The next few days were busy for everyone, the knowledge that supernatural entities and giant robots could destroy the world ate at everyone. The Slayers as an organization all but crumbled with a few holdouts missing. Of the missing Slayers, Moca’s father was chief among them.

Mira and her clubmates continued their training and investigations into their abilities. Kilo played a more active role as he was no longer hindered by the need to stay vague in his explanations of how the weapons worked.

Kyrion got to take an equivalency test and managed to test out at around a late college level. His written English language ability was the only thing holding him back. Mostly due to his habit of writing his thoughts out in his home language. He’d start in English then a few runes later what he turned in couldn’t be graded. Or comprehended as the paper caught fire due to not being able to hold his Holy scriptures.

With that part behind him, Kyrion could finally get back to what mattered most. Foo—Finding his sister.

“All right. Kyrion, she is in the Oklahoma Wilds.” Cedric said with false composure.

“Where is that?”

“It’s a place that both exists and doesn’t exist. Hidden from satellites and sensors but visible to sight if you know where to look.”

“I do enjoy a good game of hide and seek.” Kyrion popped his neck and smiled to himself.

“This is not a game, finding it without help will be difficult without a guide.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly, now then, we have prepared a guide to take you there.

“So… Are we just going to gloss over the fact that you shot Mr.Vacation 9 times on sight?”

“He got my son killed, you’d do the same in my position.”

“Well no, I’d turn into a dragon and eat the son or something. Apparently, I’m a massive stress eater.” Kyrion said with a deadpan.

“Fair enough, he also said that you can bring them home.”

“If they want to. If I was in their shoes I’d want to bring my family to my world, at least we have a few years before a mass extinction event.”

“That’s time to prepare but…”

“But what?”

“I’d be abandoning my home planet to what, be on a vacation?”

“Don’t worry about that. You can spend time with a son you likely won’t recognize.”

“That hurts,” Cedric stated.

“It’s normal back home. If I were him, I’d be terrified to see his parents suddenly show up.”

“Fine, so what do you have left to do?”

“Magic training academies, Esper training academies, retrieving my sister, and finding all the lines for project Santa Klaus.”

“Sounds like you have everything plotted out.”

“Also, I’ve downloaded every textbook, academic work, scientific discovery, and military/state secrets, to my custom library and built a database.”

“You what?”

“Technically Ari did that but it’s partially on me as we are kind of the same person. Did you know that the current leader of Novland, that country between Russia and the USSR, is actually the great-grandson of the Czar, and the NEU’s 34th chairman’s daughter.”

“No, no I did not, though Novland did seem to grow quite quickly.”

“Yeah. I kind of have that information on call when I want it, I can also see the names of people atop their heads when I look at them with my prosthetic eye. In time, I’ll also be able to pull off, medical records, injuries, and things they’ve asked Santa for this year. The last function is the hardest. Which is why I’ve bought property on the North Pole, claimed it, and have sent out letters with stamps and made an email, sending the letter or replying to the email with gifts they want me to procure.”

“When did you go and do that? How did you get so many envelopes?”

“I employ an army of animals currently numbering in the millions with engineering skills and sticky flippers. Don’t ask how they multiplied so fast but, they have been sending out the letters ever since the attack on Detroit. It's mid-October now, so a bit more than fifteen days is enough to get the ball rolling.”

“What next, flying reindeer?”

“No, my sleigh will be like rune-powered satellites that act as beacons for precise teleportation. But that’s Christmas. Now then it’s about time I head out.”

“How did you get so much money?”

Kyion placed a solid gold disc on the table the size of a dinner plate. “I found gold and used transmutation to separate it from everything else. Also, sell this for me.”

“So you haven’t.”

“My friend is liquidating some of them in Asia while I’m dumping them here. In your lap. I have about 58 tons of the metal to dispose of currently.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I had some forewarning of this, but… This isn’t your main source of income.”

