The three scouts of Alec scraped across the marble in their glowing shackles, the metal hissing against the cold floor while their heavy breathing was the only noise inside the Divine Plain. Faustus remained motionless in his chair; his fingers rested on the armrest, while his gaze stayed strictly focused on the subtle currents of time pulsating invisibly around the king.
“Wait a second,” Faustus spoke suddenly, his voice mechanically low as he slowly stood up, looking the king straight in the eyes: “You control time? So… if something happens to us here, you can rewind everything to a few seconds ago?”
King Solomon furrowed his eyebrows, his gaze questioning and deep: “Yes… but what in the world does that have to do with them? Oh!” Solomon stopped talking abruptly. His pupils narrowed, and synchronously with Abysia’s eyes, a dangerous, gleaming light began to flicker in his look. An extremely sinister, broad smile slid across the king’s face. He exchanged a look of pure mutual understanding with Faustus, giving a barely perceptible nod with his head: “Oh… I understand you.”
Without giving another warning, reality snapped! Faustus materialized with a dull thud right above the prisoners, as the purple, syrupy energy of the void hurled him forward with immense acceleration! It was as if gravity were being bent on the spot. He struck the scouts full force with his bare hands, grabbing their armor and pulling them apart with brute, raw physical force, causing the marble beneath them to shatter into thousands of shards with a loud crack! Blood and metal flashed through the air!
King Solomon immediately raised his right hand, squeezing his fingers together with a sharp jerk. Space glitched! A hissing, rewinding sound echoed, as if the world were a stuttering film reel, and time abruptly turned back. The shards flew back into the floor, the blood vanished, and the three scouts sat once again completely unharmed, yet deathly pale, shivering in mortal terror inside their glowing chains.
“Again,” Solomon spoke with a cold, emotionless grin.
Once more, Faustus flashed forward, leaving a trail of purple void. Through the pure psychological terror of the repeated executions, the scouts began spitting wildly, screaming information; their voices turned hoarse and broken. But the most crucial details, the core of Alec’s plan, they kept nervously holding back every single time.
Until Faustus had enough! His entire form became coated in a thick, rippling layer of pure void energy that simply sucked in the surrounding light. He began moving so absurdly fast that he seemed to appear in multiple places in the room at once! These were no simple afterimages; the purple phantoms stood everywhere around the scouts, as if he had sliced up space itself!
King Solomon stared at the spectacle with wide eyes, his royal composure now completely shattered, as his breath caught in his throat:
This… I know this from the forbidden books… the lost legends of the Slingerman,
the king thought, as shivers ran down his spine. Out loud, he only brought out in a hoarse voice: “And now he says…”
The real Faustus appeared high above the scouts, suspended in midair while the darkness around him imploded!
“Let me fill your void!” he introduced his attack, his voice now an echoing double sound that went straight through bone and marrow!
With an all-devouring void dash, he shot like a dark meteor straight at the scouts, ready to clash straight through their bodies, tearing their souls apart! The pure destructive power and air pressure were so immense that right before the fatal impact, the scouts completely collapsed under the terror of death!
“THE UNIVERSITY! THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE JOURNEY! ALEC KNOWS EVERYTHING!” they screamed frantically, their voices yelling for mercy as they threw their arms over their faces!
Faustus slammed all his kinetic energy to a halt with a loud, bone-dry bang! The shockwave rattled the chains, stopping exactly one centimeter above their faces; the hard gust of wind from his stop blew their hair straight back! He remained motionless, suspended in the air, his purple eyes glowing in the twilight. The crucial information had been secured.
Behind the backs of Silarias, Nyx, and the rest of the startled group, the contours of the transport portals were already lighting up with a loud hum, ready to divert them definitively to the University. But before the light completely swallowed them, the scene shifted down to the stone square in the great city below.
The atmosphere on the square was oppressive and awkward. The thousands of residents stood gathered in dense crowds, desperate to party, celebrating the new alliance, but fear was still buried far too deep in their bones. Everyone held back, whispering, looking around skittishly, completely overwhelmed by the presence of the terrifying speed demons who kept moving through the streets with revving energy. The suspicion was so thick that no one dared to take a step, until the silence was suddenly broken by the fast pattering of tiny feet on the cobblestones!
