Having ripped off the last of the shackles, he felt relief wash over him as he heard Mia's voice. He forced a smile and looked her way. "Yes, sorry for being late."

"Oh, thank Sol. I was worried my distress call went out too late," Mia said, her voice breaking. Tears welled up in her eyes as she neared the bars.

After being freed from the table, the unknown freedwoman moved to the opposite side of the room, reaching through the bars to embrace what he suspected were her companions. Alistair was constantly prodded by Viv, who had wanted to leave her shard for a while now, but he still felt it was too dangerous. He froze for a moment and hurried toward the entrance, readying his weapon as he sensed two strong presences approaching. His Conceptual Awareness skill highlighted two individuals concealed in the shadows of the tunnel, similar to what Viv had done when he found her, indicating they were using either shadow or void magic to hide themselves.

Realizing Alistair had noticed them, they revealed themselves with raised hands. They wore black-dyed armor with Sol's insignia emblazoned on their chest. However, the usually golden-colored landmass of the insignia was colored in a dark blue like the rest of the eye, contrasted by the gray ocean, which was usually colored white. Alistair had only sensed them when they were almost upon them and noted that his Identify failed to penetrate their veil, though they failed to pierce his aura veil as well.

"We are here to save the hostages and dispose of Afrim, but it seems you were faster," the gruff voice of one of the newcomers rang out.

Alistair slightly lowered his poleaxe but was still poised to react. He was a little skeptical since they knew the name of the torturer and were unable to read their intentions or emotions due to their strong aura control and inability to read facial expressions as they wore closed helmets. Realizing their mistake, the other newcomer spoke up.

"Apologies, Mr. Ryser. The report of your presence reached us late, and by the time we reached the siege, you had already infiltrated the fortifications," A much more feminine voice rang out.

Her words calmed Alistair enough, and he stored his weapon and headed back towards Mia's barred cellblock, inspecting the runes engraved into the bars and rock floors, thankful they were of a similar make to the other bindings that had restrained the unknown woman to the table and not something more nefarious. Tracing the pathing of the runes to a panel at the end of the chamber. He cracked the panel, removing and storing the storage crystals, not looking at the two newcomers but keeping his senses trained on them.

"And who are you two? Sol's Blackops?" Alistair questioned as he turned back to the bars and ripped the cage door off its hinges. Alistair marveled at his own strength. The dump into the power stat had increased his strength by a not insignificant amount, and the action had taken much less effort than he had expected. Mia stepped out and embraced him. Her armor was damaged, and she was slightly shaky on her legs, but fortunately, she was not wounded.

"Yes, we are part of the Stygian Watch, specializing in sensitive deployments like this one," the female watch member said. She added gently, "We have the situation under control, so if you wish to leave, you are welcome to do so."

Alistair felt a wave of understanding and pity as she lifted her aura veil ever so slightly. Realizing his expression must have given his emotions away as he held Mia, he quickly composed himself, schooling his features into a neutral mask. He considered making his own helmet appear but decided against it. Rage simmered in the pit of his stomach, and he felt uncomfortable and angry, which must have shown on his face.

"How did you know the cambion's name?" Alistair asked evenly, scrutinizing the two for any reactions while dismissing her offer to leave.

"We received recordings of the ongoing fighting. Our Information Gathering Division identified him and sent us a dossier based on what we observed in the Ascendants Tournament. The two of us were chosen for our abilities to deal with the target."

Satisfied with the answer, Alistair asked another question, unwilling to leave these people vulnerable after promising to protect them. "I presume these are all the prisoners?"

"In this compound, yes. Now we only need to hold our position until the Felsenschild Order finishes with the rest of the scum above," she replied, her voice laced with undisguised disgust and anger.

Alistair sent King a message, giving him instructions to tell the rest of the Order they had secured the hostages and to do what he wanted with the syndicate members left above. It took only a few seconds before they heard King roar above, followed by the shaking of the ground despite their depth. Both of the operatives whipped their heads around, extending their senses as some of the prisoners shirked back.

"Don't worry, I just told my wyvern he is free to deal with the syndicate members as he sees fit," Alistair said unapologetically, the simmering rage in the pit of his stomach still boiling.

His words prompted a chuckle from the male operative. "Too bad I don't get to see that," the man said, his voice suggesting a grim smile under his helmet. Alistair disapproved of the man's attitude but suspected that people capable and willing to deal with this kind of situation were limited.

"You two can leave and assist upstairs. I'll stay until your fellow followers arrive to take over," Alistair offered.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

He watched as the two operatives turned their heads toward each other, likely communicating through some skill. Eventually, the female operative looked back at him.

"Thank you. We will move on since we have many more fires to put out. We are grateful for your assistance," she replied, offering a slight bow before both of them melded into the shadows and quickly disappeared.

It dawned on Alistair that his clan wasn't the only faction meticulously planning and organizing for their return and beyond; Sol's faction was impressively well-coordinated. Observing them, he admitted that he might have joined their ranks if he hadn't already had his own plans and faction. Yet, part of him still distrusted Sol and his intentions. Eventually, Mia let go so he could break the doors of the other cages. Despite the bars only being made of magically reinforced iron, he stored them to be melted down. They only had to wait a few minutes before a group of Sol's followers clad in crusader armor rounded the corner, joined by Remo, who also wore a set of armor with Sol's sigil. However, it lacked the insignia of the Felsenschild order.