“Ari had quite the stock portfolio and a nice savings account. I dipped into it a bit as per our agreement.”

Kyrion’s right eye looked towards its twin as though disagreeing with that statement.”

“I see. That explains why the Slayers had to file for bankruptcy after firing that weapon.”

“Hmm?”

“That shot that destroyed the moon cost them around 27 trillion in resources, of which they don’t have access. A Lot of companies went bankrupt due to being connected to the Slayers.”

“Of Humanity, a million people did just vanish after all.”

“How that caught on so quickly still makes no sense to me.”

“I mean, it’s their fault for using something that can be used to describe a killer. I know all about drama, the Hunters of Humanity, also would have ended up the same.

“I see, so it’s because of the name they chose. They should have seen that coming.”

“Now where is my ride?”

A young woman with ghostly pale skin, and a white sundress paired with a large hat walked into the room. Her eyes landed on Kyrion as she scowled.

Kyrion looked left and right before taking out a thermos full of muscle and magical relaxants, mixed with beer and attempting to take a sip.

The thermos was snatched out of his hands as the red-shirted man appeared and took a sip scowling as nine more bullets were put into him.

“Nice try but drugs don’t work on me, nor do bullets.”

“Bah! Lady, lead the way.” Kyrion turned the odd woman around and pushed her out of the room.

----------------------------------------

Kyion lay in the backseat of a black car, his expression annoyed as he rode in the metal coffin. “Care to tell me where we’re going? I can teleport us there.”

“If you try such a thing you’ll end up somewhere else. It's against teleportation.” The woman stated.

“This is boring. I’ve been here for days!”

“It’s only been thirty minutes. We haven’t even arrived at the airport.”

“I am not getting into a flying deathtrap. Just let me fly there. I’ll carry you two as well.”

“No, we need to go to the airport.”

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“You went ten minutes ago.” Stated a man in the front seat.

“This is worse than being imprisoned.” Kyrion cut open his pointer finger only for the driver to dive on the brakes.

“Do not cut yourself in my presence!” The driver turned around her eyes glowing red as her fangs seemed to be extended.

Kyion reabsorbed the blood and closed the wound. “What was that about?”

“She’s vegan, doesn’t think too much about it.”

“Got it?”

----------------------------------------

Kyrion arrived at the airport and went to the bathroom only to come out a minute later, boarding the plane with the other two. As the plane entered the air he walked out of the bathroom again and made his way somewhere secluded before teleporting to Philadelphia for a legendary cheese steak.

“It’s all sandwiches. I’ll be back when I have time to explore.” Kyrion, sighed as he teleported to Louisiana, then flew to the airport he sensed his clone get off of, then switched places. Which made it seem like he stumbled a bit.

“Why do you suddenly smell of garlic?” The pale woman asked.

”Magic? I was holding it in, on the plane.”

“Guess that explains while you were quiet.”

“Anyhow, lead the way.”

----------------------------------------

Arriving in a rustic small town Kyrion noticed the barrier he’d stepped into. It was as though he had entered a place between worlds that required a key or the proper knowledge.

Eyeing the pale woman and her ally. Kyrion noticed that they both had items with a runic script from his world, similar to what Cecil uses, with an ability that hid them from sight or attention while outside.

“Well, that makes sense.”

“What makes sense?” The pale woman shot Kyrion an odd look.

“The wards here. We aren’t exactly on earth at the moment.”

“What?”

“I smell a god's stinky foot. They stepped all over this area recently.” Kyrion moved with a shockwave momentarily landing at a large crash sight belonging to a large aerial vehicle.

Sending his senses outwards he detected faint traces of something that felt like Imala, but another entity he hadn’t known, was heavily involved in what happened here.

As Kyrion stood there a metal tube was pressed against his back.

“One wrong move and I’ll carve you a new rectum.”

“That sounds fun. You must be a hoot at parties. Since you are so ready to shoot. Now lower the gun.” Kyrion said unbothered.

“What are you and why is someone with the spark here?”