A small child came running up fast with a broad, toothless smile, straight through the armed lines of the soldiers, heading right for Shrimpy!
“Look, Mr. Shrimpy! I made this because you helped my parents back then!” the child called out enthusiastically in a clear voice, holding up a somewhat crooked, handmade miniature doll of Shrimpy.
The ice on the massive square broke instantly! Shrimpy looked completely surprised for a moment at the small, cloth doll in the tiny hands, dropped his stern, dangerous glare, and broke into a soft, warm laugh. With a fluid, effortless motion, he picked the child up by her waist, lifted her high into the air, and set her down securely onto his neck!
That was the exact starting signal the entire square had been waiting for! The celebration erupted in absolute, wild intensity! The heavy drums swelled, the magical torches flashed in every color across the stone walls, and the thousands of residents lowered all their weapons. All the different factions, races, and rival warriors who previously could have drunk each other’s blood were now standing shoulder to shoulder in pure peace and boisterous joy; dancing, drinking, and laughing together, savoring the final moments of absolute unity before the gates to the University would close for good.
The portals hummed with a vibrating, golden glow, as the transition officially set in. Nyx stepped across the threshold onto the square first, followed directly by Aurelius, Apollo, Lyn, Lila, Faustus, and Jane. Nicola walked right behind them, about to set foot on the stones of the city, when he abruptly stopped, looking around. His administrative brain immediately raised an alarm: Miki and Ren were missing! Without hesitating, he turned around, walking at a swift pace back into the portal, straight back inside the Divine Plain.
He passed Silarias, who was just about to shake the hands of King Solomon and Queen Abysia as a formal goodbye, but was instead pulled into an awkwardly tight, royal hug by both of them! Nicola ignored the spectacle, shouting through the hall with a cracking voice: “Miki and Ren, come on! We are leaving now!!”
No answer came, but the floor beneath his feet suddenly began to vibrate violently! It started as a light tremor, but the shocks grew heavier by the second. The vibrations pounded right through the marble foundation! Nicola looked up, startled, terrified of a sudden collapse of the space, until he saw the true cause looming in the distance.
Miki came running up with a broad, ear-to-ear grin, seated stably on the back of the queen’s grotesque, giant cat! Right behind her, Ren thundered forward, holding on tightly to the neck of Toji, the colossal three-headed dog! Nicola was scared completely out of his wits by the approaching masses of teeth, claws, and pure muscle, gesturing wildly with his hands: “Ehh… down! Stay! Quiet!!”
To his absolute, stunned amazement, the two mythical creatures responded immediately to his command! The cat and Toji stopped with a roaring emergency brake right in front of his nose, setting Miki and Ren down unharmed on the ground with a soft motion. But instead of turning around, the massive predators now walked slowly up to Nicola himself! Nicola froze completely. He could do nothing but extend a trembling arm out of reflex, convinced his hand was about to be bitten off on the spot!
Silarias, who had just been loosened from the embrace, walked casually up to him alongside King Solomon and Abysia to escort him: “Don’t worry, man,” Silarias laughed, giving Nicola a firm pat on his shoulder. “They just want to have fun too!”
The massive cat approached first, purring loudly like a revving engine, sliding her soft flank smoothly past Nicola’s outstretched hand before calmly walking on. Toji, however, had a completely different greeting in mind! The gigantic dog stepped forward, replacing Nicola’s fear with pure bewilderment, as all three heads simultaneously lashed out with their giant, wet tongues!
Within a second, Nicola stood there soaking wet, dripping from head to toe with thick dog slobber, while right beside him, Silarias was in the exact same state! King Solomon looked grinning at the two drenched warriors, nodding with amusement: “Just like old times!” the king joked, which immediately caused Abysia’s thoughts to passionately wander off to completely wrong, spicy memories; her gaze dreamily fixed in the distance.
Miki and Ren stood watching dryly, crossing their arms, looking at the two rulers questioningly: “Oh, wait a minute… That is how Jane and Nyx were looking just now too,” Ren noted with a tilted glance. “Are you guys tired now as well?”
