In Center City, the day after the Hell gate formed, Ofia woke up in the castle which had been completely repaired by Chulainn who had also left the moment he finished.
Ofia joined with her sister and headed to the kitchen of the castle. Her family always took lunches and dinner there. After all, going to the official dining hall was too much for lunch with the family.
When the two sisters arrived in the kitchen, they sat down at the table. That big kitchen was filled with some old tools, at least from a modern person's view, but at the same time, there were many useful magic tools that could make boil and prepare ingredients in a particular way very easily. There were also special ingredients coming from magic beasts and rare creatures.
It was only after a few minutes that the king and the queen joined their daughters. The older brothers were absent today.
"Father, where are Kyle and Jerio?" Lena asked.
The king sighed as he started digging in the breakfast the maids served him. "Essentially, your brothers went to scout.”
"Scout? What?" Ofia inquired, she was a bit confused.
"The one who hired Ojure Karez in the first place was Heriz’s king of the neighbor continent. Kyle and Jerio should currently be meeting with him. Kyle teleported there along with a hundred soldiers.”
"Isn't that a bit too precarious?" Ofia frowned and remarked.
"It should be fine. Kyle is himself at the tenth level, Jerio isn't weak, and of course, I sent Elion and Gand to accompany them," The king reassured her.
Ofia started pondering. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this. Elion and Gand are respectively the strongest knight and mage in Central City. Normally, they should have no problem getting away if something were to happen.
Ofia sighed, she finished her meal quickly then bowed to her parents. "I’m slightly worried so I will take my leave now," She declared and left. Lena looked blankly at her then started eating her breakfast at high speed. She followed her sister afterward.
"Don't tell me she is going to ask that guy…" The king muttered and the queen chuckled.
"They have a good teacher. Don't you think so?" She smiled and said. The king snorted and silently continued his meal.
***************************************
Ofia immediately went to the PA with Lena. When they arrived there, they stumbled upon Melody and Balan who were training together. Those two were pretty close since the 'spar' with Arima. They also made the best combo. One used gravity and the other protected her and attacked at the same time with space, they were the most homogenous duo of the class.
"Do you know where teacher is?" Ofia asked them.
"Yes, I saw him earlier. He went together with Miss Velvet to the teachers' reunion," Balan responded and mused. "They should be almost done, it was twenty minutes ago."
"Thank you," Ofia slightly bowed then walked toward the teacher's hall. When she arrived, the teachers were already exiting the reunion room and Arima got out with Velvet talking to him.
Ofia and Lena patiently waited until Velvet left. Arima sighed in relief then walked to the two sisters when he spotted them.
"That woman is annoying, I don't know if she's trying to get close to me or just being nice. But her way of talking makes me feel like I would be the bad person if I pushed her away. And she's a teacher, I'm bad when it concerns them…" He suddenly started complaining.
"Why don't you just accept her as a friend?" Chulainn, who still was on his shoulder, asked.
"It's not like I can't…but I don't wanna," He replied and Chulainn raised an eyebrow.
"Have you ever dated someone?" He suddenly inquired and Arima glanced at him.
"Yes, I have," He simply answered. "I had someone I love."
"Sorry," Chulainn shrugged after hearing the response and apologized.
The two sisters listened awkwardly but they were also very curious about what Arima just mentioned. "Anyway, why are you here?" The latter finally addressed them and listened to Ofia as they made their way toward the classroom.
"My father sent Kyle and Jerio to Heriz to meet the king who hired Ojure Karez and possibly find out his motives. But my father didn't send them there to officialize a conflict but to stop it before it begins," She explained as she followed Arima around the school.
"I see," Arima nodded. "Now that I think about it, I still don't know why that guy had to be hired to create a gate. Do you have an idea?" The last part was directed at Chulainn.
"I don't know. Maybe he needed time to subdue the power he stole from Hell and just took the right occasion to use the resources of a kingdom," The Hellhound replied.
Arima hummed and gazed at the two sisters. "So? Why are you telling me this?"
"I actually have a bad feeling about this. I know it's only personal, but I can't cast that thought away. I wanted to ask teacher for help. I can't teleport to Heriz by myself," She earnestly said and Arima pondered.
He stopped just in front of his classroom and glanced at Ofia. He then stepped inside and looked around. "Hey, Arister, stop flirting and come here for a second," He spoke to Arister who was chatting with Ferzia.
