Getting a head start, Lilly had flung herself forward through the sand, arriving at the small village. She quickly rushed in and headed straight into the entrance where the others were waiting for her.
"Emergency!" were the first words she shouted, springing the others into action. "At the portal, there was this man, he's all by himself but he's really strong."
"Me and Tilon were fighting against him, but we couldn't hurt him. Tilon's still fighting, we have to hurry, we need to fight him together, just like we did against the Light Faction Elder!"
The others had concerned looks on their faces. They could tell by Lilly's reaction that the situation was dire. They expected this going up against the Dark Faction.
Even Alba could hear Cronker in her ear, saying he told her so.
"We still need to look after Raze though; we can't bring him to the battlefield," Alba suggested, while thinking of what the next best thing to do was.
"We have to hurry; otherwise, Tilon will be…"
"I'm here guys, don't worry," Tilon said from the entrance.
Everyone jumped from their position in shock like they had seen some type of ghost, but it was Tilon, and strangely he wasn't hurt.
"Tilon, you're safe, wait, you're right behind me, what happened?" Lilly asked, thinking that she might be going crazy.
"It was the man we were fighting against. He moved away from me, headed back to the portal, and said I could go," Tilon replied, gulping after finishing his words.
What the man had done was an extreme display of confidence, and it was worrying for them.
"Just how strong is this guy?" Alba thought.
"Do you really think that there are many that are strong enough to take out the entirety of the Crimson Crane?" Kizer asked. "The most likely thing is, he doesn't know how many there are of us, nor does he know our strength."
Alba had to admit it was most likely the case. Although she was a standout figure of the Crimson Crane due to her rare features, the same couldn't be said for the others.
Especially in the Dark Faction where their status was a lot less known compared to others.
The fact that both Tilon and Lilly came back fine, with a few of them, they should be able to beat this person.
"Whatever we do, we have to fight, especially if he's protecting the portal. All of us, gear up and be ready for battle. Reno, stay here with the Dark Magus, look after him, I trust you, okay."
With two members less of the original Crimson Crane group, Alba was hoping it would be enough. It had to be.
Amir was waiting patiently in the sand. He was standing still like a statue, looking at the sight, and then through the torn-down village, he could see them appearing.
A group of six, all with different weapons, coming towards him. They didn't rush forward; there was nowhere for them to hide due to the destroyed city. They could only face Amir head-on.
When the group was around twenty meters away, he raised his hand, as if to tell them to stop moving forward.
"There are a lot more of you than I thought. It is only growing my curiosity more as to what happened here. Was there a portal break somewhere else that led you all in?" Amir asked, but it wasn't a question to them.
It sounded more like he was rambling to himself.
"As I said to the two before, we don't have to fight."
Alba found this hard to believe. "If you just wanted to talk, then why kill the Dimension boss, leaving our only option to come here?" she asked.
"That was to see if anyone would come out," Amir replied. "The situation is a difficult one, and these dimensions at times can be as big as other worlds."
"Do you expect me to search the entire place while also keeping an eye on the portal? By myself, that is impossible; the only way was to do what I did."
"And now that I have a lot of you here, I shall ask you a question. I am looking for a student that belongs to the Dark Faction Pagna Academy, a sharp jaw, rough around the eyes, and he has white hair. I don't suppose you have seen someone that matches this description?"
The Crimson Crane members grunted. They all knew the description matched Raze, but why was he here after them?
Did the academy care so much about a single student? It might just be standard procedure, but the measures seemed extreme, and the same with the person who had been sent.
Unless they knew Raze's real identity, which had somewhat clicked in Alba's head.
"This place is vast as you said, it would be hard to run into others here," Alba shouted.
"Ah, well, I know he's here; we assigned him to this portal, he has to be here. I'm just wondering whether or not he's alive," Amir commented.
"If he is, I really need to bring him back to the academy. He is a student, after all."
Alba kept thinking; Raze wanted to go against the academy, so while he was in the state he was in now, she couldn't bring him back.
"It seems you know something, so I might have to fight against you," Amir said to the silence.
"Do you really think you can take us on, and what's so important about a single child anyway?" Alba replied back.
She knew it was quite clear that the man knew something was up. The group of people being here.
The question, it made Amir laugh.
"I thought something like this might have happened, and I can't believe it did. It was as I suspected; that kid, he's from Alter, isn't he? In fact, I knew as soon as those others had shown up to see him."
Alba had heard of Alter before. A specialized group that was able to help Clans with almost any problem. Raze belonged to that group of people?
Is it why he was able to make such precious items and pills, but Alter never shared out their secrets. Thinking along these lines, it was quite possible that Raze was a rogue.
"Are you from Alter?" Alba eventually asked.
"Me?" Amir replied. "No, I'm from another group, one that you might have never heard of, the Bonum Society."
The Crimson Crane members raised an eyebrow; none of them had heard of such a group before.
"It's normal to not hear of them; most who do end up dead."
