Everyone was grouped into groups of ten, but there were still significantly fewer people than there was the previous day.
Zeel estimated the number and grew appalled by what exactly happened.
"There was no unauthorized battle, so you just need to guess what happened," Gabriella told the group.
"The people with ten people still in their group are the elite. Those with fewer people show that a power struggle for leadership led to the elimination of some people," Gabriella rationalized.
Aurolana sighed "We are lucky to have powerful people in our group, or I would have done the same – culling the weak. They are not a threat to the leaders, but can easily be threatened for information,"
Tria asked "Why did we talk about our abilities in the Hall yesterday then? Wouldn't that be contradictory?"
Xak shook his head "We only said what we wanted them to hear. And even if they know, the smart people will always assume not to know anything until they truly find out,"
Zeel stared at Xak and asked "You do not come from this Universe. Your kind usually thrive in Magic Universes and there is no magic in the air here, and your soul has not learned to produce it yet,"
Xak nodded "I came to Universe 0 to get access to a Magic Universe – they are hard to find,"
"yeah, there are only three known Magic Universes in existence,"
"Well yeah, I came to gain merit so I could be given access to one, but this happened," Xak answered.
Tak patted Xak's shoulder slightly attempting to cheer him up, but Tak's strength was too great. The ground beneath Xak's feet cracked as his knees buckled.
"Maybe, just one finger next time?" Xak pleaded.
"Haha, my bad," Tak apologized sincerely causing the entire team to laugh apart from Zeel.
The joke brought the team closer together but Zeel was not on the same spectrum as everyone else.
Zeel stopped walking and began to hyperventilate, he had never felt a sense of dread this intense before.
He stared at the ground at the Golden Pathway that had started to turn red. Not only his Pathway but the Pathways of everyone.
Zeel could not understand, he could feel the danger, it was palpable but undetectable at the same time.
It was the first time Zeel felt anything uncertain in his life, it was a nasty feeling – a feeling that made him panic.
It was as if knowing your wife is cheating but also not being entirely sure, but you were still in denial at the same time.
The feeling was too complex for Zeel to identify but at the very least he could tell that something was wrong.
Aurolana and the others had noticed the peculiarity and rushed to Zeel's side.
"Zeel, what's happening?" Gabriella grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
She never thought she could see Zeel freeze up.
Xak, Tak, and Kal immediately heightened their guards. Ruri, Dena, and Tria also went into high alert but could not find anything particularly wrong at the moment.
While Zeel was still slightly out of it, Ciara began to giggle happily.
She looked at everyone and smiled widely.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Ciara imitated explosion sounds with her mouth.
"Ciara, stop your nonsense, we are trying to stay calm here," Ruri yelled.