When he heard Arima calling him, Arister froze and awkwardly separated from Ferzia. He approached Arima with a bitter expression. "What is it?"
"The king who hired you to kill her and her brother, do you remember him?" Arima went straight to the point.
Arister's eyes widened a bit and glanced at Ofia who was apparently not moved by what Arima just said. She apparently knew that the man Arima had let go before was him. "Yeah, of course."
"Then, do you think he's someone who would backstab two princes who came to negotiate with him?" Arima questioned and Arister was stunned at first.
"Well," He raised his voice after a few seconds. "He totally would do it," He casually affirmed and the two princesses paled. When Arister saw that, that he slightly panicked. "Wait, you were talking about an actual situation?"
"Kinda," Arima nodded and Arister expression twitched. "In any case, for my students’ sake, I'll go there really quick. Take care of the first period in my stead. It shouldn't take long to resolve this situation," Arima stated and closed his eyes. "Heriz…where was that again?" He mumbled.
He had actually memorized the map of the entire planet whilst training in the other dimension. By overlapping his spiritual sense and the map he had, he could easily pinpoint the emplacement of any location on the planet.
"Cool, I located the auras of your brothers. They're still alive at least," Arima uttered and Ofia could only smile wryly but Lena still looked anxious. Arima snapped his fingers and he instantly teleported Ofia and Lena with him.
Arister stared at the empty space with a deadpan face. "What am I supposed to teach them?"
"What are you talking about?” Night entered the classroom with Karma and Lanya and asked Arister when he heard his mutters. “…and why do I feel Arima's presence tens of thousands of miles away?"
Arister stared at Night for a moment then his expression brightened for some reason. Night frowned, it was rare to see this kind of expression from this gloomy guy.
Ten minutes later, Arister was sitting next to Ferzia while Night was standing in front of everyone, apparently, to hold the lecture. He was so frustrated that his canines grew like a vampire’s and his eyes glowed. The students were dead silent as they felt the temperature rise.
Meanwhile, Karma was laughing and even Lanya was holding her laughter back.
***************************************
Kyle and Jerio were meeting with the king of Heriz in a private room. The latter actually looked amiable and spoke to them calmly. But at some point, Elion suddenly appeared inside the room and stood in front of the princes whilst glaring at the king.
"What's wrong?" Kyle’s eyebrows furrowed.
"I can't transfer away and my connection with Gand has been severed. It's the same thing with the magic circuits. Please, try it for yourself. It was so faint that I almost failed to notice it," Elion explained without looking away from the king.
Kyle and Jerio both tried to gather mana but failed to do so. They both stood up and scowled at the king. "What did you do?"
The king pulled out a grey orb and placed it on a table. "Haven't you heard about the lectures of your city's star? This orb is something that’s becoming quite popular," He smirked.
"This is a device capable of cutting off the link with magic circuits. But of course, it only works when the targets within range cannot prepare themselves for it and it’s definitely not restrictive enough to prevent the use of magic. That mercenary, the Kind Demon, appears to have taken precautions so that his theories wouldn’t break the balance. So, my researchers could only make this magic tool. But it’s already enough."
Kyle clicked his tongue and tried to teleport away but he didn’t seem to be able to connect to the surrounding spatial energy.
"Your majesty, this is not only a problem with the magic circuits. We're in a parallel dimension, and a very restrictive one at that," Elion answered to everyone's doubts.
The king chuckled. "Karez didn't cooperate with me ultimately, but he left me something when I asked for it." He summoned a sort of black staff in his hand and lifted it. "Thanks to this, I can make this kind of dimension once a day, for two hours."
A cold light flashed past Elion's eyes as his aura destroyed the room and pressed the king against the floor. "What do you think you can do to us with your strength anyway?"
The king grinned. "I do not need to fight you," He laughed and grasped the ominous staff. It glowed with a dark light and the king's body began to phase as some parts of his body became transparent.
But inexplicably, the light suddenly dimmed and the kind's body returned to normal. The king looked in shock at his body then the staff. He couldn't use it anymore and there was even a crack on it
"Seriously, what is this messy dimension?" A voice resounded strongly in the room and the princes froze. Elion trembled and turned around. Only the king didn't recognize the voice at that moment.
