Gina’s hand tightened around Jason’s own when she saw all the eyes on them, but Jason just grinned at everyone watching them.
"What? A couple can’t ask for a little privacy anymore?"
The family all chuckled at the quick joke from Jason, and Jason sensed Gina loosening up as she laughed as well. Gina smiled up at Jason, and Jason winked at her before he spoke to the family.
"Gina and I have an announcement to make. Well, we have two announcements. Three months ago, Gina and I went on a journey far away, and during that time, I learned how important she is to me and how much I need her in my life. And that is why I have asked Gina to marry me..."
"...And I said yes."
Gina’s face brightened with a large smile as she finally showed off the ruby ring she had been hiding all this time, and it didn’t even take a second before the entire yard exploded in celebration!
"WOAHH! Are you serious!?"
"Gina’s getting married already!?"
"Congratulations!"
"OH baby, I’m so happy for you!"
The women immediately surged forward as they began to hug both Jason and Gina happily, and the men patted Jason on the back and congratulated him on the proposal! Jonas came from the side and grabbed Jason into the manliest hug Jason had ever received! There were tears in Jonas’ eyes when Jonas finally pulled back, and Jonas did his best to clean them as he spoke!
"She’s one hell of a troublemaker, and she can’t cook to save her life. But you won’t find a better woman in the world. I’ll leave my daughter to you. Please take care of her."
"Dad! You’re embarrassing me!"
Gina tried to get her father to stop, and Jason just laughed as he promised to look after Gina! Jonas grabbed both Jason and Gina into another large hug as his tears started all over again! And both Mira and Bett were holding onto each other as they watched their children receiving all the congratulations. But then Mira blinked and spoke up.
"Wait, weren’t there two announcements?"
The rest of the family also calmed down a little when they heard this, and they all looked towards Jason and Gina curiously while waiting for the second announcement. Gina began to fidget when she saw all the attention on her, and she smiled nervously as her cheeks reddened. Jason wrapped his arm around Gina’s shoulder, and Gina looked up to see him giving her a supportive look. This gave Gina the confidence she needed, and Gina looked up at her family as she announced.
"Jason and I are going to become parents. I’m... I’m pregnant."
"EEEEEEHHHHHHH!?"
The yard trembled as the entire family cried out in shock, and Gina grimaced slightly! Gina didn’t even want to look at her parents’ faces since she knew that they might be a bit disappointed in her. Gina’s family frowned on extramarital pregnancies, so Gina had no idea how they would react! But Gina was shocked when Jonas suddenly exclaimed in a loud voice!
"I’m gonna be a grandaddy!!"
The entire yard exploded in cheers as Jonas grabbed Gina into a large hug and lifted her into the air easily! Bett and Mira were hugging each other with tears in their eyes as they celebrated, and all the older men around Jason were patting his back and shoulder while congratulating him!
It was true that in any other situation, Gina’s pregnancy would’ve been a serious issue with the family! Not only were Jason and Gina still very young, but they also weren’t married yet, so bringing a child into the world would be irresponsible! But who in their right mind would dare to criticize Jason and Gina after everything that the two of them had accomplished! Not only were Jason and Gina the two strongest in the world, but they also had money, power, and connections all over the world! It didn’t matter if they wanted to have one child or a hundred children; the entire family knew that they could easily take care of them, so everyone could only feel happy for the couple!
"Congratulations, baby! I’m so happy for you!"
Bett came up and hugged her daughter happily, and Gina returned her mother’s hug! Mira also came up to hug Gina, and Bett went to grab Jason into a hug as well! The entire family couldn’t help but feel extremely excited about the announcement, and Jonas even got up on a chair and shouted in a loud voice!
"Everyone, grab a glass and let’s have a toast! Come on! A toast to the future, Jason and Gina Marc!"
"To Jason and Gina Marc!"
The entire family shouted in a loud voice, and Jason raised his own beer and saluted the family! Gina grabbed Jason’s hand, and she went up on her toes and kissed him once he looked at her! The entire family cheered, and Jason smiled once he separated from the kiss. Jason was about to say something, but a strange feeling of dread suddenly came over him! Jason’s eyes narrowed, and his heart beat sped up as an intense pressure pressed down on him! Jason looked up to see a massive tear appearing in the sky above them, and Jason immediately shouted!
"AZRAEL!"
The large undead creature appeared in the middle of the yard and raised its staff in the air to create a large magical defensive dome, and in the next moment, a figure dressed in black appeared from the tear in the sky and pointed a magical cannon down at the gathering! The weapon sparked with a dangerous red light, and then it unleashed hell upon them!
TWOOM!!
BOOOOMMM!!
A magical beam strong enough to be felt for miles in every direction slammed into the defensive dome, and everyone in the gathering screamed in fear as they fell to the ground! Jason watched as more cloaked figures appeared from the tear in the sky and began to surround the house! The figures all pulled out their own magical weapons, and Jason immediately raised his hand and activated a runic sequence! The dome that Azrael had created was strong enough to block a TITAN Rank I attack, but Jason knew that each of those weapons was at least TITAN Rank I, so the dome wouldn’t hold up!
Multiple magic circles burst to life around the dome, and Jason poured his mana into defending the family from the attacks!
TWWOOOMM!
TWOOOMMM!
TWWOOOMM!
The cloaked figures all unleashed devastating attacks from every angle, and even though Jason was able to easily defend against them, the relentless attack gave the cloaked figures a small window of opportunity that they took advantage of! More of the cloaked figures appeared from the tear and landed around the house! There were small magical circles painted on their hands, and they all poured mana into the magical circles before they slammed their hands on the ground! A large magic circle tore across the landscape and pulsed with a green light! The masked figures then pulled out curved ritual knives and stabbed themselves in the heart, and the magical circle changed from green to red as it was activated!
And in the next moment, Jason felt his magical power drop significantly!
’What?’
Jason was shocked to realise that his magic had become far weaker than normal, and Jason clicked his tongue as he felt his defensive runes cracking from the relentless attack!
The magical circle that the masked figures had just activated here was part of a large Ritual Art called the [Ritual of Immortal Severance]! Ritual Arts were a special branch of magic whose origins had been lost to history a long time ago. The Ritual Arts and the Runic Arts were very similar, with the largest difference between them being the fact that, unlike the Runic Arts, the Ritual Arts always required a sacrifice to be completed!