“Klaus…”
Everyone shouted when Klaus appeared back on the mountaintop, now acting as their temporary camp while they waited for him.
When he appeared, everyone’s morale returned. Of course, those who had lost friends were less active despite their leader’s return.
“Everyone…” Klaus said with a slight smile plastered on his face.
“Is that a snake?” Hanna asked, looking at the beautiful silver snake coiled around his neck.
“Indeed,” Klaus smiled, looking at the faces of his friends. “Everyone, meet Pickle Berry.”
They could only stand there and stare at him as he smiled at them. The more they watched him, the more they could tell he was happy.
So they didn’t want to sour his mood yet.
If only they knew the Klaus they were seeing now was merely using an illusion to portray a happy expression. He was anything but happy.
In fact, he was the angriest of them all.
He had just encountered the heavens, and while he emerged unscathed, the same could not be said for his mood.
He had to burn millions of years of hatred in his heart before he could return to normal and perhaps do normal things.
It was short, but he went through a lot that he wasn’t prepared for. Thankfully, he had a fix, and that involved using an illusion.
The ladies weren’t paying too much attention to that. Seeing him smiling was enough for them.
However, for some reason, Hanna thought otherwise.
Hanna was a Star Light.
She was someone holding the key to his power source, so she was connected to him at the energy level and could sense he was lying. If his mom had been around, she would have realized it, too.
And it was only a matter of time before his ladies sensed he wasn’t really well.
But who could blame him? He had basically eight months to live, and it was because he had to fight against the heavens using abilities he could not use actively.
Even a paragon must have downtimes sometimes.
“How are they?” Klaus asked Lucy.
“We lost ten warriors,” Lucy answered with her face pointing down. As the commander in the just-ended battle, she was broken for losing men.
This was the first time she had lost men in battle. She had always commanded battles, but the worst it got was a severed arm. Today, she lost ten people, and it was a huge blow to her status as the voice on the battleground.
“No need to look down. You commanded a battle of thousands of soldiers, and when it got worse, you managed to save the majority of them.
Losing ten shouldn’t dampen your mood. Losing men in battle is normal. It happens every day, so instead of blaming yourself, train harder so that there won’t be a next time,” Klaus said, holding her shoulder.
“Plus, if you keep growing, one day you can bring them back to life, so don’t think too much about now.” He smiled, making everyone who heard him raise their brows.
General Dane had recovered to some degree and was now standing beside his fellow generals.
If there was anything to know about losing men, they were the best people to ask how they managed it. They had lost hundreds of men, yet they kept going.
Why? Because they knew that in battle, nothing was certain. Anything could happen, and due to that, they had prepared their hearts and minds for it.
So, when they heard they could bring those they lost back to life, they were perhaps thrilled.
“Are you serious?” General Dane asked.
“Indeed. There are two stages in cultivation: Life and Death. Once you surpass that stage, you will understand the concept of giving life and taking one.
I am not saying you can create beings. No, that is far from it.
You can instead understand what causes death and how to prevent it. For now, it wouldn’t make sense, but when you get there, you will.
So, for now, relax and keep moving. They died fighting for Earth, so we can also do the same and keep going until Earth no longer needs saving.”
They nodded.
“Very well. Now, why don’t we all go have some rest? Since the Overlord of this Badland is dead, the monsters will grow unchecked. So we have to eradicate them before they grow annoying to handle.”
Klaus led the ladies to a tent they had arranged. Anna was recovering in one, as were the triplets, who just didn’t understand how this had all gone wrong.
One minute, they were controlling a black hole; the next second, they lost control over it and had to run, or else their own skill would’ve killed them.
It was also a huge blow to them.
The moment they entered, Klaus used his Immortal Ice to heal Anna and the ladies, ensuring they all returned to their peak.
Even Queen Lunara wasn’t excluded, even though she wasn’t that tired.
She seemed to be thinking a lot about what had happened and how to approach the question. None of it made sense, and for now, she just wanted to know how best to confront Klaus.
Klaus, however, decided to rest and rethink his plans.
He had just bought Earth some time since the heavens had overstepped their boundaries. This meant he could do a lot of things, and the heavens wouldn’t be able to do anything until the karma taken was balanced out.
The next day, Klaus left and flew six miles away. He stopped when he reached a tall mountain. Finding a good spot, he made Pickle Berry sit before him.
He bit his finger and let the blood fall on her head. The moment it did, Klaus’s consciousness was pulled out of his body, just like whenever he met one of his incarnations.
This time, he appeared in a forest full of snakes. However, he knew these were mere illusions, which gave him the confidence to move forward like he knew where he had to go.
After a while, he arrived at a small pier where a dark-haired figure was fishing.
“Oh, you didn’t get lost.” The figure turned and smiled at him.