He looked toward the source of the voice and saw a man nonchalantly resting on one of the chairs. Behind him were two young girls who rushed to their brothers’ side.
"Who are you?" The king asked with a grave tone.
"Haven't you heard of me? You were being so cocky while speaking of how you exploited my theories just earlier. " Arima stood up and slowly walked toward the king, step by step.
The king quivered and pointed the staff at Arima. The latter smiled and waved his hand. The staff snapped in two and dropped on the ground.
"Do you really think Karez would give you something powerful enough to beat me?" Arima sneered and glanced at the broken tool. "This staff's main usage is presumably to bring someone in another dimension then collapse the link so that the people inside do not ever escape except the caster. I guess you were plotting to make use of this and turn all of this into a hostage case."
"But that crude thing has no effect on me whatsoever and your little orb isn't even enough to sever my connection with magic circuits even if I let my defenses down," Arima declared as he grabbed the king's head.
"Wait!" Kyle shouted but it was too late.
"[Fifth Black Art, Penitentia conspiciunt] (Penance Stare)," Arima chanted and the king screamed from the top of his lungs. When Arima released him, he had long been knocked unconscious. Arima looked through the memories he collected and shook his head.
"Pathetic," He said and crushed the rest of the staff and snapped his fingers. The dimension broke down and an old man barged inside the room. His clothes were dirty and torn and his expression was filled with urgency. But when he looked around, he became extremely puzzled.
Arima shrugged and turned toward Ofia. "Your intuition was good, or you could say that you were lucky."
"You’re done?" Chulainn's inquisitive voice echoed and everyone looked down and saw a small pup walking there. He actually had stayed behind when Arima went inside the parallel dimension.
"It’s mostly done, yeah. At least, my job is. Ofia, Lena, come back to the PA after your business here is settled," Arima said whilst pointing at the king lying on the floor. He then triggered his sigil and disappeared just after Chulainn jumped on his shoulder.
"…Who was that?" The old man, Gand, asked. He had been battling hundreds of guards of Heriz when he realized that it was a trap. Behind him, you could barely see some people rolling in pain. He had done his best to rush here. But then he witnessed this scene. It was no wonder he was perplexed.
Everyone glanced at him and sighed.
In Center City, the day after the Hell gate formed, Ofia woke up in the castle which had been completely repaired by Chulainn who had also left the moment he finished.
Ofia joined with her sister and headed to the kitchen of the castle. Her family always took lunches and dinner there. After all, going to the official dining hall was too much for lunch with the family.
When the two sisters arrived in the kitchen, they sat down at the table. That big kitchen was filled with some old tools, at least from a modern person's view, but at the same time, there were many useful magic tools that could make boil and prepare ingredients in a particular way very easily. There were also special ingredients coming from magic beasts and rare creatures.
It was only after a few minutes that the king and the queen joined their daughters. The older brothers were absent today.
"Father, where are Kyle and Jerio?" Lena asked.
The king sighed as he started digging in the breakfast the maids served him. "Essentially, your brothers went to scout.”
"Scout? What?" Ofia inquired, she was a bit confused.
"The one who hired Ojure Karez in the first place was Heriz’s king of the neighbor continent. Kyle and Jerio should currently be meeting with him. Kyle teleported there along with a hundred soldiers.”
"Isn't that a bit too precarious?" Ofia frowned and remarked.
"It should be fine. Kyle is himself at the tenth level, Jerio isn't weak, and of course, I sent Elion and Gand to accompany them," The king reassured her.
Ofia started pondering. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this. Elion and Gand are respectively the strongest knight and mage in Central City. Normally, they should have no problem getting away if something were to happen.
Ofia sighed, she finished her meal quickly then bowed to her parents. "I’m slightly worried so I will take my leave now," She declared and left. Lena looked blankly at her then started eating her breakfast at high speed. She followed her sister afterward.
"Don't tell me she is going to ask that guy…" The king muttered and the queen chuckled.
"They have a good teacher. Don't you think so?" She smiled and said. The king snorted and silently continued his meal.
***************************************
Ofia immediately went to the PA with Lena. When they arrived there, they stumbled upon Melody and Balan who were training together. Those two were pretty close since the 'spar' with Arima. They also made the best combo. One used gravity and the other protected her and attacked at the same time with space, they were the most homogenous duo of the class.
"Do you know where teacher is?" Ofia asked them.
