Slowly, the second monster seems to be preparing for its next attack. Mitsuko stands up soon after, not hiding her concern:

"Hey Vektor, think you can handle this one alone? I don't think Yuko will be able to fight in these conditions, I need to get her out of here."

"I can try... You can go, we'll think of a plan later."

"Thanks. Good luck out there...!"

Vektor prepares for another round while Mitsuko runs towards Yuko, saving as much energy as possible so she can teleport the two away the moment she touches her. However, instead of attacking, the second monster simply runs away from Vektor, flying at top speed.

"Wha-?!"

Vektor tries to run after his opponent, but he is simply too slow to catch up. Mitsuko reaches out to touch Yuko's shoulder, who is still in shock, but just as her hand is about to touch, the second monster's claws reach her first. Without losing momentum, the monster manages to capture Yuko in the next second.

Before Vektor can reach him, the second monster wastes no time and begins flying straight to the Dawn Plateau. The first monster stops its battle against Kder and also leaves, heading to the same destination. Exhausted, Vektor can do nothing but watch his friends being carried away...

"Damn it...! Why all this, so suddenly?!"

Kder appears shortly afterwards, also slightly exhausted:

"Vektor! What happened here? Is everyone okay?"

"Well, I am okay, but..."

"Did the other guests manage to escape? Where are they?"

"They were taken... by those monsters..."

"What?! If that's the case, then we need to save them!"

"My mom and Master Noogard should still be inside the house. I'll go check and ask them for help. In the meantime, run as fast as you can to where those monsters went!"

"Understood! Could you tell me where they went?"

"I'm not sure, but if I'm right, they must be at the Dawn Plateau by now. At least that's the direction I saw them fly."

"We have to follow every lead we get. I'm heading over there. I'm counting on your help here!"

"Alright! See you later!"

Both of them run in opposite directions, heading towards their destinations. While Kder follows the shortcut to the plateau with his super speed, Vektor enters Noogard's residence.

"Mom! Are you here?!"

It doesn't take long for him to find a soda can lying on the floor. However, something catches his attention:

"(It's spilling... They didn't finish drinking it?)"

Vektor starts searching around the house:

"Mom...? Master Noogard...? Are you here...?"

In the end, even after looking in every room, he can't find anyone inside. For some reason, not even Hayato is present at home.

"Are you being serious...?"

With no idea what to do next, Vektor decides to head to the Dawn Plateau as well. Running along the shortcut, Vektor feels completely disoriented:

"Where did everyone go? Where did those monsters come from?! And why now?! So many questions that don't seem to have answers...! Whoever is behind this must have some grudge against me, it has to be!"

Vektor's mind is pulled back to reality the moment he finds Kder walking down the trail on his way back, with the face of someone in disbelief, who doesn't know how he should feel.

"Kder! Did you look up there?!"

"Yes..."

"Did you find out what's going on?! Is everyone up there?!"

"I found out, but..."

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"But...?!"

"They... were taken... all of them..."

"What?! But where to?!"

"I... don't know... I don't know, but... It seems to be a place beyond our reach."

"And how do you know all that? Who told you this?!"

"He... was there..."

"Who?!"

"Hiroshi... He is the one responsible for this incident...!"

"Maken?! Wasn't he missing?"

"Yes... I don't know what happened or how, but he suddenly appeared there... After all this time without giving any sign of life..."

"And the situation just gets better... Well, let's get to the important part. What happened up there? What else did he tell you? What's his objective this time?!"

"Well..."

Immediately after capturing Mitsuko and Yuko, the flying monster headed to the Dawn Plateau, landing near Maken, who was just calmly wandering around as his ally appeared to take the hostages away.

"And with that, we managed to gather everyone... Finally, it's my turn to fulfill my duty. But to be honest, the idea of having a peaceful conversation with Vektor Drenn is quite difficult to swallow. Now it would be very convenient if..."

"Hiroshi...?"

Kder appeared before him, with a startled and incredulous face:

"Hiroshi, is that you...?"

"Perfect timing..."

"It's really you... For real... Where have you been all this time? Are you okay? Have you been hungry?"

"Don't worry about me. In fact, I'm the last one you should be worried about right now."

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment... I've had to endure so much silence these past few weeks, hoping that by some miracle you would come home."

