With Escher now defeated by his own hands, I find myself standing in front of him knowing full well that all of this started because of him. Now that he is in a weakened state, I had the opportunity to take him out of the equation. But I didn’t took it. I was too afraid. Why? Because if I kill him, that would only create another endless cycle of suffering.

Mei was lying down on the floor unconsciously. I went toward her and checked on her conditions. She seems to be fine. She’s just low on her Infinitum. She had been using a lot of her energy to the machine that was supposedly used to power up The Runix Cube. The Staff of Illusion has been destroyed. The one and only thing that could probably change everything. I said probably because I’m still sceptical about it. Will it really be a new world or simply a fake world as we all thought it would be?

“White…is that you?”

Mei seemed to finally opened her eyes.

“Mei. Are you alright?”

“Where’s my father…?”

“He’s fine. He is...over there... It sounds weird but it happened so fast.”

“Okay…whatever the circumstances are…what now, White?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What are we going to do now that Escher’s plan has been stopped? Do we have to kill him?”

“I’m not sure about that, Mei. You know what will happen if we do that. There must be something else we can do…”

Mei thinks for a second and told me,

“Why don’t you check out the cube…”

“The cube, huh…Hold on.”

I carried Mei by her shoulder and we slowly made our way to wherever The Runix Cube was. We slowly walked to the slot where The Runix Cube was placed and noticed that the cube was beginning to wane out of its energy.

“You should take a closer look at it, White.”

“What about you?”

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“I can stand, don’t worry…”

I let Mei stand on her own and touched the cube. From a first impression perspective, The Cube doesn’t really seemed to be impressing anyone with its design. It was a plain ancient cube. The engravings doesn’t seem to be writing down a word. It looks like it was just some sort of a pattern or something.

“Do you feel anything?”

“I don’t know. Something doesn't feel right about this cube…But what am I suppose to do with it now?”

“I don’t know…can we keep it?”

I looked around and remembered that we were still inside Mei's Dimensional Bag world. I almost thought that something would change with The Staff of Illusion already being destroyed. Escher hasn't really touched anything with his illusion in this world. Of course their would be no changes.

I tried to think of something simple to say to everyone about this but I will only end up saying the direct meaning. I kept on thinking on some things that sounded cool to me but the only thing that remained was that we should just get out of here and see what's going on outside. I just hope all of those illusions was all a illusion. No more demons, no more walls. Just another ordinary day.

“What have you guys have been trying to achieve this year?” Mei suddenly asked me.

“Trying to achieve this year…you mean The Magic Duel?”

“Yes. We still have The Magic Duel to think about…”

Mei brought out something that we all had forgotten. I carefully thought of the possibilities that could had happen if we didn't make it through The Group Stage. I would like to reinstate myself back into the duel and perhaps there is something else I could think of besides that. Now that Mei have brought it out, I think this time, The Magic Duel will be a lot different when compared during the times everyone were under a big illusion. This time, we can all enjoy the festivities of The Magic Duel in its full glory.

But there's still one more lingering problem, The Runix Cube. It doesn't seem to be alive anymore for some reason. Perhaps its magic has been transferred to this small pocket mirror that Rika gave me. What the heck was this pocket mirror anyway? I have to ask her about it later.

We went outside of Mei's Dimensional Bag world and saw the blue sky. The sky was no longer dark and gloomy as it were for the past couple of months. It also doesn't look as fake as the illusion one that Escher made.

That was it. Everything kind of went back to normal. Asides from a few things that remains. Which was the current situation with the members of Team Stardust. When I have the time, I'll have to talk with them.

Mei sounded happy, “Looks like everything is alright, White. Too bad the staff was broken. Could have used that thing to study more things about Infinitum.”

“I’m…sorry?”

“You don’t have to be sorry, White. Besides…everyone is already tired…we should head back and rest.”

“Should we bring along your father?”

Mei hesitated at first but then she nodded and said,

“Yeah. Of course we should bring him along. Let's just-”

Before we were even able to look back at where her father was, he was already gone. We didn't know where he went. Blax and Kirin were the ones carrying him just now. But just for a small time when they put him down to the ground, Mei's father was immediately gone from our sights. Mei was worried about him. The mood got all gloomy once again until,

“Hey, we should celebrate this.”

Kaym brought out an interesting idea after his illusion has been fully broken.

“Celebrate what?”

“Our victory of course! We defeated the chaotic force. We saved the world. We should at least celebrate.”

Some of them agreed and we end up making a celebration that very night. Although it was supposed to be a happy moment for all of us, it kind of felt a little bittersweet especially when some of us knows of the fact that nothing much has changed. We didn't really changed anything. We only preserved it.

It was still fascinating. The illusion ended because Escher's staff was completely destroyed. Here we thought we would be written down in history as heroes but the reality was nothing really did happened. Aside from us barely getting through The Group Stage in Magic Duel that is.

Unless…

Unless I could make another Staff of Illusion…

But of course, I'm only joking. There's no way something so fake like that would be used to make our dreams a reality. It's time for us to go back to reality and face it like we should have.

“Yes…This is what I want. This is the best for everyone…Tomorrow will be a better day…”

As I was about to finish writing down this sentences, I continued to enjoy the party we were having. But this time, without the feeling of bittersweet looming around us. I told everyone not to worry about the following day because it will be a bright new day. The only thing we need to focus on is The Magic Duel. Let’s hope for the best everyone!

TO BE CONTINUED…