"Yes, I saw him earlier. He went together with Miss Velvet to the teachers' reunion," Balan responded and mused. "They should be almost done, it was twenty minutes ago."
"Thank you," Ofia slightly bowed then walked toward the teacher's hall. When she arrived, the teachers were already exiting the reunion room and Arima got out with Velvet talking to him.
Ofia and Lena patiently waited until Velvet left. Arima sighed in relief then walked to the two sisters when he spotted them.
"That woman is annoying, I don't know if she's trying to get close to me or just being nice. But her way of talking makes me feel like I would be the bad person if I pushed her away. And she's a teacher, I'm bad when it concerns them…" He suddenly started complaining.
"Why don't you just accept her as a friend?" Chulainn, who still was on his shoulder, asked.
"It's not like I can't…but I don't wanna," He replied and Chulainn raised an eyebrow.
"Have you ever dated someone?" He suddenly inquired and Arima glanced at him.
"Yes, I have," He simply answered. "I had someone I love."
"Sorry," Chulainn shrugged after hearing the response and apologized.
The two sisters listened awkwardly but they were also very curious about what Arima just mentioned. "Anyway, why are you here?" The latter finally addressed them and listened to Ofia as they made their way toward the classroom.
"My father sent Kyle and Jerio to Heriz to meet the king who hired Ojure Karez and possibly find out his motives. But my father didn't send them there to officialize a conflict but to stop it before it begins," She explained as she followed Arima around the school.
"I see," Arima nodded. "Now that I think about it, I still don't know why that guy had to be hired to create a gate. Do you have an idea?" The last part was directed at Chulainn.
"I don't know. Maybe he needed time to subdue the power he stole from Hell and just took the right occasion to use the resources of a kingdom," The Hellhound replied.
Arima hummed and gazed at the two sisters. "So? Why are you telling me this?"
"I actually have a bad feeling about this. I know it's only personal, but I can't cast that thought away. I wanted to ask teacher for help. I can't teleport to Heriz by myself," She earnestly said and Arima pondered.
He stopped just in front of his classroom and glanced at Ofia. He then stepped inside and looked around. "Hey, Arister, stop flirting and come here for a second," He spoke to Arister who was chatting with Ferzia.
When he heard Arima calling him, Arister froze and awkwardly separated from Ferzia. He approached Arima with a bitter expression. "What is it?"
"The king who hired you to kill her and her brother, do you remember him?" Arima went straight to the point.
Arister's eyes widened a bit and glanced at Ofia who was apparently not moved by what Arima just said. She apparently knew that the man Arima had let go before was him. "Yeah, of course."
"Then, do you think he's someone who would backstab two princes who came to negotiate with him?" Arima questioned and Arister was stunned at first.
"Well," He raised his voice after a few seconds. "He totally would do it," He casually affirmed and the two princesses paled. When Arister saw that, that he slightly panicked. "Wait, you were talking about an actual situation?"
"Kinda," Arima nodded and Arister expression twitched. "In any case, for my students’ sake, I'll go there really quick. Take care of the first period in my stead. It shouldn't take long to resolve this situation," Arima stated and closed his eyes. "Heriz…where was that again?" He mumbled.
He had actually memorized the map of the entire planet whilst training in the other dimension. By overlapping his spiritual sense and the map he had, he could easily pinpoint the emplacement of any location on the planet.
"Cool, I located the auras of your brothers. They're still alive at least," Arima uttered and Ofia could only smile wryly but Lena still looked anxious. Arima snapped his fingers and he instantly teleported Ofia and Lena with him.
Arister stared at the empty space with a deadpan face. "What am I supposed to teach them?"
"What are you talking about?” Night entered the classroom with Karma and Lanya and asked Arister when he heard his mutters. “…and why do I feel Arima's presence tens of thousands of miles away?"
Arister stared at Night for a moment then his expression brightened for some reason. Night frowned, it was rare to see this kind of expression from this gloomy guy.
Ten minutes later, Arister was sitting next to Ferzia while Night was standing in front of everyone, apparently, to hold the lecture. He was so frustrated that his canines grew like a vampire’s and his eyes glowed. The students were dead silent as they felt the temperature rise.
Meanwhile, Karma was laughing and even Lanya was holding her laughter back.
