"W- When did you- agh!"

Null can feel his soul being pulled into the Sealing Crystal. He lets go of Reiko's arm to try to fight back, but his control over Vektor's body is too weak now to react. All he can do is scream until he is expelled from this dimension:

"AaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHH-!"

All the dark energy inside Vektor's body is sealed in the magic crystal. No longer under the effects of the possession, Vektor returns to be an unconscious body, which Sych carefully places on the ground.

Reiko falls to her knees on the ground and starts massaging her arm that was squeezed. Yuko, who arrived on the mini-airship with Sych, freezes Hayato's right arm to make it easier to transport and prevent the fractures from getting worse.

With three Etykiran apprentices down on the ground, the battle against Null comes to an end.

Sych finds himself at a loss as to what to do next:

"We finally did it... but now we're too far from the tower. We have three people who are unable to walk. How are we going to get everyone back up there? Do we wait?"

Reiko soon points out another problem:

"We can't do that. The royal airship is heading for the Sun Tower as we speak. If we're not there when they arrive, we'll lose our only means of escape this island, at least for now. I could warn my father of our situation, but without a point of reference it would still be a problem for them to find us."

"We're at a dead end, then... Even if we were in perfect condition, there are still six of us. Plus, we can't rely on Mitsuko's teleportation right now."

Mitsuko's weak voice surprises them both:

"That's... not true."

The gray-haired girl is sitting on the floor, still feeling a huge headache.

"That guy's punch was too strong, my head hurts too much to even stand up... But I still have enough energy for one more use of my power."

"If that's the case, let's take the opportunity to take Vektor back."

Yuko however proposes another idea:

"I think it's better to take Hayato, his condition seems to be the worst of all of us, and I don't think it's a good idea to take him in the mini-airship like this. Since Vektor's body seems to be in good condition, I think it's better to take him flying."

"You're right. Reiko can return with her own power like before, so I'm counting on you to take Vektor back."

Reiko finds a flaw in this plan:

"But wait, what about you? We all have our ways of getting out of here, but how are you going to get back to the tower?"

"Now that there are six of us, one of us must stay behind. If that's how it is, then it might as well be me. I can use my telekinesis to make my journey back easier."

"But we can't just leave you behind!"

"It's fine. Even though my priority is to protect Vektor, my duty extends to all Etykiran families. Staying behind at a time like this is the obvious thing to do."

"...Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Sure. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty resilient myself."

"Then... we'll be waiting for you."

The Etykiran apprentices then return to the top of the Sun Tower, with Mitsuko teleporting away with Hayato's body while Yuko takes Vektor's body in Hayato's mini-airship.

After returning to the tower using her light clones, Reiko helps Yuko's parents carry the bodies of Kder, Master Noogard, and Vektor's mother to the top of the tower, where they all wait for rescue.

Sych then begins to walk alone to the Sun Tower, in a race against time. Using his telekinesis, he is able to jump with greater momentum and lower gravity. However, using his power on himself is more complicated and exhausting than normal, which means he needs to dose its use for favorable moments.

Hours pass...

The royal airship finally arrives at the Sun Tower. It is a gigantic vehicle, very different from the mini-airships, able of carrying up to 300 people at once. On board the airship are the king of Netern Island, some of the guards from Drettonus Castle, and a medical team assisted by Hiki, the Unique with healing power.

All the injured and unconscious are promptly attended to. Mitsuko is the one who recovers the quickest, only needing one use of healing power. Hayato, on the other hand, is the most difficult to treat. With the bones in his right arm all shattered and disorganized, a long surgery is required to relocate the pieces of bone, with Hiki unable to do much other than use his powers to facilitate the completion of the surgery, which should take several hours to complete, meaning that it will not be completed until halfway through the return trip.

Vektor and Kder are kept on stretchers until their physical conditions stabilize. It is discovered that Vektor's mother and Master Noogard were under the effects of anesthetics to an alarming degree, which requires greater care to detoxify both of their blood.

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After everyone has been given the necessary treatment, the airship prepares to depart. However, the princess begs her father to wait a little longer:

"We can't go yet! There's still someone else who hasn't arrived!"

"I'm sorry, daughter, but this airship has limited fuel. With all the medical equipment we're using, we can't just keep waiting here."

"Are we just going to leave Sych here alone on the island then?!"

"We can send someone to pick him up later in the mini-airship. Now, let's leave."

With no way to stop it, the royal airship begins to prepare to take off.

Meanwhile, the exhausted Sych finds himself in front of the Sun Tower. With no way to climb conventionally from the surface to the top of the tower, he finds himself with no choice but to use all the energy he has left in his body.

Concentrating to the fullest, he uses his telekinesis to carry his own body through the air, essentially making him fly to the top of the tower. He feels his body becoming more exhausted with every meter, but after a certain point, deactivating his power would make him fall into free fall, meaning that it is now a matter of life or death.

After flying more than 800 meters into the air, Sych finally reaches the top of the tower, his body nearly falling from exhaustion.

However, it is too late.

The royal airship has just taken off, now about to accelerate to far away from the deserted island. Sych no longer has the energy to catch up with the airship, meaning it is now impossible to hop on.

"I didn't make it in time... That's fine... If everyone got out safely, that's what matters..."