Solomon and Abysia blinked dryly a few times at the total innocence of the two children. Before any more awkward questions could follow, the king and queen raised their hands, laughing, and swept the entire remaining crew through the portals with a magical wave: “Too young, hahaha!” The booming laugh of the king echoed in the background, slowly fading away as the gate closed behind them.
With a loud plof, they arrived dripping with slobber onto the stone square of the city! The wild festivities and the loud music of the crowd fell dead silent the moment they saw their wet, slimy forms! A deathly, uncomfortable silence settled over the square.
Nyx took a step forward, examining the dripping pair with raised eyebrows, sighing deeply: “I do not even want to know, do I?”
Silarias immediately chimed in with a tired grin: “Yeah, you really do not want to know! Dog slobber… so I need to get straight back into the ba—”
Before he could even finish his sentence, something sparked in Nyx’s brain! She seized the opportunity as if her life depended on it, interrupting him with a voice just a little too enthusiastic: “Yes, Sil! Of course I have to help you! You cannot possibly oversee this on your own?!”
Silarias looked at her with a completely dry, emotionless stare: “What… shower? Or what exactly do you mean?”
His confusion was abruptly cut short when Aurelius came flying through the air like a human projectile at immense speed, thrown full force on top of Silarias! The two crashed to the ground with a dull thud! From the corner where Aurelius had been launched, a heavily distorted, grumbling voice sounded right away. It was Aurelius, lying on the ground, complaining, mimicking Jane in a sharp undertone regarding how she could have delivered it: “WOAHH! WHO DOES THAT AGAIN?!”
All eyes on the square turned synchronously toward the source of the sound, where Jane stood looking with an innocent expression, her hands on her hips: “Yeah, right? Who does that?” she repeated dryly, after which her gaze fell upon the scrambling, grumbling Aurelius: “But what do I see there, Aurelius?”
Aurelius leaped up as if bitten by a snake, his eyes wide with panic as he saw her look: “NOOO! NOOO…!” he screamed out, after which he turned around, fleeing with revving speed full into the partying crowd to escape the approaching storm!
The bystanders looked at Jane with a mix of awe and amusement, as someone called out out loud: “Men, right, haha! BOAA!!”
Jane did not care in the slightest; she grinned broadly and snapped her electric whip out with a loud crack! The gleaming, crackling energy line shot with lethal precision straight into the dense crowd! As the whip sought its path, she walked with a calm, confident stride behind Nyx and Silarias, heading toward the heavy wooden doors of the bastion.
Right as they were about to cross the threshold, a hard, brute yank at the line sounded behind them! Aurelius, who thought he was safely merged into the mass, was dragged backward out of the crowd by his ankle at breakneck speed, scraping over the stone floor! Jane did not even look back, pulling him along mockingly, shouting in a loud voice: “Aurelius, please, would you like to go take a bath for a moment?!”
“ABSOLUTELY, JANE! WE WILL DO THAT! BUT NOO!!” Aurelius screamed during his involuntary ride across the cobblestones, after which the pair vanished for good behind the closing doors of the bastion.
Miki and Ren were still standing on the square, looking at Nicola with large, questioning eyes: “Huh? Are they tired now as well?” Miki asked, confused. “Nyx’s parents were acting just as weird a moment ago!”
Nicola immediately panicked upon hearing that remark, placing a finger over his lips at lightning speed, hissing forcefully: “Shh! Quiet now!”
Outside on the square, the music quickly swelled back up, and the party erupted in full force! Everyone danced, drank, and celebrated their reclaimed freedom; the reunited city was happy, and the different factions stood closer together than ever before in history! The peace was tangible, and the solidarity grand; yet deep within the shadows beyond the walls, the clock ticked mercilessly onward.
The city celebrated its freedom as if the war were over.
The grand chapter of the ward had officially drawn to a close, its trials survived and its bonds forged in fire. But somewhere, far beyond the borders of the alliance, the berserker was already taking his next step!
The safe haven was behind them now. A far larger, darker world was calling.
The University awaited.