The group was left perplexed because it seemed like Raze's absence was completely out of the blue for them. For a moment, none of them moved, thinking that they might see Raze. Safa was even trying to shout, calling out for him, but with just a few grunts, the noise didn't travel far.
Not wishing for Safa to strain anymore, Simyon shouted on her behalf.
"Raze!" Simyon yelled. "Raze!" He shouted out again, but there was no response at all.
"Maybe we should do as he said," Dame said, trying to break the awkward silence. "I believe Raze is a person that thinks before he speaks, and he stated that we should go ahead, which means that he will definitely meet us back at the academy."
This wasn't just words spoken to give confidence to the others; this was the honest truth. Dame knew that Raze still had a lot to do, and besides, without him, what was he meant to do? He would then be stuck here, trying to figure a way out of the whole situation.
'I don't know what happened to you and Gunther back there, but it had to be big enough to startle you, right?' Dame thought.
After some time had passed and the others had climbed the cliffside edge, Raze started to make his move; he had a destination in mind. He continued to move until he had finally been brought right back to the cave.
The cave that had the writing from the founder of the Dark Faction.
"It looks like I'm back here again, and I'm going to have to borrow some of your spells."
When he was in the other dimension, Raze had realized something traveling with Dame. After learning the extraction technique, he had come to know the reason why everyone referred to the Demonic Faction as Crazy, Demons, or those that were Mad.
They were nicknames all given to the Demonic Faction, and it was the same for the Dark Faction leader.
'If I'm right, then the spell formation that is written is one that leads to the Demonic Faction,' Raze thought as he had drawn the circle and traced it from memory with chalk.
He always kept some on him in his special Dark Magus robe just in case. Activating it, he now wore the robe over his clothing and pulled his hood to cover himself.
'I realized something important while traveling to the other dimension. I thought when I moved to a new world I had run away from all my troubles. I was planning to get stronger and then find any way I could to get back, and get my payback.
'But it seems like the trouble of the Supreme Magus went even beyond that of Alterian. This world is not a safe place for me. With the attempted assassinations, Alter, and the society, I need to have a safe place to go to.'
Raze lifted his hand, and the dark magic seeped into the circle; it started to light up and a portal had opened right in front of him. Ready for anything, Raze took a step through, and he immediately reappeared, surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, he appeared to be in another cave.
"The amount of caves I've been in recently. Does everyone think these things make great secret lairs?" Raze said to himself.
Looking around, there looked to be nothing of significance. All he could see was a simple magic spell on one part of the wall. As he walked forward, Raze lifted his hand; he didn't activate any magic and instead just moved his hand right through the wall.
"An illusionary spell, I guess he wanted to keep this place a secret, even though there's nothing here." Raze took a step completely through with the rest of his body.
When he did, he could see the hard-colored ground, the few barren trees that were in the area, but not just that, not too far off in the distance, there was a city. It wasn't just any city; it was one that he had been to before.
'It looks like I was right. This means that we no longer have to risk going through the dimension that the Light Faction owns, that is if it even still exists. I now have a direct path that will take me back to the Demonic Faction.
'It looks like the business of the Dark Magus will be able to grow quicker now. Which is good because I need to obtain more power. I can't rely on groups like the Dark Faction or that of Alter. I don't think I would be able to do the same as the Dark Faction founder and create my own group, but having my resources and influence can be done.'
Heading back inside, Raze only wanted to confirm that this did indeed lead to the Demonic Faction. He now could use the return spell to head back to the cave as well and then return to the academy.
He didn't draw the return circle straight away, though; instead, Raze had something else planned. In total, he had 53 Level 2 power stones. It was an almighty amount.
'Some of these I will use to create better Qi pills. I also would like to create better items for myself as well; I need an Ice attribute ring, which would be nice. But there's something else I need to do before that.'
While here, Raze would get to work. He didn't think this amount of magic would cause a problem, but just in case, he had drawn the return magic circle ahead of time. So if another portal did open up and it was a portal break, he could just hop on over back to where he was.
'It will leave the Demonic Faction in a bit of a mess, but that is their problem to deal with.' Raze thought.
Back at the academy, the group had returned. The night sky was now out, as an entire day had passed, but the academy was still as quiet as ever due to the break everyone was currently on.
"Everyone, I want to have a meeting with you all the next day. I think it's safe to say, though, that what happened today, and everything you saw, is our little secret," Gunther said, giving them a wink as he awkwardly walked off, still in pain with each step that he had taken.
"It really is a good thing that he's nothing like his brother," Liam commented. "Otherwise, he would be going straight to those clan elders, and then they would be right up our balls, trying to sniff out where we had been. Can you imagine we just closed a valuable portal the academy could have used?"
"Maybe that's why he isn't telling them," Simyon stated. "The portal being closed, they will blame it on him as well." n.)-(/)-()/(.I-)n
Dame wasn't so sure; he felt like there was perhaps a different reason why. Little did he know he was right. The main reason for Gunther now helping the group and keeping everything a secret was the price from the Crimson Crane.
Returning back to the Blue headband sleeping quarters, they realized that due to everything that happened, they wouldn't be here for much longer, and soon they would be heading to the Red headbands. Where the main disciples that surely held a large grudge against them currently were as well.
"Ah man, there's just too much to worry about, I'm going to get some sleep," Simyon said, heading back into the room.
Liam agreed and couldn't help but continue rubbing the back of his neck from that bug bite he had received.
"Hey," Simyon said, turning around, noticing that one person wasn't heading inside. "You know just because you wait for him, doesn't mean he'll return any quicker."
Although it was only the back of Safa's head, Simyon could see that she nodded. She had sat down by the bottom step and was just staring outward.
'Man, how the heck did you get a sister to be so nice to you? What the heck did you manage to do in your past life,' Simyon thought, as he went ahead inside.
When Dame had reached his bedroom, he didn't go to sleep straight away and instead just sat on the edge of his bed.
"What is happening?" Dame thought as he thought back to the events of today. "Originally, when I learned of the Dark Magus, I thought I could use him to progress myself, but every time I see him.
"Every time he does something I don't expect, I feel like I'm being swept up by the aura around him, and he's the one dragging me along with him."
The serious look on Dame's face soon turned into a smile though.
"Maybe it's not so much of a bad thing. I guess I'll see where all of this goes, for a little while longer."
Time continued to go past, and soon the sun was starting to rise. Safa had eventually succumbed to her tiredness, falling asleep with her head tilted to her side.
"What are you doing?"
The voice startled her awake, and when she looked up, she could see the scruffy white hair.
"If you stay out here all night, then you'll get sick. Then, I'm going to have to make another pill, and I'm already tired," Raze commented.
Opening the door, Simyon was rubbing his eyes as he was going to check up on Safa. He was meaning to check on her every night but due to his exhaustion, he had fallen straight asleep as well.
"Raze, you're back!" Simyon shouted. "You really came back."
"Why do you sound so surprised?" Raze replied. "I said I would be back, didn't I? And why don't you head inside and call the eyepatch one. I've come back with the gifts I promised."
That day when Raze had returned, a big change was starting to occur for them all. Entering that portal had changed each and every involved person's lives more than they could have ever imagined.
