“H-How much l-longer until the e-end…?”

“Not much longer! Right, Jake?”

“Pretty sure.”

“B-but still…S-Something about this p-place feels weird…”

“I don’t feel anything though.”

Inside the dark and lush forest, the sounds of a chatter echoed under the canopies of leaves.

Inside, there was 4 different figures traversing through the dirt road, probably carved out thousands of years ago. There were two people standing in the front, while the two girls stayed behind their backs, one cowering in fear and the other being simply ecstatic.

Looking back at the terrified Marie, Jake began to think that bringing her here was probably a bad choice.

And it certainly is.

*Bang!*

*Boom!*

*Poof*

*Boof!*

In front of the students, a man was leading them all. His hand held out in front, he snapped his hand continuously as more and more enemies appeared to attack them. Wolves, spirits, normal insects, none were safe from this slaughter.

Although, can anything be called normal here?

Jake sighed as he watched a poor little spirit burst into light as Zed’s magic did it justice. Seems like this man was a merciless destroyer, but he’s also a prophet…

“C-Charlotte…P-Please…”

Marie muttered helplessly as her senses kept on tingling. From the first second they all entered this forest, her ears couldn’t stop ringing, and she could hear some soft voices talking to her, but Zed easily dismissed them as the spirits’ voices.

Another chill crept up her spine.

“C-Charlotte…”

Her voice got quieter as her energy was sapped away by this creepy atmosphere. So much so that even her friend right next to her didn’t even hear a glimpse of her whimpering. Her eyes began watering slightly.

But then, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.

“Zed, is something wrong?”

Jake quickly asked as he stared at Zed, not moving. He didn’t reply to him either.

Was something going to come?

“Everyone, kindly, stay behind me.”

And then, as he said his last word, the atmosphere around them got heavier. Literally.

“A-Ah!”

“Woah!”

“..?!”

Their bodies suddenly felt insanely heavy, as if a there was a really large magnet pulling them all to the ground. Even with his higher level, Jake was having a hard time trying to move a single finger off the ground.

“What…is this…?”

And then, something ticked.

He didn’t know why, but this felt oddly familiar to him. Why is that? He had never even felt something like this in his life, why would a sense of small nostalgia build up in him? His mind began paving away, and then it stopped at a certain point.

This was just like the time they were summoned to this world!

His eyes widened in shock as he realised that revelation. And the more he thought about it, the more it made sense!

Who would do this?

*Grrrrr*

But there was no time to think about that, as a large shadow suddenly emerged from the trees. Zed stepped back and prepared himself.

He should’ve realised this sooner, but something was wrong. VERY wrong.

“GRRAAARR!!”

“Fall!”

*Snap!*

Zed quickly stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers. His ultimate magic was unleased!...... Or not.

“What?!”

For the first time, Zed let out a surprised voice. Never in his life had he seen his internal magic attack be cancelled out that easily! Just what is this monster?!

And then, as it got nearer, all their faces turned grim.

The monster standing before them had the body of a wolf, just about 2 or 3 times bigger than an adult wolf. His tail was covered in many sharpened spikes, and it had two heads! Each with 3 eyes! What the hell?!

Wait, golden fur too?!

“Grraa!”

It didn’t wait, and charged straight at them. I say charge, it was more like ‘Leaping at the speed of sound’.

“Push!”

Zed sent a shockwave at the wolf, and its movement began to slow down. Its legs began trembling, but it kept going!

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Zed gracefully jumped into the air and landed behind the wolf. The wolf’s first head turned around and looked at him, its eyes beading red just like a balloon ready to pop from too much air.

“Ha!”

And then, from behind the wolf, an air punch was sent, and hit the wolf’s buttocks! Must hurt.

And it’s a woman too!

“GRRAAA!”

“Come here, foul beast!”

The wolf charged straight at it, its golden figure blurring away. Zed was no slacker, and blurred out too.

The two figures dashed towards each other!

As he ran, Zed sent a wave of air punches at the wolf. It was unclear how he did this, but it was his magic at work. The punches landed on the wolf’s three heads and stopped its momentum, slightly.

*RROOAAARR!!*

And then, it sent an earth-shattering roar! The ground around was torn, and many trees were blown away from its roots. The only ones left were the wolf, Zed, and Jake’s group.

“Is this…What his full power is…?”

Jake muttered silently as he witnessed, for the first time, Zed fighting something that forced him to actually move.

“Shatter!”

With his command, the ground under the wolf broke, and revealed a hole!

The wolf quickly realised this and jumped away, but the area it was about to land on, was another hole! “Grrr!” In fury for being played, it created a black gap in the air and jumped in.

“What?!”

And now, the wolf was gone. Zed carefully used his {Foresight}, searching around for the wolf’s presence. And then, a gap opened behind him.

“Mr. Zed! Behind you!”

“Thank you!”

Turning around, he sent a punch straight to the wolf’s face, blowing it away a couple meters. The wolf shook its head mid-flight and landed on its four legs.

“I thank you sincerely, Young Marie!”

Zed said in gratitude before rushing towards the wolf. He sent several waves of air at the wolf, and the wolf jumped into another gap. This time, he got to see the inside, which was dark, just like the void.

But that meant that his {Foresight} got through!

“There!”

Turning to the left, he sent a kick to the ground, and earthen spikes were sent out from the ground. Just as it appeared, a large earthen spike pierced its belly and sent it flying. Black blood rained down.

Using his fists, he sent a wave of air fists, punching the defending wolf further into the air. “Grrrr!” The wolf continued to tank the fists before slashing its claws in the air.

Its claws painted black, a shadow claw was sent out!

“Slow!”

He easily jumped aside and let the claw touch the earth. But then, the shadow began expanding rapidly, and soon exploded. Zed quickly made it out of the explosion radius.

