After the quake, I finally reached home, exhausted but relieved.

Phew, the mansion isn't damaged and the people inside are safe. Good thing I put up a barrier around the house. 

On the news, it was reported that the earthquake happened all over the world. I wonder who could've done this? An anomaly like this isn't normal and of course, unnatural but when magic is involved, well...

Let's just say that I can sense the mana flowing through Earth's veins. It was as if a poisonous substance suddenly coursed through the Earth, giving it a violent shock. You might think of the earthquakes as Mother Earth's convulsions, a natural reaction to that disgusting mana. Even though it's withdrawn after just a few minutes, the residual is still causing aftershocks. 

This one is deliberate and on purpose.

I sat down and tried to replenish my exhausted mana.

I turned on the TV. No matter which channel I press, it's all news reports of the calamity, riots, and grieving families. Some idiots are even protesting to the White House. As if the government can do something about natural calamities. Some channels are just blank and only the most dedicated stations are reporting the events. Then blackout struck the whole mansion. Everything was engulfed by darkness.

I'm not afraid of the dark. In fact, I find it fascinating since a certain demon gave me warmth every time it's dark. I often associated darkness with Tier so I'm most comfortable at night. However, the darkness right now is different from those times. It's as if something in the dark is trying to get me. Using the bare minimum of mana to make a ball of light, I searched through the mansion for candles. Lighting up the whole room was tiring.

The backup generator is not even working...wait, since when did we have that anyway?

I can power up the lights with my magic but that would consume too much mana. It's a pain and with this situation of constant depletion for some unknown reason, I can only do it for a few hours.

I sighed. Right now, I'm alone in this mansion. Well, not really. 

A while ago, the people of the mansion were frightened and panicked when the earthquake struck. Good thing Aunt Veda was here to keep them organized. She can be reliable at times like this. So I calmed down a bit, annoyed that I can't do anything at times like this.

Hmph, talk about being the master of the house. I'm just a spoiled, useless princess. Ah so depressing.

Anyways, all the servants had left to go to their families. I even helped those who lived far away. That's why I exhausted all my mana.

Actually, I'm surprised that they can stay calm when I openly used magic in front of them. I suppose it's long been exposed that I have magic. So then that demon should've known since nothing gets past him. Then why the hell did I have to act all sneaky all those years? 

Even Aunt Veda acted calm, and her expression is what I'm looking forward to the most.

While escaping reality, I heard sirens, booms from explosions and something like water spraying outwards. Even though the mansion was far away from the city, I can still hear the noise. It was that loud. Or maybe it's because I have enhanced senses because of magic. No matter the case, the noise hurt my ears. 

Ah, so noisy. Shut the hell up!

With that thought, I strengthened the barrier around the house and made it soundproof. I just want everything to be quiet and gave no thought to what I just did.

Finally, it was quiet.

As for Aunt Veda, well, she lived here too and I'm the only family she had. So we're stuck together. But with her here, it feels like a haunted house. Chills run through me as I thought of that and I lighted up more candles.

I can't help it, I'm a little bit scared. 

But she's okay. I wonder why she never married at her age. How old is she again? 30? 35? (Little did Ruby know that even though she looked like that, she's still 27.)

Aunt Veda and I were not that close but we have this bond that feels like we're friends? Or business associates? Well, she's family so what can I do? It was an exhausting day for both of us so we went back to our rooms to sleep. She should be in her room right now.

Lying on the brightly lit room, I struggled before finally snuffing out the candles. I don't want a fire to happen while I'm sleeping. Then I braved myself to go to bed, pulling the covers over my head.

Aaah, its kinda lonely. 

Then I remembered Tier. This made me even lonelier. I sighed again. I wonder what would happen now? I know I said that I wanted something to happen but this is kinda disappointing. My phone is still working but there's no signal and I can't access the internet. 

At least keep the internet on.

Since the blackout, everything is down, so all I can do is listen to the radio. Some genius out there is running commentary about how scared he was and saying it's the apocalypse over and over again. There's not much useful information but although that's not what I wanted to hear, I still listened to dispell the abnormally quiet house. Good thing we have enough supplies around the house to last us for months. 

But I knew the truth...

...some idiot started the apocalypse! No matter what happens next, I'm not letting whoever this scumbag is to ruin my house!