The room where Shirone's group had stayed was neatly organized.
A black sphere appeared in the quiet space. The sphere looked like a two-dimensional hole, and five people were spat out from it.
Amy, who had rolled on the floor, crawled toward the portal and called for Shirone. She couldn't believe he hadn't returned.
Tess and Arin grabbed her as she tried to enter the portal.
Amy hated the two for stopping her. They shouldn't have left Shirone behind.
Amy: "Let go! Everyone, move! I'm going to save Shirone!"
Tess: "Amy! If you go in, you won't come back! We have to wait!"
Amy: "Wait for what? You left Shirone to die!"
Arin: "No! Peope…!"
Arin stopped speaking and looked at the portal. Shirone was spinning toward them from the other side.
Tears filled Amy's eyes.
She spread her arms and caught Shirone, rolling on the ground from the spiral power. She was so happy she couldn't even feel the pain.
Arin watched as the Meta Gate's portal disappeared, thinking of the fairy left behind in heaven.
Arin thought to herself, gratitude filling her heart.
Arin: 'Thank you, Peope.'
The portal had opened in the room provided by the Kergo chieftain.
Heaven was far away, but since they had traveled through the Gephin's Gate, the relativity of time didn't apply. Calculating the difference in solar time, about three days had passed.
Tess: "Rian! Rian…."
Tess's tears fell on Rian's face. He had returned alive, but she wasn't happy. The man who had always said he would become the world's greatest swordsman had lost his arm.
Rian's right arm was nothing but bone. She tried to pull the greatsword from his hand, but his fingers wouldn't budge.
Tess was stunned. There were no muscles, and even the ligaments were torn and dangling. How could he still be gripping the sword?
At that moment, the door burst open, and a Kergo tribesman entered.
He stared blankly at the women holding their partners with wary eyes, then ran to the exit and shouted.
Kergo Tribesman: "They're back! They're back!"
Arin sensed hostility in the Kergo tribesman's gaze. Realizing it wasn't the time to just cry, Amy asked, her voice trembling.
Amy: "Arin, what's going on?"
Arin: "I don't know. But we should leave quickly. It's definitely not friendly."
Amy's group left the room with the injured. The cave's structure was complex, but no one forgot the way to the exit.
The problem was that it was a one-way path.
Footsteps echoed from the other side of the cave, and dozens of warriors blocked the exit.
Kergo Warrior: "Where do you think you're running off to, you traitors!"
Arin translated the language through telepathy.
Kergo Warrior 1: "The crime of insulting the Kergo cannot be repaid even with your life! We'll flay your flesh for three days and three nights and leave you to dry in the sun!"
Even through translation, the words were chilling.
Amy couldn't understand the situation. They hadn't fulfilled Kadum's request, but there had never been a contract in the first place.
Among the warriors stood an old man with a familiar face. His face was wrinkled, and his muscles hadn't completely wasted away.
Amy gasped, her voice filled with disbelief.
Amy: "You… Could it be?"
"These damn things!"
It was the voice of Kadum, the chief of the Kergo tribe.
Was it possible to age so much in just a few days? Perhaps decades had passed in heaven while they were there.
Kadum shouted, "How dare you lowly creatures try to destroy the Kergo! Give me back my lifespan!"
Amy replied, "We don't know anything about this! What happened to you?"
Kadum growled, "Nonsense! If you hadn't pulled some trick, why would my lifespan have shortened? I was supposed to live for another 60 years!"
Arin suddenly realized.
'Canis…'
Even if all the men had the chance to adjust the lifespan records, Canis was the only one who would make such a choice.
She supported his decision. Compared to what Kadum had done to the tribe, this was a cheap price to pay.
But even Canis probably didn't expect things to turn out like this.
As the warriors approached, exuding a powerful aura, Amy instinctively entered the Spirit Zone.
She looked for Mahatu, but he was nowhere to be seen.