“Teleportation, shadows, explosions. What an odd combination.”

Zed muttered in thought as he dodged more explosions. His figure blurring into nonexistence as he moved from one area to another with no effort.

“ggggrrrrrRRRARARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

And then, it opened its mouth and roared like a beast. Well, it had already been a beast.

As if its mouth was black hole, chunks of the earth began ripping out of the ground and sucking them into the wolf’s mouth. Never mind, it is a black hole!

“This is bad!”

Zed sent a punch and two into the black hole, but just like a black hole, nothing can escape against its powers! The punches were sucked straight in and disappeared!

Zed switched his priorities and closed in on Jake and the group. “Do not move!” As he reached them, he stood in front of them and crossed his arms. A barrier of some sorts was launched!

“Seal!”

The barrier got bigger, and sent fluctuations into the air, causing ripples like a stone thrown into a lake. Vibrations sounded gracefully.

“GGGRRRRRRRARAAAAAA!”

The hole got bigger, and engulfed the wolf whole, leaving the black hole to get bigger and bigger. It soon reached the ground, and it sucked it all in without remains!

“Hold on!”

The barrier he created was sucked in as well, and a strong pull was pulling them in. Somehow, Jake managed to move his arms at the last moment and took hold of everyone.

Then, the ground under them was ripped out.

“Ah!”

“W-Woah!!”

“D-Darn it!”

“Everyone! Hold on!”

The four was carried along with the ground and was brought closer to the black hole. Jake kept holding on, but then, at the last second, a shard stabbed into his left palm.

“Agh!”

In pain, his arms let go.

And the world turned dark from there.

…….

Nothing was left behind. All the trees, earth, plants, and people, were all sucked in. There was only a huge crater left behind. A perfect flipped dome on the soil.

Several kilometres away, Charlotte was lying on the grass unconscious. Deep in her mind, it all felt stagnant, but there was a sense of movement. She could feel her body being moved around. And then, she could hear a small voice in her ears.

“Cha…Wa…p..”

“Ar…o…alri..?”

“Char…wa…up!”

And then, her eyes opened slightly. “Uuu…Where am I?” Charlotte asked groggily as her eyes did their best to adjust to the sudden change in light. She blinked a couple times, and her vision cleared up slightly.

And then, she realised that a hand was holding her shoulder. With a soft voice, she called out to the familiar boy in front of her.

“Ja..ke?”

“You’re awake! Thank goodness…”

Jake let out a long breath as he felt his worries leave him. She was alive!

“What…happened?”

Charlotte forced her body upwards and looked at him. But, as she was getting up, her shoulder felt, soggy. She could feel something liquid-like sticking on her shirt. She looked to her shoulder, and saw tinges of red.

“What..?”

“Don’t worry. That’s just me.”

“…What?”

Slowly, she began to piece together what this muddy liquid was. Red, muddy, sticky. It was blood!

“Sorry for getting your clothes dirty…That’s my fault.”

“N-No, it’s fine!”

She quickly shook her head and apologised too, for the fact that she blacked out without knowing it, and he too shook his head and apologised.

This continued for a couple of minutes.

After that was over, Zed came back with a roll of bandages in his hand. He did a quick wrap around his bloody arm and cleaned off the blood on his hands. Zed told him to not move too much, and left again.

Just as Charlotte was getting happy, she felt that something was missing, or rather, someone was missing. Looking around, she realised something very important.

Where was Marie?!

“Marie?!”

“……”

“Where’s Marie?! Jake, where’s Marie?!”

“……I……”

Jake couldn’t finish his sentence. After all, it was all his fault that Marie wasn’t here anymore. It was all his. He grit his teeth in complete and utter defeat.

“While we were being sucked by that attack, a shard of stone stabbed into Young Jake’s hand, and he let go in pain.”

“N-No way…”

“I…”

Charlotte’s mouth was wide open. She hadn’t even been with her for a month, and she had already separated with her?! Wait, that’s not it! She’s her friend!

“Marie’s okay, isn’t she?! She is, right?!” Charlotte asked desperately. Her voice sounding more like a plead.

Zed closed his eyes for a moment, and muttered out something in another language they didn’t understand. And then, in his mind, an image was formed.

“Ah! Young Marie has met up with…Hold on.”

“With who?”

“……It can’t be…”

“Who is it?! Just say it!”

Zed opened his eyes, looking shaken and shocked. His eyes lit up a bright flame as a wide smile formed on his face. And then, he began laughing happily.

“I cannot believe it! I simply cannot believe it!”

“What?”

“To think she met up with Master Alex! It truly is a miracle!”

As his words pierced his ears, Jake snapped out of his depression and looked at him in shock.

“Alex?!...Wait, master?”

…………

“Uuu…”

On the other side of the world, Marie was tossing and turning all over.

Her whole body felt incredibly tired, and a terrible headache was piercing her mind. Slowly, she began opening her eyes.

“W-Where…am I…?”

“Ah, you’re awake.”

Still in a daze, she looked straight at the young boy standing next to her. Her eyes weakly observed the red-haired boy, his bare chest wrapped with many bandages. His blue eyes looking straight at her with a relieved expression.

Knowing that she was alive and well, he pressed his hand onto his chest and exhaled in relief. He silently thought ‘I managed to save her! Haha!’ in his mind as a soft smile floated on his face. After all, she just fell from the sky and straight into the lake, his heart jumped 3 beats when he saw that while trying to conjure a new shirt!

“W-Where…?”

“Don’t know.”

The boy didn’t wait for her and simply shook his head in defeat. He himself didn’t even know where he currently is, how can he answer such a question?

Brushing his hair away from his eyes, he looked at her with a sharp gaze, his voice pretty much boiling with hostility.

“So, who’re you?”