“How can you tell?”

“Do you always avoid answering questions?”

“Do you make a habit of pointing guns at your younger brother?” Kyrion said nonchalantly.

The gun was pulled back as water hit him in the back of the head. “You got big.”

Kyrion came face to face with a young short woman with a small scar on her nose, scarlet red hair, and goggles over her forehead. In her hands was a plastic water gun with a metal silencer attached to it.

“Ah.” Kyrion pooled the water on the tip of his finger and pointed to the ground, letting it drip to the grass below.

“Why do you already have the touch of divinity on your soul? I wasn’t gone that long.”

Kyrion pulled out a purple coin and flicked it to his sister. “I am constantly making these in my domain. On top of that, I have been spreading my abilities to the natives via a patron system. I get a little power by belief and more by granting people contracted power. Those who drink my tea or candies, get a portion of my power, which in turn returns to me in time.”

“How old are you right now?”

“Seventeen-ish,” Kyrion stated.

“I see. You’ve been busy.” Dwen seemed irritated.

“What about you?”

“I’ve been researching how to get back home. Dimensional magic is a field I study but can’t really use. I’m limited to connectors and linking things together, or creating a network for magic.”

“So you know of the leylines I assume?”

“I do, and to get home we will have to connect them all, then return to the grand summoning gate of this world.”

“Summoning gate?”

“Yes, it's in a place called Atlantis. Some say it was near Greece, but my sources tell me that it's a submersible city that moves around. They move according to the planet's ley lines but are limited to the ocean at the moment.”

“So, you’re telling me that we can get home after we do something to all the leylines?”

“You’ll also need two people with high levels of dimensional magic.”

“Two you say? Then it’s just like when I came here.”

“You had two Dimensional Mages with you?”

“What’s a mage?”

“Ah, local term, magic user.”

“Oh. I’m one and I know a second.”

Kyrion’s scarf opened its eyes and stared at the young woman. “Who are you, human cub?”

“Dwenevere, what exactly are you?” Dwen asked with her arms crossed.

“I am a being that lives in the gap between realities. A bit of a gourmand as well, and using this brother of yours is convenient given his eating habits.”

“I forgot you were there. How are you messing with my mind?”

“Good question.” The scarf went inert.

“Anyways, you have two, but there are some things I need to do. I want to help the people here prepare. The deadline is Christmas Eve.”

“You’re going to play Santa?”

“What better way to prove a god exists than to break into everyone’s homes and leave gifts that they want or need.”

“How will you get information on what people want? That would take a lot of data.”

Kyron tapped his prosthetic eye and in moments a screen appeared in the corner of his vision. He looked at a kid running around in a field in the distance. He looked somewhat similar to Bella, though his hair was brown and his nature was a little more wild. He was clearly much younger. Though given how long Bella had been gone, it was likely he was around the same age Bella had been before leaving.

Kyrion saw a name along with some other information appear. “That’s Bidziil, although he prefers going by Ziil when with friends. He’s fourteen years old! Bull, ah he wants a Play Sphere 4, and a game called, Coat of Arms. He also appears to have a crush on…I shouldn’t speak on that. It’s in poor taste.”

“How did you figure out Ziil’s name and nickname from a glance?”

“The internet. Can’t you do…You haven’t found your shard yet. Have you?” Kyrion looked at his sister again noting how she currently looked younger than Thalia.

“I did. We just don’t meld well.”

“So…How long have you been here?”

“Three years, the time dilation of our world went wild a few times for inexplicable reasons, which led to the gap getting wild.”

“Ah.” Kyrion moved on, noting how a few people were running in his direction. All of them were quite big, and muscular.

Out of habit, Kyrion sent mana into the world around him, setting up ten contingencies via magic should things come to blows as well as swapping places with a plant clone which he controlled with his own consciousness.

Dwen noticed the trick, due to proximity and her own talents, sensing that he’d tied his own power to the area and his body to the ground.