"Three days..."

Miasma, followed by the new addition to his force, stared at a crater in the distance.

"Three days to make our way from our base to the edge of this land. Truly a waste of my time."

In reality, it should've taken them even longer to come, if it wasn't for is way of traveling through Eogis. Using corruption as a vehicle, he barely had to walk to get here.

"My Lord, what is this?"

The soldier, with his large build, looked in the same direction, and asked after noticing the crater.

"This is supposedly where my son and Orion met. I heard there was a large explosion caused by one of them."

"What happened to them?"

"No clue. I only know they are alive, both of them."

Miasma frowned.

'Not even capable of making my life easier.'

His inner voice was cursing Elliott for not getting rid of his enemy.

"Why are we here, then?"

"Can you stop asking questions? Just stay quiet."

He glared at the soldier, who glanced at him with a neutral expression.

"Sorry."

Taking his first step forward, Miasma decided to get closer to the aftermath of Elliott and Orion's battle.

As he observed his surroundings, Miasma thought.

'Quite significant for a crater made from an energy burst. Not as large and deep as the one I recovered Kagalkan from, though.'

Approaching it, he felt a little uneasy.

'This feeling. What is it about this place?'

They arrived at the edge of the crater. It looked like two to three kilometers wide, and a meter deep around the edge, while going deeper the closer it got to the center.

Feeling a familiar energy in the air from the residual energy that was released, he pondered.

Suddenly, a memory suddenly surged from the depth of his mind.

His teeth gnashed against one another, while a dark veil covered his face.

"Noah!"

The magical energy he felt reminded him of his battle against the previous Hero.

"But it is impossible. Noah died, I saw him disintegrate into ash in front of me during his last stand. It can't be him."

He tried to make sense of his anxiety.

"The only one who could do this, was probably Orion. Elliott was weakened, similar to me after breaking out of the seal, and his energy isn't like this."

'If anything, it is more like her...'

A brave woman's ghost appeared in the corner of his eyes, before vanishing into thin air.

"What does that mean for us?"

The soldier asked.

"Didn't I ask you to be quiet?"

"..."

Miasma glared at him, before sighing.

"But, well, this is a good question. It means that our enemy has gotten closer to being a Hero himself. I'll have to think of a way to preserve myself like I did in the past."

"I don't care about what happens to any of you, but I can't have myself being killed before my goal is complete."

Walking along the edge, Miasma began to look for something.

His follower simply observed without any thoughts, and quietly followed his master around.

'Besides this disgusting feeling floating all around the crater, there are no traces of what I hoped to find...'

Making his way all around the crater, he looked past it, toward the edge of the dome covering Eogis.

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"We're close to the barrier. Might as well check it out before going back. If there's an insect loitering around the base, it might be best to remove it."

After walking in the direction of the barrier, he arrived not long after.

"Hmm~"

His dark red eyes scanned the place outside the dark dome.

'I don't see anything out of the ordinary. There are no signs of anyone having tried to force their way in. Not that they would. Only stupid people would dare to enter without thinking.'

He smirked, before turning around.

"!"

When he turned around, his senses picked up something not far from his location.

"Finally! This is it!"

Hurriedly, Miasma and the soldier traveled through a thicket of trees, and stopped in front of a peculiar tree.

"There it is. I finally found it."

Creating fumes of corruption between his hands, the area began to be covered by it just an instant. Only the area in front of him remained freed from his power.

"Yes. This is it. It isn't like the one I had found a few days ago. This is a real entrance!"

"Unlucky Orion, you've failed to erase your tracks. At last, I will be able to get rid of you."

*Shuffle*

Miasma suddenly glared past the barrier, and toward a moving bush.

'A sneaky rat.'

He held his hand in front of him, pointing his palm in that direction.

'I'll get rid of it now-'

As a corrupted accumulation formed in the palm of his hand, and before he could fire it, a boar suddenly jumped out of the bush, and looked at him.

*Grunt*

The boar turned around, and ran in another direction, seemingly startled by the two people staring at it.

"Haha~"

Clenching his fist to erase the attack, he chuckled. A dark grin appeared on his face, as he kept his stare on the bush.

"Lucky rat. I could make an exemple today, but I believe it won't change the outcome. Consider yourself very lucky."

He looked at the soldier, and with the same grin, began to walk away.

"We're returning to prepare the assault."

"Yes, my Lord."

...

In the thickets near the dome.

(Stop shaking.)

(I can't!)

