The maid frowned.

"Stay for a while. Let's get the situation first and then I will accompany you myself."

Manisa stared at him for some long seconds before she finally nodded at her maid.

The maid frowned. Despite her earlier courtesy, she despised Abdin for abandoning her mistress. And if it hadn't been for the restraining orders of the princess, the woman would have long since killed him.

Abdin didn't care about her in the slightest. A thousand of her couldn't hurt him but she didn't know that and he didn't intend on enlightening her. He led them over to the window where they could see the black flying objects in descent.

It was some aircraft, the likes of which Abdin hadn't seen before.

"What are those?" Manisa asked.

None of them replied to her.

One of the planes descended not far from the motel, causing a blast as soon as it landed. It was the same blast they heard earlier but it was even louder now.

The ground beneath the plane cracked in response. Black-clad men descended from the plane.

In the next few minutes, more than five hundred men climbed down the plane. An old man and a woman by his side were the last to exit.

The other men assembled themselves neatly before the old man and the lady.

Unlike the rest of them, the old man's feet never quite touched the ground. He had some glowing, pointy shoes on with his feet just inches above the ground but never quite reaching it.

"Bring everyone to me." He spoke with absolute arrogance. His voice echoed and even Abdin could hear him from where he stood. "Kill whoever resists."

The men before him answered in unison and then spread throughout the neighborhood. Five of them walked towards the motel, while the rest moved on to other buildings.

The same scenario was happening all over the capital. It was sudden but well coordinated.

Abdin turned to look at Manisa. The young woman seemed to be frightened. She was a cultivator as well, but then, the law of the land had forbidden any child of a concubine from rising above the foundation establishment stage. For fear that they might become too strong and try to overthrow the empress' children.

Abdin placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. Without knowing why Manisa felt herself relaxing.

She looked down at her feet with conflicting emotions. If she had followed the elders' advice, she wouldn't have left the palace today. But she wanted to see Abdin and know why he left her. Their secret marriage had worked excellently for years, so why must he run? Was she not good enough?

So she accepted Abdin's invitation and came out to meet him. And now she had been caught in a crossfire. Why must this man always put her in harm's way?

The young princess wanted to curse Abdin. What she didn't know was that she would be safer here than if she were in the palace or anywhere else. Right now, more than twenty warplanes had surrounded the palace and a fierce battle was being fought with the sole aim of protecting the emperor and the crown prince, even to the extent of using other palace staff and royalty as cannon fodder.

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In a matter of minutes, fearful screams rent the air from all angles.

Abdin could feel the unmistakable signs of skills and desperate spells activated from all over the capital. A battle had broken out in the capital and it was most likely not because of him.

He returned to his chair and sat down, crossing his legs and staring at the opposite wall in thought. Manisa and her maid gave him curious looks, but a while later, the maid pulled Manisa and they both sat down as well.

He poured himself a glass of water and gulped half of it down. He was almost stoic in his actions.

Meanwhile, the five invaders heading to the motel broke a wall and came through. They seemed to be ignorant of the concept of doors, or maybe it was just arrogance.

Abdin dipped a finger in the cup, taking the moisture of the liquid and sketching a hexagonal seal on the table. Manisa and her maid stared at him in disbelief.

Had all these incidents taken their toll on him and made him go off his rocker? They thought to themselves in pity.

The old maid was more observant. She could see that Abdin was too calm to be insane. Mad people had a unique appearance of chaos on them. He didn't have it.

Abdin wasn't bothered by their looks. A miniature holographic castle appeared right above the seal he had drawn just now.

The miniature castle expanded and lightened about half of the capital. Then it melded with the capital. Every wall instantly became encased in the light.

In the next minute, with neither a sound nor dust, half the capital had transformed. From above, most of the buildings could be seen to have become white gravel and black shutters. And a thick curtain of ki filled the atmosphere.

By then, the five men were in the room and had almost reached Abdin and the two women. They stopped abruptly and became rooted to the ground. It was the moment they saw the white stone walls and the spot they had drilled and passed through once again becoming whole.

Abdin stared at them with the grin of a lion before a herd of sheep.

Unbidden, the man on the lead felt his legs shaking. His heart pounded faster whenever he looked at Abdin. It was the same fear experienced when facing unavoidable death.

The man instinctively took a step back. Unfortunately, the other four were of lesser cultivation and couldn't feel anything at the sight of Abdin.

Quite like the case of being as yet unworthy.

So, thinking it was an order, all four men sprang upon Abdin when they saw their leader taking a step back. They didn't see his shaking legs as they were too focused on the target.

However before they could reach Abdin, a young stone golem appeared and swallowed them all.

Manisa only saw the men disappear, she couldn't see the puppet nor identify his young features.

The old maid sitting beside her had sighted some whitish humanoid something as it passed with lightning speed. It hadn't been clear to her if it had been a man or a golem.

The only person that saw everything was the man leading the team of five. He pivoted around and fled for his life.

"Hey!" Abdin barked at him.

The man tripped and fell on his face shivering like a scared cat, as Abdin towered over him.

He looked up hesitantly and glanced at the huge man towering over him.

All of a sudden, Abdin had become a giant in the man's eyes.

"From what world are you?" Abdin's voice entered his ears. His tone was low but the man felt a grinding sensation in his skull.

"From..." He bit his lips and tried hard but it was only for a moment. When his eyes met with Abdin, he started to speak again. "From Fabae."

Fabae? So there was another world besides Tsibi? Or was that another name for it?

"You're killing people and destroying homes, what do you want to achieve?"

The man bit his tongue until it bled, all to keep himself from replying. But Abdin's eyes and the power of his cultivation ultimately conquered his protests.

"It is an order from Origin. We have been given orders to capture and divert the resources here to Origin."

Abdin's eyes widened in terror. It just kept getting worse.

When he left Biyakis four months ago, he believed this to be a mere contention within the boundaries of Biyakis and her home continent. But he was just told that the war involved the three powers of the world. And now, he had the feeling that it also involved other worlds apart from the known.