POV: MIGUEL CASTRO.
The impact of the final blow finally brought the man down, but his body still trembled, saturated with residual energy that vibrated through the air as if the molecules were still alive.
My left arm burned fiercely, the pain radiating through my forearm and shoulder, reminding me I couldn't relax for even an instant.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my senses, while I listened to the constant snapping of beams and the creaking of the structure tearing apart.
"Miguel!" Noah's firm, urgent voice cut through the thick smoke.
He moved in quickly, assessing my condition.
Before I could react, he wrapped his hands around my burned arm, channeling his energy with precision, partially relieving the pain and restoring mobility.
The relief was immediate, though temporary.
My body relaxed for a moment, but the awareness of danger stayed sharp.
Seeing that the man still showed some residual movement, I pointed toward him.
"I'll take care of this…" Noah pointed, the tension in his eyes betraying that the threat wasn't over.
With a quick motion he stepped up to the fallen man and delivered a precise strike, enough to knock the infected out.
The heavy body toppled to the side, and for an instant silence replaced the chaos.
I used that opportunity to crouch, retrieve my weapon, and holster it.
But the calm didn't last long.
The snapping of metal, the groan of beams, and the sound of walls giving way began to fill the space again.
I looked around: the factory roof was about to collapse.
The already-weakened structure groaned ominously.
The walls seemed ready to buckle and the floor creaked under its own weight.
"We need to get out of here, now!" I shouted. Noah didn't hesitate.
We started dragging the two bodies, one at a time, avoiding debris that could trap or crush us, leaping over beams about to give way and dodging certain fragments that fell around us.
Noah got the girl and brought her down by an improvised rappel.
The heavier, bulkier man was slung over my shoulder; with an energy boost I managed to carry him without difficulty.
Adrenaline coursed through me, mingling with the burn in my arm.
Every step was a small battle against gravity to support the weight, and required double attention to avoid trouble on the way out.
When we finally reached the exit, the fresh air allowed a long, grateful breath.
Behind us, the roof collapsed with a thunderous crash and a huge cloud of dust rose as the entire ceiling fell in on the structure.
Noah and I exchanged a look, no words needed: we knew worse could still be coming.
"We'll do a medical check now. I'll call an ambulance…" Noah said, his voice steady but heavy with concern.
I nodded, still catching my breath.
I opened a small device that was attached to the bracelet, which was now without runes, an indication that the enchantment had been drained.
I activated a magical scan over the bodies to assess the extent of injuries and any energetic instability that might signal danger.
First, the man.
The flow of magical energy in his body was intense, but totally passive for now.
And then…
"What fuck?!" I said incredulously, unable to process the information. "How the hell is this possible?"
I tapped the bracelet a few times to see if it was working properly…
But nothing changed. I blinked and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't losing it.
A number appeared on the bracelet. It pulsed before my eyes:
One hundred seventy-four literary marks.
Each mark more complex than the last, each radiating energy and embedded stories, a magical density beyond any record I'd ever seen.
No… Greater than anything recorded by all of humanity.
The highest number on record up to that point had been about eighty, and here before me was something that defied logic and accumulated experience.
By reflex, I took off the bracelet and threw it onto the wet ground.
"Noah, hand me your Thorns' bracelet, now" I said, urgency in my voice.
"Sure, here" he replied, pulling the bracelet from his coat and tossing it to me.
As soon as I caught it and put it on, I felt the energy connect.
Without hesitation I activated it to check whether the other device's reading was a mistake.
Still, the number stayed the same.
It wasn't an error. It was reality.
'What kind of weirdness is this?'
Instinctively I looked at the woman.
Her energy reading took a few moments longer to complete.
But the result froze me solid.
Two hundred sixty-one literary marks.
My heart jumped, and the world around me seemed to spin in slow motion.
How could someone carry so many marks, so many sources of literary and magical energy in a single body?
The magnitude of the power exceeded any reference, and my mind struggled to comprehend the reality of that moment.
My hand reached for the communicator; I began to type emergency numbers…
EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. ALL FIELD AGENTS.
A risk code had been declared less than twenty minutes ago
The screen flashed, accompanied by dozens of messages indicating…
Magical readings.
The logs glowed intensely; every point of energy seemed to shout in unison, transmitting a magnitude of power that surpassed any previous experience.
"Four thousand QPs…" I murmured, the number burning in my head. "All above four thousand. No precedent, no logical explanation…"
Over four hundred energy signatures with levels greater than four thousand QPs were detected across the state.
And twenty had been read near downtown.
All were triggered less than an hour ago.
My breathing sped when the closest reading caught my attention.
One entry came directly from…
João Batista High School
Something inside me froze.
A knot of worry formed in my stomach, an urgency and looming danger that could not be ignored.
Noah stepped closer, noticing my state.
"Ready, I called the ambula—" he began, then stopped abruptly when he saw my fixed stare at the communicator. His face tightened with confusion and concern.
"How… is this possible?" he murmured, almost not believing what he saw.
"It isn't…" I answered, my voice low, full of disbelief and fear.
Without thinking twice, we turned and started running.
Every step was urgent, each breath a calculated effort to keep pace.
The distance between us and the school felt impossible to cover, yet adrenaline made the body respond, ignoring fatigue and pain.
My burned arm throbbed with each movement, reminding me both of my vulnerability and the need to act.
"We can't waste time!" I shouted, feeling the rain on my face, reflected in puddles and nearby facades.
Noah didn't hesitate; we picked up speed.
The city's silence felt wrong, broken only by the crackle of distant fires and our footsteps.
Every moment counted, and the sense of imminent danger kept increasing.
The streets were deserted; rubble, abandoned cars and broken poles formed obstacles we had to overcome without losing time.
"How many readings like this can pop up before we get there?" Noah asked, his voice tense, trying to assess the situation as much as I was.
"I don't know… but we can't wait to find out," I replied, the urgency swelling in my chest. "If these numbers are real, we're dealing with something far bigger than anything we've seen."
The ground ahead became more jagged: parts of the sidewalk were broken and debris littered the road.
Urgency pushed us on, making us ignore pain, fatigue, and the burning in my arm.
Each step brought us closer to the school and to whatever was causing those unprecedented readings.
"This isn't just an emergency... it's a catastrophe," I said, glancing at Noah. "The origin of these readings is here."
He nodded, understanding the urgency.
"We need to protect the girl at all costs, right?" he said, firmly.
I inhaled and, discreetly, activated the Diamond of Mines to reinforce my reflexes and whatever strength I could still pull from my injured arm.
"Yes. She is the top priority now" I replied, feeling the weight of those words.
Not knowing exactly how to phrase the order precisely, I just said it:
"We don't know who the infected are, and regardless of the situation, attack to kill. Understood?"
I saw Noah close his eyes for a moment; then his expression shifted.
"Yes, sir." he answered, coldly.
Every step toward the school was calculated, breathing synchronized in whatever way was least exhausting.
The feeling was overwhelming, a mix of fear and adrenaline, but also determination.
Approaching the school street.
"Noah…" I said as we moved down the road. "We need to be ready for anything. If that reading is correct… Whatever is in there is unbelievably dangerous."
He nodded again, eyes steely.
"Then let's find out."
And in that moment, the run that began as an escape from the factory turned into a direct charge toward the epicenter of chaos.
We moved into the unknown, and fatigue reminded us that our skills would be tested to the limit.
The city around us seemed to shift; the rain kept falling hard.
And this… This is only the beginning.