"...I see, you haven't changed at all. What a relief..."

"Hey, now that you're back, what do you plan to do? Are you going to go back to Kder Island with me? Are you going to become stronger with me like before?"

"Like I said, you have more important things to worry about right now. That's not what you came here for, am I wrong?"

"You're right... Do you happen to have any idea what's happening on this island right now?"

"About that... The truth is, I came here in the name of Lord Vak to make a deal... a truce."

"Truce...? In the name of Vak-Oh?! What are you saying?!"

"I was sent here with 2 more allies, with the goal of contributing to Vektor Drenn's evolution."

"Evolution...?"

"In my previous mission, my goal was to eliminate him before he could become a potential threat. However, after my failure, Lord Vak saw a different kind of potential, one that could be useful on a larger scale. However, in his current state, his potential has a very low chance of being exploited to its fullest."

"And what does all this have to do with monsters and captures?"

"My lord has decided that we would use those 6 as a bargaining chip, a guarantee of cooperation. We promise that everyone will be fine. However, in order for us to free them, certain conditions must be met."

"Conditions? And what would they be?"

"Well, let's take it one step at a time. The first and foremost condition is: going to the other side of Netern and acquiring the ancient power of the Drenn family, which is currently sealed."

"The other side of Netern? You mean... Vektor needs to go to the other dimension?! How do you expect him to do that?!"

"There is a method, a very simple and convenient method. You don't need to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

"...! The Netern Crystals..."

"You're really smart, good job connecting the dots."

"But no one knows where those crystals are hidden! How am I supposed to..."

Kder's line was interrupted the moment Maken simply threw the crystals on the ground.

"Does that answer your question?"

"...! But... But..."

"You don't need to know how. All you need to do is cooperate with us and everything will turn out fine, you have my word."

"...What do you want from me?"

"I just want you to tell Vektor Drenn about everything we've discussed just now, and then collect the crystals again so we can bring him back. After that, you'll have nothing left to do but wait for everything to end..."

After hearing about all this conversation, Vektor feels his mind being overloaded:

"Okay, chill, this is too much information to process at once... Let me see if I got everything correctly... Maken came back and took everyone hostage just because his lord wants me to go to some kind of parallel universe and become stronger, is that what I just heard?"

"Well, in short, I think so..."

"What kind of nonsense is this?! In the end, this is nothing more than a kidnapping! There's no way this is a truce or a deal!"

"But then, what should we do? Do we meet the required conditions?"

"Do we have another option?! My mother's life and the lives of this island's inhabitants are all at their mercy. This isn't a good time to try being bold."

"Hiroshi said he'll come back to Dawn Plateau every evening to inspect us. If we want to be quick, we must complete our objectives by tomorrow evening."

"Another time-limited journey... But this time, with other lives at stake instead of mine. I must admit that this is much more uncomfortable than before. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to this parallel world already!"

"Hiroshi said he would leave the portal to cross Netern at the center of the plateau's surface."

"Great, that makes things easier for me."

"Before you go, I need to give you something back."

Kder removes a scabbard from his waist with Vektor's sword stored inside it. Vektor feels relieved:

"Ah, the Slasher Platinum, I had forgotten about it... Thanks for reminding me, I would be going on a suicide mission without it."

"And lastly, a simple piece of advice: be very careful, as they say that the other side of Netern is inhabited by several monsters, probably as strong as the ones we faced."

"Well, I've kinda been in a place like this before, so I won't be too surprised if this is true. Thanks for the advice, though."

Vektor adjusts the Slasher Platinum's scabbard at his waist and starts walking towards the Dawn Plateau, waving his right hand in farewell:

"Well, I'm going out there. Good luck finding the crystals."

Arriving at the plateau, Vektor walks to its central point, where he finds a magic portal similar to the ones his mother spent hours opening. However, this portal is much more intense and bright, with a blinding light very different from the colorful glow of his mother's magic.

After a long sigh, Vektor lightly jumps into the portal, with no idea of what awaits him on the other side. The moment his body passes entirely through the portal, it slowly closes and disappears.

From this moment on, the Netern Crystals return to their altars, the next destination for Kder, who begins his journey through the Valley of Music to bring Vektor back.