***************************************
Kyle and Jerio were meeting with the king of Heriz in a private room. The latter actually looked amiable and spoke to them calmly. But at some point, Elion suddenly appeared inside the room and stood in front of the princes whilst glaring at the king.
"What's wrong?" Kyle’s eyebrows furrowed.
"I can't transfer away and my connection with Gand has been severed. It's the same thing with the magic circuits. Please, try it for yourself. It was so faint that I almost failed to notice it," Elion explained without looking away from the king.
Kyle and Jerio both tried to gather mana but failed to do so. They both stood up and scowled at the king. "What did you do?"
The king pulled out a grey orb and placed it on a table. "Haven't you heard about the lectures of your city's star? This orb is something that’s becoming quite popular," He smirked.
"This is a device capable of cutting off the link with magic circuits. But of course, it only works when the targets within range cannot prepare themselves for it and it’s definitely not restrictive enough to prevent the use of magic. That mercenary, the Kind Demon, appears to have taken precautions so that his theories wouldn’t break the balance. So, my researchers could only make this magic tool. But it’s already enough."
Kyle clicked his tongue and tried to teleport away but he didn’t seem to be able to connect to the surrounding spatial energy.
"Your majesty, this is not only a problem with the magic circuits. We're in a parallel dimension, and a very restrictive one at that," Elion answered to everyone's doubts.
The king chuckled. "Karez didn't cooperate with me ultimately, but he left me something when I asked for it." He summoned a sort of black staff in his hand and lifted it. "Thanks to this, I can make this kind of dimension once a day, for two hours."
A cold light flashed past Elion's eyes as his aura destroyed the room and pressed the king against the floor. "What do you think you can do to us with your strength anyway?"
The king grinned. "I do not need to fight you," He laughed and grasped the ominous staff. It glowed with a dark light and the king's body began to phase as some parts of his body became transparent.
But inexplicably, the light suddenly dimmed and the kind's body returned to normal. The king looked in shock at his body then the staff. He couldn't use it anymore and there was even a crack on it
"Seriously, what is this messy dimension?" A voice resounded strongly in the room and the princes froze. Elion trembled and turned around. Only the king didn't recognize the voice at that moment.
He looked toward the source of the voice and saw a man nonchalantly resting on one of the chairs. Behind him were two young girls who rushed to their brothers’ side.
"Who are you?" The king asked with a grave tone.
"Haven't you heard of me? You were being so cocky while speaking of how you exploited my theories just earlier. " Arima stood up and slowly walked toward the king, step by step.
The king quivered and pointed the staff at Arima. The latter smiled and waved his hand. The staff snapped in two and dropped on the ground.
"Do you really think Karez would give you something powerful enough to beat me?" Arima sneered and glanced at the broken tool. "This staff's main usage is presumably to bring someone in another dimension then collapse the link so that the people inside do not ever escape except the caster. I guess you were plotting to make use of this and turn all of this into a hostage case."
"But that crude thing has no effect on me whatsoever and your little orb isn't even enough to sever my connection with magic circuits even if I let my defenses down," Arima declared as he grabbed the king's head.
"Wait!" Kyle shouted but it was too late.
"[Fifth Black Art, Penitentia conspiciunt] (Penance Stare)," Arima chanted and the king screamed from the top of his lungs. When Arima released him, he had long been knocked unconscious. Arima looked through the memories he collected and shook his head.
"Pathetic," He said and crushed the rest of the staff and snapped his fingers. The dimension broke down and an old man barged inside the room. His clothes were dirty and torn and his expression was filled with urgency. But when he looked around, he became extremely puzzled.
Arima shrugged and turned toward Ofia. "Your intuition was good, or you could say that you were lucky."
"You’re done?" Chulainn's inquisitive voice echoed and everyone looked down and saw a small pup walking there. He actually had stayed behind when Arima went inside the parallel dimension.
"It’s mostly done, yeah. At least, my job is. Ofia, Lena, come back to the PA after your business here is settled," Arima said whilst pointing at the king lying on the floor. He then triggered his sigil and disappeared just after Chulainn jumped on his shoulder.
"…Who was that?" The old man, Gand, asked. He had been battling hundreds of guards of Heriz when he realized that it was a trap. Behind him, you could barely see some people rolling in pain. He had done his best to rush here. But then he witnessed this scene. It was no wonder he was perplexed.
Everyone glanced at him and sighed.
