*****Back in the Building*****
Not far away from the children, a figure stood in the shadow unseen.
"You really took your chance, ughh," the figure thought, his attempt to save the children partially successful.
Looking towards the cage, the remaining children were either too weak or too scared to move, noticing the kids' situation his gaze moved back to the workers.
The workers quickly took back control of the situation. Though the commotion didn't fail to attract the attention of the disheveled man.
He confidently walked into the room, guards and assistants scurrying behind him, their faces scrunched up and hands tightened.
"What have you guys done?" The man scowled upon seeing the damage.
"You let one of my precious subjects go," he screamed out.
He has been paying special attention to Cole for the past week, the only one of his subjects without an innate spirit.
He had concluded that any progress with Cole will result in great progress to his research.
His eyes were wide open, his mouth was foaming, and bulging veins were appearing on his head.
He stretched out his hands, grabbing the guard closest to him. "Crunch!" He tightened his grip on his shoulder and sent him flying, causing the guard to crash into the wall heavily.
This event seemed to further scare the children, most of them wincing in their position.
"Find him, find him," he screamed out before sharply turning and exiting the room.
The figure in the corner silently observed all of these events while planning his next course of action.
"I guess I will break you guys out too," it said, staring at the remaining children.
****Back in the Forest****
Cole was staring straight at the point just above his head; something seemed to be materializing.
"Haaaaaa." Cole screamed out; his eyes began burning intensely, almost as if they were actually set on fire.
He had no choice but to close them, cutting his major source of sensory input.
The guards that previously surrounded him began taking steps back, startled by the sudden change in atmosphere.
Cole's scream further triggered an innate reaction in them; beads of sweat began forming on their heads, and they kept taking steps backwards.
A step at a time, the guard grew closer to the region of the anomaly under the gaze of his teammates.
His steps seemed to grow heavier and harder the further he went until he got to a part where his movement completely stagnated.
About a quarter of a minute later, worry seemed to appear on his teammate's face, noticing his frozen posture, but at that moment he finally moved.
Though the movement wasn't the expected one, instead he was sent flying back through the air, crashing into a tree.
His teammates' eyes widened; this event further confirmed their suspicion.
Cole lay there writhing in pain, completely unaware of anything except the pain tearing through him.
The life energy that had been suctioned continued to snowball, the pressure on space increasing as time went on.
The guards were stuck in a dilemma: "Should we advance or just stand here watching?"
They kept exchanging glances trying to make a decision, and after some back-and-forth exchange between them.
They decided to advance as a squad. Their decision was cut short, though.
At the center of the vortex of life energy, a book quietly appeared; on its cover were intricate golden runes that ran all across it.
The book seemed to demand the world to bow to its presence, as the atmosphere became extremely heavy.
Intense pressure suddenly radiated in waves, knocking out everyone in the surroundings except Cole.
Cole could feel the birth of his spirit, but he couldn't see any of it, his eyes unusable due to the intense pain.
"Is it finally here?" Cole thought as his heart raced, blood and adrenaline pumping sharply through his veins.
*****Somewhere on Klion*****
"I almost lost control there," an old man said as he looked at his flickering innate spirit.
"Something big is coming," he said fearfully.
*****In another Location******
A woman peacefully sat in a lotus position, a snake spirit silently floating behind her.
Suddenly, "Puahhh," she spat out a mouthful of blood.
She also looked straight at the sky and said, "Something big has happened."
Events like this kept happening around the world, and it seemed to affect the powerful ones.
*****Back in the Building*****
The old man quickly raised his head to look in the direction Cole escaped.
"Hahahaha, things are about to get interesting," he said excitedly. He immediately left his seat and rushed out of the building, heading in that direction.
****Back in the Forest****
Peace seemed to be returning as the vortex of life energy seemed to be slowly disappearing.
Cole was also calming down, though his eyes were still out of commission.
He forced himself up, planning to get out of that location. Though he couldn't really see, he tried his best to navigate his surroundings, slowly heading away.
In special situations he briefly opened his eyes to check his surroundings, though he had to bear intense pain due to that.
Slowly but surely Cole was heading back towards his home, ignorant of the danger on his tail.
About a kilometer from Cole's current location, the disheveled man sprinted through the forest, leaving only blurs as an indication of how fast he was.
It didn't take him too much time to arrive where Cole was previously surrounded.
"What happened here?" he said as he looked around him, seeing the unconscious bodies of his guards.
"Freaking useless," he said, irritated, but his face quickly brightened, his body shivering as he laughed.
"Hahahahhah, the heavens have finally blessed me.
Confirming the situation, he didn't spare his guards another gaze as he turned around, ready to return to the building.
****Back in the Building****
An unkempt-looking man emerges from the shadow lazily. His presence was completely unnoticeable.
"Time for some intense action," he said, a devilish smile on his face.