The Author's POV

[Ashton city, Earth.]

Whiiish—!

Coming out of the pocket dimension, Liam and Han Yufei were rather disoriented. The sudden change in environment confused them for a moment, and the fact that they hadn't been back on earth for over five years didn't help with the situation.

"Are we back?"

"It looks like it."

The familiar city streets, the pillars in the faraway distance, the serene blue sky… they were truly back.

Not that they had seen the Pillars before...

Liam sighed in relief, but he didn't get to enjoy the relief for very long. All of a sudden, the ground trembled, and one of the skyscrapers near them collapsed.

BOOOM—! Something crashed against several of the buildings as they collapsed.

They were taken aback when, after turning their heads to look at the structures, they noticed a familiar figure off in the distance.

Liam was able to identify them in an instant, as evidenced by the sudden yellow glow that emanated from his eyes, and he quickly disappeared from the spot.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Appearing right above the skyscraper, Liam could hear Han Yufei's voice in the far distance, but he didn't particularly care and cocked his head.

"Do you need help?"

Bang—!

Crashing against the wall, Emma looked up and glared at Liam.

"What do you t—Akh!"

KWAAANG—! Crossing her daggers, she barely managed to block the demon's claw. Groaning, she nudged her head several times. As if trying to tell Liam to get on with it.

Cracka! Cracka!

Good thing that Liam got the message, and lightning crackled around him.

The demon that was on top of Emma immediately froze on the spot, and Liam appeared behind it. He slashed his hand across the demon's thigh as his eyes took on a yellowish tinge and began to shine even more brightly than before.

That's where he felt the core was.

"Huek!"

That was about it for the demon. Just one move from Liam was all it took, and its entire body turned to dust.

"Thank… haaa.. you."

Catching her breath, Emma sighed in relief.

Upon closer observation, Liam realized that Emma's complexion was rather bad. Her face was pale, and her head was covered in sweat.

Thinking about the demon that he had just defeated, his expression turned strange.

"You were struggling with just that?"

Actually, now that he took a closer look at her, she seemed different from how she normally was. He hadn't spent much time with her, so he wasn't too sure, but… she seemed a little wilder.

If that made any sense.

"Do… hhaaa… do you really think that's the only… haaa.. demon that I was up against?"

Catching her breath, she pointed toward the distance, and that was when Liam finally noticed. A street littered with demon corpses.

It was a sight to behold, and his mouth instantly shut.

"That's fair enough."

"No shit…. Haa… I'm fucking tired."

Well, he could tell. The fact that speaking made her this tired was a great testament to that.

"Want a potion?"

He offered her a potion as an apology, but she rejected him right away.

"I'm good."

"Well, suit yourself."

Putting the potion away, Han Yufei suddenly appeared beside them. With his broadsword on his back, he gazed at the streets hidden behind the skyscraper and put up a thumbs up.

"Wow, impressive."

"Thank you."

own potions and gulping it down. Her chest started to level at that point, and her breath

expression suddenly changed, and his head snapped upwards, toward the

"What's wrong?"

Liam's expression, Han Yufei and Emma looked at

respond to them and continued to stare at the sky for a good couple of seconds before his eyes suddenly shone with a brilliant hue of yellow that

"Liam?"

them, but his

way to contact

lazy and lethargic, had an unusual seriousness to it that made both Han Yufei and Emma look at each other

Han Yufei was

of a way to

"Okay."

Liam nodded his head.

him and tell him that he is

"He?"

"Yeah… he."

***

WOOOM—!

"…"

of the dimensional

at the world around them without

they'd wittinesses inside of

"Are you…"

who eventually broke the silence as she turned to face

words, and sensing the attention she

"I'm fine."

At least, that was what she tried

was that

witnessed… it wasn't

be done and she deserved it…

Someone she looked up to despite

you sure you're

her ears, and when she turned, she saw a face she hadn't seen

"I'm fine."

She smiled at Smallsnake.

believe you for

but it was good that he let the topic

"What are we sup—"

Hein? I can feel your communication;

a familiar voice that echoed from Ava's

moment he heard

"Ryan?"

raised her watch and brought it to her

"Ryan, is that you?"

I'm the only one th… ah, no never

"Ryan?

to Ava. It was there that

"…"

"Ryan?"

called out once more, hoping that he

"…"

as he was about to try

this some sort of sick joke? What are you guys trying to pull?

clear anger in his voice as he spoke, and when Smallsnake heard his words,

still

and his head moved closer to

screen, and a projection appeared in front of him. Turning the camera on, Smallsnake waved,

had a lot of things he wanted to say to him... He had changed a lot in appearance since the last time he saw him; he had become an adult, and looking at how disheveled his appearance was, he knew that he must've

grown up a

came out of his mouth

started with something else, but his appearance was what reminded him of how times

"…"

other side, Ryan's expression froze, and when his gaze met Smallsnake's, his eyes blinked several times until, eventually, droplets of water streaked past

continued to wipe at whatever was falling, his expression

"Huuu."

face with his hands, he hoarsely

time that you left, I am approximately the same age as you

"Ah… I see…"

smiled, his lips trembling

age, huh… I, sure missed

"Yeah… yeah you did."

***

an unknown

Buildings crumbled, ecosystems were torn apart, and the ground was shredded into

slicing at the enemies with such utter precision that they didn't even have the time to

Thump—!

black threads would spike out from the point between his foot and the ground, shooting directly at the demons near

he was now at a level where only Prince