Two soldiers from Albriar, stationed here to observe anything happening around the corrupted dome, just escaped their end.

They whispered to avoid attracting more attention to them, and were very unlucky a boar had decided to walk near their position.

(We have to report to Lord Florian! If we do nothing, I fear something terrible would happen.)

(Wasn't 'Orion' the man who helped us during the war?)

(You are correct. If something were to happen to him, Lord Florian would have our heads for not telling him.)

Quietly and slowly, they began to take a few steps back, until they were out of the thickets.

"Fuu~"

The scared soldier wiped the sweat having built up on his forehead thanked to his anxiety.

"We need to return to base camp. If we ignore that, it could cause disorder."

"Of course. Let's go immediately. We don't know how long we have before that monster's plan is in action."

"It'll take us two weeks to return to Albriar on horse. There is no time to lose."

These two soldiers rapidly packed their things, and ran toward the camp built for the soldiers to rest and take turn watching over the barrier.

The moment they arrived, they went to their superior's office, and explained in detail what they saw and heard.

Before long, they were on a horse, en route toward Albriar.

~

"That's better than before. You're making progress in close quarters."

"I would be surprised otherwise."

Orion and Elliott had just finished their sparring session, and were moving toward the other group training in the distance.

Amelia and Karteira were helping Deveralna controlling her power output. At their request, Orion agreed to let them it, while he focused on others.

Days passed rapidly, and a week and a half had gone by since Orion went to see Nylon.

"How is your demon form training going?"

"It's holding up. I've found a few techniques that will help."

"And your dog? Nothing wrong with it?"

"He's fine. After checking him multiple times, I concluded that nothing had changed."

*Boom*

The ground shook from a large blast of energy.

"Whoa!"

As they were close to the other group, Orion suddenly heard Deveralna's voice coming from above.

Swiftly, Elliott moved away and left Orion without saying a word.

Deveralna seemingly flew away after firing a powerful attack, and began to fall toward the ground.

'One... two... no three steps forward.'

Orion took those three steps and held his arms forward. Activating the Arm Overdrive, he waited with a smile.

Before she even began to descend toward the ground, Karteira had already moved to catch her, but stopped when she noticed Orion in the distance.

'He's going to catch her with no effort. Might as well let him act cool.'

In fact, she wanted to see it, so she watched instead of joining him.

"Fly! Fly damn it!"

While falling, she tried to flap her wings to stop her fall, with no success. She hadn't managed to control them as she wanted until now.

Unable to see under her, she could only see the white sky. Waiting for the ground to stop her fall, she closed her eyes.

"Oof!"

"Huh? The ground is..."

"Not that hard?"

She opened her eyes after hearing Orion's voice.

"Oh. Thank you for catching me."

"No problem."

Her tail rapidly wrapped itself around his left leg, as she placed her arms around his neck.

"Get off him! What do you think you're doing right now?!"

Amelia came out of nowhere with an angry expression. Not only was she angry because her clothes had been slightly burnt, but also because she suddenly began seducing Orion.

"Can't you let me enjoy this for a moment?"

"No! You still have a lot to work on. Don't waste time!"

Karteira and Amelia then grabbed her arms, and began to pull her away.

"No fair..."

"We never wasted time seducing him during training, so don't do it. You will have time later."

"Fine, fine. Let me go."

They both released her, before she moved toward the training area she flew from, a dejected expression on her face.

"Deveralna."

"Yes?"

She turned to Orion.

"Keep at it. You will make it."

"Thanks!"

With a large smile on her face, she rapidly slithered away.

"Thanks for helping her, you two."

"It's nothing."

"That's the least we can do."

He waved at them as they followed Deveralna.

"Why did you walk away?"

Elliott suddenly reappeared next to him. As Orion asked, he let out a very faint sigh.

"There's nothing I can do about that. Your friends don't seem to like me much."

"Well, you're not making it easier on yourself by avoiding them."

"True. Still, it isn't necessary for me to know them. I wouldn't want to cause grief between you and me. By staying far away, it is better for both of us."

Orion nodded.

"If you say so. It is your choice."

"Though, would it be fine if I spoke with the Tree of Life?"

"Tiohr-nam? Sure. I'll ask her if she's alright with that."

A dark expression formed on Elliott's face.

'Seems like father is planning something. We need to be prepared, and think of our alternatives as fast as possible.'

As they made their way back toward the housing area, a rare visitor waited at the entrance of the portal hub.