If the anti-angel faction had been purged, this place was now an enemy stronghold. There was no one to help them.
Kadum shouted, "Capture them alive! I'll give them a cruel death!"
The Kergo warriors approached with their weapons drawn. Individually, they were formidable, but the collective bloodlust was suffocating.
Amy thought, 'What should I do? Should I block the path with a Fire Wall? But it's dangerous in a cave.'
Just as five giants were about to charge with their spears, a commotion erupted from the exit.
Kadum, terrified, turned around and shouted, "What's going on? What's happening!"
It seemed that his mind had broken along with his aging body.
Not long after, the warriors guarding the rear were thrown toward Amy's group.
Mahatu asked, "Are you all right?"
Amy's face went blank.
Mahatu, whom she thought had been captured, was standing there. But what was even more surprising were the people he had brought with him.
Jis, who had parted ways after finishing the translation, was standing under the protection of the Parrot Mercenaries. Even the leader, Marsha, and the vice-leader, Freeman, had come.
Amy exclaimed, "Jis? Why are you here?"
Jis urged, "There is no time! Come this way, quickly!"
Before Jis could finish speaking, the Kergo warriors charged.
From their perspective, they had to capture Shirone's group at all costs.
The Kergo autonomous region was already in turmoil.
The residents had joined the anti-angel faction, and if things continued like this, the angel faction would inevitably fall.
Marsha ordered, "Freeman! Go get the kids!"
Marsha kicked Freeman's butt to push him forward.
Freeman, who hadn't taken the Reverse Technique tree, boasted swift movements.
The warriors' spears and swords couldn't even graze him. It was the Schema of a gunner who had abandoned regeneration for speed.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
As Freeman entered the heart of the enemy formation and fired in all directions, the warriors were slammed against the cave walls. Soon, only Freeman remained, surrounded by thick smoke from his magic bullets.
Amy couldn't believe this was the same man she had fought. Changing his Schema had completely altered his fighting style.
Marsha said, "Let's go. We can't hold out for long."
Amy nodded, "Ah, right!"
Amy's group followed the Parrot Mercenaries and left the area.
Kadum's warriors gave chase, but their numbers weren't threatening.
The dictator who had ruled the Kergo for hundreds of years had lost all his power along with his aging body.
Kadum screamed, "No! Don't go! I don't want to die like this! Please, give me back my lifespan!"
Kadum's screams echoed through the cave.
As they made their way out of the Toa Mountains, Shirone's group listened to Mahatu's explanation.
When Kadum's body began to age, the priests declared martial law and imprisoned the anti-angel faction.
The one who rescued them was Jis.
He had arrived in the autonomous region to pay off Falcoa's debt but sensed the uneasy atmosphere and began investigating.
When he discovered that Mahatu had been imprisoned, he brought the Parrot Mercenaries here.
Amy said, "Thank you, Jis. We wouldn't have survived without you."
Jis's face turned red at Amy's praise.
Jis replied, "It's nothing compared to what you've done for me. But are you all right? Why are only the men in this state?"
Amy checked Shirone's condition. There was still no sign of him waking up.
Amy asked, "Things just turned out that way. Can we find a doctor on the island? Or should we go to the Magic Guild?"
Marsha looked at the injured. Shirone and Canis were merely unconscious, but Rian's condition was critical.
The flesh on his right arm was completely torn off. With such a severe injury, he should have died from excessive blood loss, but for some reason, the bleeding had stopped.
Tess asked, "What happened to Rian? No, more importantly, how can you treat him? Is it really okay to leave him like this?"
Amy explained, "I don't know. He ate a giant's arm, so maybe that's why. As long as he's alive, we'll find a way to fix him."
Tess muttered, "A giant? He ate an arm? What are you talking about?"
Tess could only shake her head.
When they reached the foot of the Toa Mountains, the Parrot Mercenaries' carriage was waiting.
Mahatu bowed his head, expressing his guilt.
