Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

A thunderbolt even stronger than the one that attacked Aaron was moving towards his face.

“Move away!”

Aaron shouted at him to move away, but there was no place for Kairen to run.

CRAKKKK

BOMMMM

“Ack-”

The marble under the master cracked and shot up, resulting in the man losing balance and staggering forward. It wasn’t just the marble under the master but the upper layer of the floor all around them separated from the lower parts and the marbles all rushed towards the thunderbolt, to form a wall in between it and its two targets.

POWWW

.....

But they all turned to dust as soon as they touched the thunderbolt as if they were kids’ toys. The dust spread in the air, making it hard to see around. In the darkened and dusty area, a red light was glowing dangerously.

SLASH

Something quickly moved above Kairen’s head, cutting some strands of his light-brown hair on its path. The sparkling golden sword aura was shot towards the red thunderbolt. At the same time, dark barriers formed all around Kairen. The transparent black magic shields surrounded him one after another and layer after layer until they made Kairen’s surroundings even darker.

BOMMMMMMMMMM

The sword aura hit the thunderbolt. The thunderbolt shook slightly before it stopped moving for a brief second. The thunderbolt, which was stopped from moving, soon started to crackle and glow.

ZAAAAPPP

BANGGGGGGG

And it was shot forward even faster and fiercer than before, shattering the sword aura to pieces on its path and breaking the shields as if they were nothing.

Reyan, Alan, and Serria’s combined attacks didn’t even manage to stop the thunderbolt for two seconds.

‘They are about to explode!’

The roaring energy inside the bombs was going wild, just like Kairen’s beating heart. He knew that there was not much time left, maybe less than ten seconds.

ZZZZZ

Kairen moved his hand forward and opened his palm. A small, tiny, white thunderbolt was jumping around inside his palm. The thunderbolt was not comparable to the red thunderbolt that was about to hit them, but he couldn’t create a stronger one while also forming the shield. The white thunderbolt jumped out of his palm and bounced towards the red one.

And in less than a second...

BANGGGGGG

The two of them collided just before the red thunderbolt could hit Aaron.

“Huh-”

BOMMMMMMMMM

A huge explosion accrued as soon as the two thunderbolts hit each other. An explosion so bit that it shook the whole floor. The ground where they were standing shattered and the floor under Kairen’s body bent down.

“Wah-”

Kairen grabbed the railing, but even the railing was breaking down. Aaron, who was just inches away from the explosion, was sent away by the impact and was rolling on the ground.

CRAAAKKK

The floor bent down even more.

“Whoa!”

“Gah!”

Kairen, as well as the master, both stumbled on the crumbling floor, barely preventing themselves from falling down by grabbing onto the railing.

“Kairen!”

Kairen heard a shout from down below. Sending a quick glance there, he could see that the only one left in there was team leader Dains, who was looking up at him with a worried face and was about to run towards him.

“Cough... Huff...”

He glanced forward. His brother was weakly raising his body up. His head was bleeding, a wound that was not there just a few seconds ago, and his eyes looked a little bit dazed.

‘Did I do that?’

Kairen bit his lips as he glanced at Aaron worriedly. He had injured his brother... His heart almost stopped a beat... His wound was not serious, right?

“Uh...”

Aaron blinked several times and shook his head while raising his body and glancing around. His blank eyes were slowly getting focused once again.

“STOP!”

Kairen heard another voice from behind. It was Alan’s voice this time. As soon as he said that, the half-crumbled ground stopped shaking and breaking down. Just when Kairen was about to heave a sigh of relief-

QWUACKKKK

BOMMMMMMM

The remnants of the two thunderbolts hit each other again before both of them exploded. Red and golden-silver cracks burst from their explosion and moved in every direction.

But more importantly.

BANGGGGGG

The barely-standing floor also shattered to pieces at the same time. At least, the part where Kairen was standing.

“Uh-”

Kairen felt his body floating. No. He was falling.

“Ren!”

Aaron shouted and moved forward despite his body bleeding all over. He reached out his hand but his little brother was too far away from him and was already falling down.