The boy futilely tries to run forward by extending his hand, but soon both his legs and his raised arm succumb to fatigue, and his consciousness begins to fade.

Inside the airship, everyone tries in vain to warn about Sych's appearance, until suddenly someone gets up from his stretcher and starts running towards the emergency exit. He then jumps out of the airship, returning to the top of the tower.

Sych loses all the forces he was still holding, letting his body fall towards the ground...

Until a hand grabs his shoulder, stopping him from falling.

"...?"

The surprise restores Sych's consciousness, who slowly raises his head to see who is holding him:

"...Vektor?"

"You okay, man?"

"What... are you doing here?"

"I had just woken up from a faint, and I heard everyone talking about you still being here, so I decided to come back."

"But why...?"

"I couldn't just leave you alone like this, right? Besides, I have a method for us to get out of here, so I don't lose much by turning down that airship ride."

"A method...?"

"I'll show you later. For now, rest for a while. I can wait a bit."

The exhausted Sych lies down on the metal floor of the Sun Tower, while Vektor patiently waits sitting beside him, looking at the dawn sky gradually becoming brighter and brighter...

After a few minutes of rest, Sych breaks the silence, taking Vektor out of his trance:

"...I'm sorry, man."

"Hm? For what?

(Déjá vu.)"

"I failed to ensure your protection. My goal was to prevent something like this from happening."

"Well, everyone was caught off guard, so there's not much to blame yourself for. Besides, I didn't even know you came."

"I was tasked with observing Master Noogard's party even though I wasn't invited."

"Speaking of that, I discovered that you could just invite yourself to the party. Kder did that and Master Noogard didn't care."

"Well, there's always next time, right?"

"Haha, yeah. But no kidnappings next time, I hope."

"That's something I still can't understand. Why did this whole incident happen in the first place?"

"They did explained quite a lot to me actually. I think it's better to leave the details for later, but to summarize, it seems like it was all a huge plan by Vak-Oh just so I could get stronger."

"What?! And why would one of the archangels want you of all people to get stronger?"

"That much I don't know, but the whole kidnapping was so they could force me to go through with this plan by taking you hostages."

"And I guess it worked... That reminds me, was this plan for you to acquire your ancient power?"

"Yeah, how did you find out?"

"I had deduced that earlier. Besides, I can see the Scarlet Tulip on the back of your neck."

"Well, that's right. I went to a parallel universe, went on a journey and everything... By the way, that thing I said earlier about having a method to get us out of here. I think it's time to introduce him to you."

"Him?"

Vektor suddenly stands up and whistles, while the now rested Sych sits on the ground, confused. It isn't long before a giant bird appears and lands near them.

"Sych, meet Mythbird. Mythbird, this is my friend Sych."

For some reason, the two stare at each other in silence. Something distracts them as they look at each other, a certain sense of familiarity that neither of them can quite say why...

"Hey, won't you greet each other?"

"A- Ah, that's right! Nice to meet you, Mythbird! My name is Sych."

Mythbird can respond by speaking mentally:

"Sych... Nice... to meet you."

"What...? Telepathy?!"

"Your power..."

Vektor interrupts the sudden mental conversation between the two:

"Well, now that we're all ready, it's time for us to get out of here once and for all. I don't want the sun to rise and we're still out here in the middle of nowhere."

Vektor and Sych then climb onto Mythbird's back, who spreads his wings and flies in the same direction as the royal airship, following its route to Netern Island.

The sun rises over the horizon, beginning the morning of December 16th. The royal airship arrives on Netern Island, with everyone except Hayato having recovered. With each person on board the airship going their separate ways, the Wind Hills kidnapping incident is officially considered over.

Meanwhile, Mythbird continues to fly over the oceans on the same route as the royal airship. Sych silently waits while Vektor stands admiring the sunrise, until the apprentice breaks the silence this time:

"...You know what, Sych?"

"Hm?"

"I was thinking about something... I want to take a trip to Lightning Island one of these days."

"Lightning Island? Why this interest all of a sudden?"

"Earlier, a guy showed up at the tower and told me that there's someone on that island with some kind of ancient power, a legend of the island. From the description, it could very well be an Etykiran like me. If I can find this legendary 'demon', maybe I can find a way to learn to control my powers better."

"So you'll visit an island just for the chance to meet someone you don't even know if exists? That seems pretty out of character for you."

"Agree, but that's not all. The man who told me about this legend, Kards, is one of those responsible for this incident. Like I said, all of this was planned by Vak-Oh to focus on me becoming stronger. And if there's one thing I learned from fighting Null, it's that even with this new power, I'm still too weak to defend myself. I have to become stronger somehow."

"Are you saying that this man gave you a tip on how to become stronger indirectly?"

"Exactly. If there's anyone who can help me become stronger, that someone is on Lightning Island waiting for me. However, this Kards guy carries even greater power than Null. If there are more people like him there, then that island must be an extremely dangerous place."

"And what are you planning to do?"

"Well, I guess the only thing I can do is gather allies. I'll form my own adventure party, so we can fight whatever comes our way."

Vektor then turns towards Sych, with a smile on his face:

"And of course, you're also coming with me, right?"

"Heh... I see you finally understand how things work."