Seeing Alistair and Mia, Remo hesitated for a brief moment before nodding at Alistair and embracing his sister. Alistair tried to enjoy the moment, though the circumstances and environment dampened his mood. After making sure his sister was alright, Remo turned to him, and they embraced each other in a hug.

Alistair looked his friend over and noted that he appeared much better than he had during the few matches observed in the tournament. Remo had looked like a wild man despite his hair not growing out of control, and he had worn self-made armor and clothing during the tournament. Alistair noticed that Remo still carried the axe the trial had given him. He would tell him about its value once they left this forsaken chamber.

"Thank you for saving my sister. I'm not sure if I can ever repay you," Remo said gratefully.

"Don't worry about it. Simon helped my mom. I won't be able to return that favor either," Alistair replied.

This put a sad expression on Remo's face. Alistair realized that his friend must have learned that most people had been able to enter the subspaces and coordinate with each other while he had been all by himself, at least as far as Alistair knew.

"Yeah, I heard you guys got to meet up and work together," Remo said wistfully.

Alistair shook his head and raised his hands placatingly. "Let's leave this dump first. We got a lot to talk about, and I'd rather not do it here."

His words relieved the other people still standing in the room with them, who felt too awkward to leave with him still sticking around talking, almost like waiting to receive his permission to act. When they finally left the fortification, he spotted King looking at a pile of bodies. He was sure he was considering eating them, but King had standing orders from Alistair not to eat enlightened species if he could help it. Alistair grabbed the leg of a lomie he had in storage as a snack for the wyvern and tossed it toward King, who eagerly snatched it out of the air.

Remo looked at him with disbelief. "Wait, that wyvern is with you? Just how strong are you?"

Alistair mulled over the question before answering. "Hard to say. Earth did extremely well in the Ascendant's Tournament, but I'm pretty sure I'm among the strongest people on the planet."

Many of the surrounding Crusaders awkwardly looked away, suggesting they hadn't clued Remo in on Alistair's status despite him joining their faction. Alistair was glad they hadn't used his friend to get closer to him by giving him an inflated rank or special treatment. He was invited to their nearby Enclave, and he watched as they formed a convoy mostly consisting of Hovercrafts and a handful of retrofitted vehicles that looked like buggies with weapon emplacements on top. Only half of those buggies still had wheels, and most of them deployed levitation magic. What impressed Alistair more were the jets that scouted ahead and provided them with cover from above. Alistair had stored King in his shard after the Crusaders had hesitantly offered to heal him after the fight. He talked with Remo during their drive until they arrived at the enclave and were shown a guest house for them to use for as long as they needed. Mia, on the other hand, was brought away with the other former prisoners to be taken care of by healers and psychiatrists. Once they entered the house, he let out Viv as she did not handle unknown people well. He had her wait in her shard until now. He could sense the cat's irritation and hesitation once he let her out. Eventually, she calmed down and cozied up on his lap as he and Remo sat at a large oak table.

As they continued talking about their time during the Trial, Alistair learned that his friend had discovered a handful of dungeons late into the year, and only a few had contained other people. Unfortunately, none of the rewards he found were keys he could use at the Sanctuaries to enter the many subspaces. Remo knew of the existence of a Hub but was completely unable to find any standout features that would reveal its location. His world had been an enormous forest with megafauna trees as large as skyscrapers with monsters living in networks within the massive trees. Climbing them hadn't helped much with orientation, and even after he figured out how to fly through trial and error, he hadn't been able to find any notable landmarks, only more dungeons.

Alistair pitied his friend's luck and told him about the value of his axe, hoping to lift his spirits. When Alistair eventually broached the topic of Remo joining them, his friend's expression turned apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Alistair, I can't join you. My entire family chose to remain on Earth and join Sol in the vision of a better future," Remo explained.

Alistair looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow and a slightly concerned expression.

"No, I haven't fallen for propaganda. The people here genuinely care. Does your faction have psychiatrists who can take care of Mia or me? Do they take in strangers, clothe them, and provide protection while not restraining their freedom?"

Hearing his friend had received such support made it hard to argue, but Alistair wanted to ensure Remo had the full picture.

"But you know the outsiders will likely invade Earth in the near future? You will be fighting for your life, and you and the rest of your family might very well die protecting Earth," Alistair cautioned.

"So I've been told. I know all that, but I still want to stay and help as much as I can. If worse comes to worst, I'm sure you'd still take us into your Safe Haven?" Remo replied with a cheeky smile.

Alistair scoffed. "Oh, only after you burned out your other options you want to crash on my proverbial couch,"

They laughed, and Alistair slapped his friend's shoulder. "Of course, I'll take you in. Just don't wait too long to call. I don't plan on settling nearby."

"I won't. Thank you, Alistair," Remo said, his expression serious.

After an awkward pause, Alistair chuckled. "Wish you weren't so fuckin' awkward, bud," he remarked, and they both grinned at each other.