Fixteen felt that the fact they were already keeping a large secret, that they had met someone from another world, a human with strange powers, was already a significant risk. The Elders at the clan, if they had found out what Dame was doing, would have enough reason to punish him for treason, since he had withheld world-changing event information from them.
‘But I know that Dame is just a fool!’ Fixteen slapped the top of his head. ‘All that damn young master thinks of is ways to earn more money. He just wants to earn enough so he can be free from the clan’s restraints and do his own thing.’
Which was why inviting the very thing they were trying to hide over to their world seemed like an extremely bad idea in his head.
‘Go with him, to the world of Pagna? Dame doesn’t know I’m from the world of Pagna, but if he is asking me to come with him, then wouldn’t that mean taking me to the Demonic Faction territory?’ Raze thought.
‘It is a place that I thought I should visit at some point, since it’s away from the eyes of Alter… if I’m there, maybe I can do what I need to do.’ 𝐎𝒱𝐿𝒩𝐞xt.𝓒𝐎𝗆
“Okay,” Raze answered. “Let’s see this world of yours.”
Dame’s eyes had almost become gold coins. If he could utilize Raze and his special power well, he could make a fortune, and for now, he would hold off introducing him to Alba. He was sure that if the Dark Magus became an even bigger deal, she would raise the bounty on his head, and when the time was right, he would receive the reward.
Currently, the rest of the group led the Dark Magus and Dame out of the place. With excitement, they didn’t even care about hunting any more beasts, except for Raze.
The moment he spotted one of the beasts, he would break off from the others. Rather than using his wind magic, though, he stuck to his dark magic to not show his Pagna skills too much. A large hole would be made right through the beast’s head, and all that was left was to gather the crystals.
Since Raze was doing all of the work getting the Crystals in the first place, no one said anything to him about taking them.
“Are power stones also useful in your world?” Dame asked.
“Yes,” Raze replied. “The stones are what allow us to make the potions and also make strong items.”
“Oh really?” Dame said, sounding a bit surprised. “So does that mean you could make a sword that could shoot out dark beams like what you just did now?”
“The level of stuff I can make would depend on the Mage’s power, as well as the power stones that can be used. So it wouldn’t be completely impossible,” Raze explained.
He continued to defeat beast after beast, collecting the crystal. Raze had a lot that he wanted to do before he even thought about returning to the academy, and the others in Dame’s group were becoming a little concerned. Especially Carlson, who was touching his leg again as it ached.
Reaching the wall, the group started to go through the halls and up the stairs. It was quite the journey since the staircase would be located on either end of the long hallway, so if one went up one end, they would then have to walk across to the next.
Finally, they reached the very top floor, and across the hall, Raze could see the portal.
“That’s interesting, is this how you get out?” Raze asked.
“Oh, is how you enter into this dimension different from how we got in? I thought it would be the case, but I wasn’t completely sure. For us, there is only one way to enter into this dimension. For some reason, a portal will open up somewhere in our world.
“When we enter into that portal, we always end up in the same place. People can return back through the same portal that they entered from. Or another way to return is by something called a return stone.
“It will take you back from where you originally entered when crushed, but they are quite expensive, and I have no idea what would happen to you if you were to use one.”
Almost immediately, a question had come to Raze’s mind, and he had asked it without a second thought. “Then how do Portal breaks happen?”
Raze wanted to kick himself. He was so used to the world of Pagna and being around other warriors that he had naturally asked the question he was curious about, but they didn’t have portal breaks in Alterian, and if they did, wouldn’t it have been something he would have known about?
“It looks like your world hasn’t solved that mystery yet either, huh?” Dame said. “Beasts, for some reason, are unable to go through the portal, and they can only do so when a portal breaks open. There is an exception to that; Hybrids can come out at times as well. As for why, who knows.”
The group continued heading forward, and as they were approaching the portal, another beast dog appeared. Quickly, Raze had used his Dark Pulse skill on it and killed the beast instantly.
He rushed over to extract the crystal from its body, as he had been doing. “I hope you know not to show your strange powers when you’re in our world,” Fixteen stated.
“Of course,” Raze replied, obtaining the crystal. Magic used in other dimensions didn’t open more portals, at least according to Alter, so there was no problem with that. It was only in Pagna that he had to be careful.
When standing up, Raze nearly fell on his backside, as the whole ground was shaking. Several of the loose rocks that were part of the wall fell off to the side. A loud rumbling noise was heard in the distance as well.
“What was that?” Raze asked.
“That is our cue to get out of here,” Fixteen said as he rushed forward. He knew they had dealt with far too many beasts.
All of them jumped through quickly with Dame at the very back. “Come on, don’t be shy, let’s go!” Dame shouted.
Raze jumped through, following the others, and soon Dame had followed just after.
As the group exited from the portal, they found themselves landing in the snow. It was clear to Raze that this wasn’t any place he was familiar with at all. He was unable to see anything he recognized.
“Hey, you have Qi, right? So you’re going to have to try and keep up with us as best you can. The last thing we want to do is leave you behind if we’re getting chased,” Fixteen said.
“Chased?” Raze asked.
“Hey, Dame!” Kirk shouted, interrupting the two. “Take a look at the snow.”
In the soft white snow that was still falling, they could see that there were a group of footsteps leading from the bottom of the mountain towards the portal. Since the imprints were still visible, it meant it was fairly recent.
“The dimension boss, it was just summoned,” Kirk said.
“If we enter now, we will just get in more trouble,” Dame said. “They’re not from the Demonic faction. Besides, we have an important guest to look after. Let’s go!”
Raze followed along as the Pagna warriors ran off. They were fast, and he imagined they were moving slower just because of him. Still, Raze couldn’t help but wonder, just what were they talking about, and what was he about to see in the Demonic faction.