Mahatu said, "The chief's immorality put the divine messengers in danger. Please forgive us."
The anti-angel faction had been created to oppose those who used the name of God for personal gain.
From heaven's perspective, they were heretics, a mindset that could trigger the final war. But Amy couldn't blame Mahatu.
Amy replied, "It seems one of our mischievous companions found Kadum displeasing. We're the ones who should apologize. It's fortunate things worked out, but we almost caused a lot of casualties."
Mahatu said, "It was something that had to happen. If Kadum had been stronger, overthrowing the system would have cost many more lives. Thank you."
Amy waited for Mahatu to say more.
But he didn't ask anything of those who had returned from heaven. He had chosen self-reliance.
Amy boarded the carriage. Just as Mahatu prioritized the happiness of his tribe, she prioritized the safety of her friends.
Mahatu didn't move until Amy's group disappeared beyond the horizon.
Marsha shouted, "Hurry! Hurry!"
Marsha had scoured Galliant Island and found one doctor and four recovery mages, who now entered Jis's house.
The doctor was horrified when he saw Rian's condition.
He prayed that the boy hadn't been conscious during such torture.
The doctor stammered, "Th-this..."
Tess clung to him, crying.
Tess pleaded, "Doctor! Please fix him! You can fix him, right?"
The doctor remained silent, dumbfounded. What did they expect him to do? Fixing something meant restoring what was broken. You couldn't create something entirely new from nothing.
The doctor said, "There's no other way. I'm not a great doctor, but even the best couldn't do more. If we don't amputate, he might die."
Tess cried, "Amputate? He's a swordsman! He's supposed to become the world's greatest swordsman!"
The doctor replied, "We'll have to cut below the shoulder. Unless you want him to become the world's greatest corpse."
Tess fell to her knees, powerless. The doctor was right. No one could stay sane seeing their arm reduced to bone. The bleeding had stopped for now, but there was no telling when it might start again.
The doctor muttered, "Ugh! This is no joke."
The recovery mages worked in pairs, casting healing and purification spells on Shirone and Canis.
They used healing to boost vitality and purification to clear the mind, but it felt like pouring water into a bottomless pit.
One of the mages asked, "What's going on? Who are these kids? In all my years, I've never seen anyone take this long to wake up."
Amy explained, "They're magic school students, so it's harder for them than most."
The mage groaned, "Ugh! If we keep this up for more than 10 minutes, we'll need an hour to recover. We've already exceeded the limit!"
Amy begged, "Please, just 10 more minutes! I'll pay you as much as you want."
The mage chuckled, "At my age, money doesn't matter. How about a date instead? You look just like my first love."
Amy's eyes widened, then she quickly nodded.
Amy said, "Huh? Okay! I'll do it, so please keep trying."
The mage sighed, "...Don't ruin an old man's wit. Anyway, they must be important to you. I'll do my best."
Amy exclaimed, "Thank you! Thank you!"
As Amy repeatedly expressed her gratitude, the mage casting purification clicked his tongue and scolded his colleague.
Mage 1 said, "You, making such harsh jokes."
Mage 2 replied, "Did you expect this?"
Mage 1 retorted, "No, I clearly remember your first love was the ugliest of the ugly."
The two old men burst into laughter. As unofficial 9th-grade mages, they had never seen glory, but for the first time in a long while, they felt their blood boiling.
Mage 1 said, "Shall we go all out?"
As they amplified the recovery magic, Shirone's body began to glow brightly.
The mage working on Canis, spurred by competition, intensified his spells as well.
The doctor, having finished preparing for surgery, gave Tess instructions.
Doctor said, "Now, lay him down here. There'll be a lot of blood, so prepare plenty of towels."
Tess, tears streaming down her face, moved Rian's body to the center of the bed. The doctor then pulled out a terrifyingly large saw from his bag.
Rian was unconscious, so anesthesia wasn't necessary. Even if he were awake, local anesthesia wouldn't have been enough to endure the pain.