The moment that this happened, a blinding white light suddenly shot out, completely enveloping the surrounding area. The mirage crystal had been activated.
When Samantha saw the light shining brightly, she immediately felt that there was something wrong. Since despite the fact that Doris already knew that Celine was a superhuman, she continued acting nonchalantly, then, she had something that she was depending on.
Just as Samantha was still trying to figure out what was going on, the light finally receded. Then, Samantha's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked in front of her. Currently, the group of four people had already disappeared from her vision.
"What type of sorcery is this?" Samantha asked with disbelief in her voice. Nevertheless, she looked towards Jack and Celine, and asked, "What should we do now? Are we going to try and look for them? Currently, I'm sure that they are not going to give up on taking away your aunt."
But, Samantha did not receive any response from either Jack nor Celine. It was as if the two of them had completely ignored her existence.
Samantha found that this was a little strange. At the end of the day, ever since she had begun working for Jack as Celine's bodyguard, none of them had ever ignored her. In fact, they did not treat her like an outsider.
But now, they were completely ignoring her existence. Looking at their expressions, she could see that they were looking towards something.
She followed their gazes and found that there was nothing in front of them. And at that moment, she began wondering if there was something that had appeared and she could not see it.
'Could it be that there is actually something that only superhumans can see?' Samantha thought to herself doubtfully. At the end of the day, currently, both Jack and Celine were superhumans. So, she wondered if there was something special that only superhumans had the capabilities of seeing.
Nevertheless, she decided to stay silent. She decided to wait and see what was going on. She looked around, and realized that, the five puppets that were blocking the group of four were still in the same position that they were in before.
As minutes went by, Samantha suddenly realized that there was something wrong. Why was it that there was no movement around her at all? At the same time, neither Jack nor Celine made any move. It was as if they had become frozen in place.
Additionally, even the sound of the chirping birds had completely disappeared. This was a forest after all. So, how was it possible that the birds would suddenly stop chirping? That was something that Samantha could not find any logic in.
With a little hesitation, she moved forward. She found that she was not restricted by anything. And, when she appeared in front of Celine, she realized that, currently, Celine was looking in front of her blankly.
In her eyes, there was not even a single shred of emotion. At the same time, it was as if her spirit had disappeared, and she was completely lifeless.
When she saw this, Samantha was suddenly frightened. Despite the fact that Celine had already become a superhuman, until now, she had not been assigned to another duty. That implied that, she was still Celine's bodyguard.
But now, it seemed that she had failed her duty. It seemed that Celine had been influenced by something that she herself did not even realize.
"Celine! Wake up Celine! What is wrong with you?!" Shaking Celine by her shoulders, Samantha began shouting. But, no matter how much she shouted, there was no reaction from Celine.
At this point, Samantha's eyes had already reddened. She could not believe that something had happened to Celine who was just about to make a move not long ago. And, other than the light that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forcing her to close her eyes, there was nothing else that she had detected happening.
But, by the time that the light disappeared, everything had gone silent around her. Not wanting to believe this, Samantha moved towards Jack. She looked at him, and she realized that he was in the same condition as Celine.
Not willing to give up, Samantha rushed to the five puppets (She does not know that they are puppets.) But found that every one of them was just like Celine and Jack.
"What in the world is going on?!" Samantha roared. She was completely confused as she did not understand anything that was going on now. How can it be possible that suddenly, everyone became lifeless as they stood on the same spot?
Even though she believed that the source of the light was Doris, but she did not believe that the Panthers organization actually possessed something that was capable of dealing with two superhumans at the same time.
If that was the case, then, just by revealing it, they would be able to intimidate the other organizations present in the Stronghold. In that way, they would have already become the leaders of the entire stronghold. But they had never done something like that.
Samantha suddenly felt that her world was collapsing. She had managed to find a friend, but now, that friend of hers had been affected by something that she did not understand at all. She did not know if Celine was going to go back to being herself, or she was going to stay like this.
Additionally, the person that she had decided to follow had also become the same way. If that was the case, then, she was going to be forced to go back to the same organization that she had decided not to go back.
At the end of the day, she was restricted the moment that she entered the strongholds. She did not have any freedom of remaining outside the stronghold for a long period of time.
Just as Samantha was being enveloped by despair, she suddenly felt that her surroundings had froze once again. At the same time, she felt that there was someone who was calling her. But, the voice was kind of faint, and she could hear it only if she listened carefully.
"Samantha! Wake up! Jack, what is wrong with her?" Samantha could hear Celine's worried voice reaching her ears. She could not help but wonder if she was hallucinating considering that, she was currently in despair.
"Just give her some time. She will be back to her senses in no time." She heard Jack replying as if it was no big deal.
"Oh, is that so? If that is the case, then I'm relieved." Samantha heard Celine's response.
"I must be hallucinating." Samantha shook her head as she muttered in a low voice.
"Of course you are! I don't believe just how powerful that mirage crystal was! It was actually capable of making an existence of Samantha's level to be able to freeze in place. I do wonder where the source is." Celine's reply reached Samantha's ears.
"You can talk to me?" Samantha asked in surprise. At the same time, she looked at Celine in front of her who was frozen, and she could not see her lips moving, despite the fact that she could hear the voice.
"It seems that she is still affected by the mirage crystal. It seems that the strongholds hold several things that go beyond the current level of science. But anyway, we should be getting ready to go there soon." Jack stated.
Samantha felt her mind spinning. After all, she could hear that the voice was now more audible, but, she could not see any of the figures that were speaking, doing the action. She could only hear the voice, but, the people that were speaking were in front of her, frozen in place.
"I'm getting excited about the strongholds. When are we going there?" Celine asked.
"I will be rounding up everything here, before departing. I guess by next week, we should have already arrived in the strongholds. There, we will have to start things from scratch." Jack replied.
"That's okay too. I'm sure that with the skills that we currently possess, and the ability that we currently have, it will not be troublesome for us to be able to learn as many things as possible. After that, we can create an organization of our own, before beginning to dominate an entire stronghold." Celine replied enthusiastically. It seemed that she was looking forward to going to the strongholds.
"By the way, do you think that mother is actually present in the stronghold? In the Panthers organization?" Celine asked after a moment of silence.
Jack remained silent for a moment before replying. "I'm not sure about that. But, I just hope that she is there. If she actually is, then, it is going to give me an easy time. I will be able to find what really happened to the two of us."
Jack's voice was solemn. Samantha could of course understand this because, it had already been 5 years ever since Jack last met with his mother. Additionally, currently, he did not know if his mother was alive or not. And, he didn't even know where she currently was. So he was going to start searching blindly, but at least, he had a clue from the Panthers organization.
It was also at this moment that suddenly, something from the conversation between Jack and Celine hit her mind.
'Mirage crystal? They were talking about me getting affected by the mirage crystal? If that is the case, then, I am definitely inside an illusion!' Samantha came to a realization.
The moment that she came to this realization, she suddenly felt that the world that she was trapped in began shattering. And in the next moment, she opened her eyes, looking at the unfamiliar ceiling.
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