroe!” Then, she added, ”Don’t worry, the main gate is secure!”

Paige Summers stared at her for a moment. Seeing that Maisie Joyce genuinely wanted her to leave, she scoffed inwardly and said a single word, ”Fine.”

She immediately turned to her Bloodfall team members. ”We’re pulling out!”

Everyone looked to her for command. At her order, the entire team turned and moved swiftly and in perfect formation toward the main gate of Southreach.

’Paige guessed at Maisie Joyce’s motives. On the one hand, maybe she was genuinely afraid something would happen to me, and Southreach couldn’t withstand Marcus Monroe’s fury. It’s obvious to anyone how much he cares about me. But the real reason, the most important one, wasn’t that. She was afraid. Afraid that Bloodfall would take advantage of the disaster to pillage their city.’

’Being underestimated to that degree was, of course, infuriating.’

’Still, there was no point arguing about it.’

’This Vortex appeared out of nowhere. It’s too strange. If it ends up moving beyond Southreach, I have to warn the other bases as quickly as possible!’

The moment they were clear of Southreach, Paige Summers stopped and began issuing orders to her team members.

The five bases closest to Southreach were the most likely to be hit next. She ordered her people into squads of six, each tasked with warning one of them.

Meanwhile, she would take Ben to find Sweetie, and then they would return to their own base.

’This Vortex is just too strange,’ she thought. ’It appeared without any warning. It might be a natural disaster, but something about it feels wrong. Even in the apocalypse, with all its freak weather phenomena, I’ve never heard of anything like this!’