For the second time in just as many days, Kane and Luna were hurtling feet first into the unknown. Below them, more forest was coming at them hard. More importantly, however, Irene was still behind them.

As soon as she saw them jump, the irate elven queen screeched in helpless fury, her voice echoing through the dense forest like a banshee's wail.

A moment later, realizing she was finally within striking distance, her eyes blazed with vengeful determination.

Despite the duo having already disappeared over the edge, she hurled a massive fireball at the cliff’s edge. The fireball roared through the air, casting an eerie orange glow on the trees as it seared past, before erupting with a thunderous boom that shook the very ground.

On the other side of the cliff, the falling duo suddenly heard a massive explosion above them. In surprise and panic, they looked up, only to be greeted by a massive avalanche of stone heading straight for them.

"Ah, crap," they both muttered at the same time.

They watched the stones racing at them and knew that even their Core Awakening stage bodies wouldn't get out of that unscathed.

But then, air shimmered and space rippled.

A rift appeared, and they fell straight through, together with half the avalanche.

Then, the rift closed and the rest of crumbling cliff fell to the bottom of the ravine.

Kane and Luna were gone, on to the next world.

* * *

Kane's eyes flew open and his body lurched forward. "What?!" he exclaimed, startled.

Then, he grabbed his head and groaned, "Ugh, a headache again," while memories of what happened before he fell unconscious started flooding back. The last thing he remembered was falling into the rift together with half a cliff. "Luna…!" he exclaimed and finally looked around.

His surroundings were dimly lit, but he quickly realized he was in some kind of cage. He was still naked, but there some kind of collar around his neck that seemed to be supressing his Mystic power, causing him to scowl.

Feelings of extreme disgust were rising up inside him, and his face distorted in rage. But then he quickly stamped down on those feelings and forced himself to calm down as he shook his head. He'd been in far worse situations in the past, he just needed to stay calm.

"Not the first time I've gone from the frying pan into the fire," he muttered, wryly.

Regardless, it's not like he expected his entry into another world to go without hiccups. "Identify, predict, decide, execute," he repeated the mantra he used when he was in an unknown situation.

So, he started by identifying his situation.

The cage encasing him was forged from a black material that absorbed the dim light, giving it a sinister sheen. Embedded within the bars were intricate circuits, pulsing faintly with an eerie, greenish glow.

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Though cramped, it was just spacious enough that someone could take a few steps in either direction. The air within was stale and cold, carrying a metallic tang that clung to his throat.

Beyond the cage bars, a chaotic jumble of technological equipment lay scattered. Sleek, futuristic consoles contrasted sharply with their apparent age. Many were covered in a thick layer of dust and grime, giving them an ancient feel.

Frayed wires spilled from cracked panels, sparking occasionally with errant blue flashes. The walls, composed of the same ominous black metal as his cage, were lined with forgotten machinery, their silent forms standing like ancient sentinels in the dim, flickering light. The room was filled with a few more cages, some of them occupied.

Then, he noticed guards. There were five of them sitting around a table nearby, playing some kind of game and laughing with each other. They had weapons strapped to their backs, and were dressed in simple clothing and armour, that belied the technology they were surrounded with.

He noticed three important things about these guards: first of all, he could understand their conversation even though it was in a language he had clearly never heard before. Second, they appeared to be a mix of beastlings and humans, or at least what looked like regular humans. And lastly, a pleasant surprise, all his guards were only at the Core Awakening stage, with no cores that went beyond rank 3.

'So long as I can get this collar off and out of this cage, I should be able to easily deal with them, even naked and without my weapon,' he thought confidently.

Regardless, their conversation was about the game, and completely uninteresting, so he ignored it. Instead, he started looking around, suddenly concerned. "Where is Luna?" he muttered to himself. His heartbeat sped up as visions of her pierced chest swam in front of his mind.

Carefully, he stood up from his seated position, not wanting to alert the guards, and approached the bars of his cage to inspect the occupants of the other cages.

Fortunately, he easily recognized Luna's bright white hair, cat ears, and clothing two cages over. He released a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, while she appeared to be fine, she also appeared to still be unconscious. But that was a problem for later. 'I guess the avalanche knocked us both unconscious. Then when we landed here, these people found us and decided to imprison us,' he thought to himself.

Regardless, with Luna seemingly safe, it was time to continue focusing on his surroundings.

First, he turned his attention to the metal bars his cage was made off. He needed to see if he could safely touch those bars.

Just as his fingers inched toward the bars, a soft, urgent whisper broke the silence, "Don't! It's really painful…" The voice was delicate, almost trembling.

Curiously, Kane's eyes darted around until they found the source—a petite figure huddled in the neighbouring cage, partially hidden by a tattered cloak. The dim light cast deep shadows over her face, leaving her age and features obscured, but her wide, fearful eyes shone with a desperate sincerity.

Noticing the fear and caution in her eyes caused Kane to raise a curious eyebrow. On the one hand, the fact she seemed to be afraid of him despite the double sets of bars between them made his opinion of her sink, yet the fact she spoke up anyway caused it to rise again. Overall, it evened out.

So he simply shrugged, and decided to take her advice by pulling back his hand. Then he nodded at her, "Thank you."

The woman sighed in relief, but then quickly lowered here head, clearly uninterested in more conversation. For some reason he got the idea she was a little embarrassed as well. At first he wondered why, but then he remembered he was naked, and chuckled.

Regardless, Kane ignored her, and started thinking of his next steps. He had identified, now he needed to predict.

'I'm not sure what they want from me, but I'm thinking it's probably slavery.' he thought to himself. 'Either they're slavers who want to sell me, and Luna, or they want to use us for labour themselves. But based on the small amount of prisoners, I'm betting it's the former; which means I have time. As long as I can find a way to remove this collar, I should be fine.'

Now, it was time to decide on a way to do that, but how?

Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head. "I think I can get us out of here… Master." The voice sounded a little strained, as if it was still getting used to talking, and especially the master bit seemed to take a lot of effort or strain.

Yet, he did recognize the voice. "Ella?" he responded inwardly, curiously.