Kairen also reached his hand out after seeing Aaron, but he knew that he could never reach him. His back hit the barrier he had created and passed through it. The shield was thick, but even that couldn’t prevent his fall.

Just in the brief second when his body was falling down from the edge of the floor, his eyes landed on something. No. On someone. A white-haired bastard who was barely standing on a rod or iron on the floor that was still not broken.

‘This...’

Kairen moved his reached-out hand.

‘This piece of shit!’

And grabbed the edge of the bastard’s long white hair.

“Huh?”

He then pulled his hand back. The bastard lost his balance, slipped his feet, and fell down from the iron rod he was standing on.

“You piece of-”

He couldn’t finish his words as he hit Kairen’s barrier with his face.

‘Damn! I’ll die if I fall from this high!’

Wait.

‘Will I die from falling or will I die from the explosion?’

The roaring energy couldn’t be held back anymore. It was about to burst. It was about to explode.

“Kairen!”

He heard team leader Dains’ sound again. He could see the man running towards him from the corner of his eyes.

‘What the hell is he doing?’

Just when he was having that thought...

“Stop and come back here!”

He heard another voice. A familiar voice.

And two hands came out of the portal at that moment, grabbed the team leader’s shoulders, who had stopped moving as soon as he heard that sentence but still seemed unwilling to go back, and pulled him back. The team leader struggled to get away, but he was eventually pulled inside the portal.

‘Ho! That bastard commander can be helpful at times!’

“REN!”

ONNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

The weapons were booming.

.....

“REN!”

And his brother was screaming his name while still reaching out his hand toward him. He was leaning down from the edge of the floor. Once he saw he couldn’t reach Kairen, he stood up and... Jumped down?

“What the hell are you-”

But before Aaron’s feet left the ground, or before he could even jump, something strange happened.

‘Huh...’

Kairen, who was falling down at a rapid speed, felt his speed slowing down. It wasn’t only his speed, but he felt everything slow down. His fall, his brother’s movements, the burst of energy inside the bombs, everything had slowed down.

And at that moment, he saw something. Something very familiar.

Ssssss

A light.

A tiny sphere of light. A sphere of gray light, floating on the tip of his nose.

The light shook, moved away from him, and circled around his body.

Sssss

Sssss

Sssss

Kairen looked up. In the slowed world before his eyes, there was only one thing that wasn’t slowed. The gray light.

And also

The threads of gray light.

Swosh

SSSS

Swosh

Several threads appeared above his head. They all moved higher and higher until they reached someone else, who was also looking at the gray lights with a shocked face.

In front of Aaron’s shocked and panicked face, the threads, the threads of fate, circled around his limps before pulling him back.

“Huh-”

Aaron glanced at the seemingly weak threads with wide eyes as his body got pulled back by those tiny things.

“Wha-”

He lost his balance and fell to his knees, moved his arms, used his power, and pushed forward with all his might, but the threads didn’t let go of him.

‘Oh...’

Kairen’s lips formed an ‘O’.

‘He can’t jump down...’

His brother, who looked to be about to cry, could only reach out one of his hands toward Kairen.

“RENN!”

‘That’s good...’

A question emerged in his mind.

‘Why didn’t the thread of fate... pull me up...’

There was no way for him to find his answer.

ONGGGGGGGGGGGGG

And at the same moment, in the slowed version of the world that he was feeling, he sensed something below him snap.

Everything under him burst.

BOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Pure white light brightened the area gradually, an intense heat came up from below, and an unimaginable pain engulfed his whole body.

“REN!”

His brother was still outside the shield. He would be fine, right? His shield would protect him, right?

At that moment, when the slowed time was gradually fading and the white light was blinding his sight, Kairen, for some reason, was reminded of something.

A phrase he had read in a notebook.

No.

Maybe a scene he had seen in one of his hazy dreams.

A phrase, that wasn’t unfamiliar to him anymore.

[I don’t know when... or where... I was there... A hand... reached out towards me... chaos... it was collapsing... I felt that... it hurt so much ...]

“Hah!”

A chuckle left his mouth and-

BBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Everything went white.