"Damn, it had to come to this. We've had a lucky streak long enough and have been favored by fate. Now it's our time to pay. I'm sure this won't be an easy fight."

"Ramor, why so pessimistic? Why don't we just change the world."

"I doubt that this will do any good. As far as I've noticed, the beings on the worlds are getting stronger every time we explore a new one."

"Right."

"Maybe it was just bad luck and Lors was caught unawares. Maybe the inhabitants of the world are pretty weak after all, just with some exceptions."

"I don't think so. It would be too much of a coincidence for Lors to run into the very people who are stronger than him?"

It had been three hours since they opened the crack for the third and last time and Lors still hadn't shown up. The 5 generals and Nero had gathered once again in the consultation room and were conferring.

Nero just sat quietly in the chair at the end of the table and watched his generals confer. After some time of arguing, he was satisfied and raised his hand, and immediately silence fell.

His generals looked at him expectantly and Nero said in a cold deadpan voice,

"What difference does it make? We sit here and think up excuses and theories as to why Lors didn't show up, but all that matters is that he's not there. I will be on my way tomorrow evening at 3 o'clock. As I have announced, I will personally cross over to the other world and explore it. I will study their population as well as their magic and find the best options for an attack. Meanwhile, I want you to wait for me, and if I don't appear within 5 weeks, you shall have one year's patience and build up your army, and then attack and destroy the world. In doing so, you shall search for me, and if I am still alive, you shall rescue me. I will leave you the portal stone, especially for this purpose, and give it into the hands of Xersies. You open the portal every night after my departure from 0 to 4 o'clock. When I have the necessary information, I will return directly, and don't want to wait for long."

"But, my Duce..." began Ramor, but Nero directed his gaze at him, indicating that he should shut up.

"I will see you tomorrow evening at 3 o'clock at the portal, I have to make some preparations until then. Ramor, you are to prepare symbols for me that will give me protection and power, and you are to reinforce any dagger for me. And I will send you regular clothes to be reinforced as well. "

"Of course, my duce. Any other weapons or anything else you want me to take and decorate with symbols?"

"No, a dagger is the maximum. Anything else would be too conspicuous. I must draw as little attention to myself as possible. Now go, we'll meet tomorrow night." With these words, Nero got up and left the room.

---------

A day later, Nero met with his generals at the portal again.

A huge army had been provided as a precautionary measure, after all, one could never know what methods the opponents had for deciphering thoughts.

Although Nero also possessed a mind-reading stone, it only worked on ordinary mortals and not mages, so it was relatively useless. Nevertheless, Nero had also taken it with him, after all, he could not know if there were mortals in power for any reason.

He was wearing black pants and a black t-shirt. They were embroidered throughout with hidden symbols that would only activate once Nero touched a certain symbol at the bottom of the T-shirt.

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Passive symbols would permanently give off an aura unless one used a certain concealment symbol, but this was very time-consuming and robbed a lot of life force.

He had tied the dagger to his hip and positioned it so that the T-shirt fell over it. It wasn't a good hiding place, but it would work for now. He had tied a small pouch over the dagger, in which were several stones with symbols of healing, reinforcement, and distraction that would buy him some time in an emergency.

Nero nodded as he saw his generals looking at him expectantly. He raised his hand and handed Xersies the small blue crystal that was for opening the cracks.

"The stone simply works through thought," Nero explained, tapping his forehead, "If you want to open the portal, just think about the world and how wide you want the portal to open."

Xersies nodded and lifted the stone. It began to emit a faint blue light and seconds later the space had split again and a small crack to the other world had appeared. Nero nodded again in satisfaction and then stepped through the crack.

"Goodbye, my Duce." with these words Xersies closed the crack behind him.

Nero fell spinning through the air and saw the ground rapidly approaching. He thrust his hands forward and pressed. Black smoke came out of them and enveloped him, catching him. First, his fall slowed, then came to a complete stop.

Nero was now standing in the air, and it was hard for him to remain upright. There was a difference between riding on a cloud or flying on his own. Unfortunately, the cloud would be too conspicuous and so this was his only way to fly, but he had too little practice at it.

Slowly he settled back to the ground and looked up. The moon was just a thin crescent hanging in the night sky and it was quite dark.

He looked around, pulling back his magic as he did so. He felt the mana running through his veins, and how it was just waiting to be released, but he didn't know if there were any mages here who could sense magic.

His aura was lowered to a minimum by a small symbol on his t-shirt, but it could still be easily sensed. He just had to hope that there were enough mages in this society not to be immediately exposed, or so few that he would not be noticed.

He turned in the direction he thought was north and just marched off.

It wasn't long before he encountered the first creature. He was walking through a deep thicket when he heard a low hiss. He immediately activated his magic and hurled a black beam into the bushes.

He now heard the agonized screech of a cat-like creature. With a wave of his hand, he destroyed the bushes, which gave him a view of a wild animal. It resembled a mountain cat from his world very much, only that its fur was gray like that of a rock.

Its flank was full of blood at the place where Nero had hit it. The spot was a deep hole and one could see the splinters of bones and remains of organs. The cat's eyes were black like his and they looked at him full of pain and fear.

Nero was suddenly a child again and stood in front of the dying wolf.

Quickly, Nero pushed away the memories and in a moment of compassion, Nero put the animal out of its agony.

He quickly drew the dagger and stabbed it into the animal's throat. He could have simply killed it with a shadow, but then it would have felt wrong,

"One last time," he said to himself and then left the place and continued walking.

After another 3 hours, the sun slowly rose in the east. Soon after, Nero came to the first path, and he decided without further ado to follow it.

A short time later he saw the first house through the trees, but he couldn't see any people. It was a small farm, or at least Nero thought it was one. It was partly made of wood and partly of bricks. Nero guessed that one was the stable and the other was the house for the farmer.

He deftly climbed the nearest tree and positioned himself to get a good view of the house. He wanted to see what the occupants of this house looked like before doing further steps.

It took only half an hour of patient waiting before the door of the house finally opened and a man stepped out. Nero was slightly surprised to see a normal-looking farmer.

He had tanned skin and was a bit older but on the whole a normal person. Nero didn't even feel the lightest aura emanating from him. He wore tattered pants and a dirty T-shirt, which was also not unusual for a peasant. Without further ado, Nero decided to introduce himself to him, so he jumped down from the tree and walked along the path normally.

"Good morning," he said in a friendly voice to the farmer, who was just stretching and yawning. Startled, he whirled around and looked at Nero.

He eyed him from head to toe, and then smiled at him,

"Where did you come from, young man? Walking in this forest at this hour is not very smart."

Nero rubbed his nose

"I know, I was lost. Do you know, kind sir, how far away the next village or town is?"

"Ahhh yes, it's not far. Just follow this path for half an hour and you will come to the small village of Tissling. "

Nero smiled at him, "Thank you very much. I surely will return the favor."

With that, Nero continued down the path, lost in thought.