What had actually happened was simpler and more violent.
While Luke and the surviving S-Rank awakeners fled to the Estate, the contractors holding the Chen family had taken them to a safehouse in the industrial district. They'd planned to hold them there until receiving instructions from their corporate superiors about what to do with hostages taken from a battle scene.
Jorghan had tracked them using his blood essence marker, arrived at the safehouse within thirty minutes of their detention, and killed every contractor present. Fifteen more bodies to add to the night's count. Fifteen more sources of mana absorbed and converted.
Then he'd arranged a civilian vehicle, given the family the mansion's address, and sent them ahead while he cleaned up the evidence of the massacre.
But Lizbeth didn't need to know those details. Didn't need the burden of knowing how many people had died to secure her freedom.
"The important thing is you're safe," Jorghan said.
