~Well, I'll see you all soon… hopefully.~
Once Ciara established the telepathic link through her Original Magic, [Phantom Link], we were all connected through a single channel.
Of course, we could have independent thoughts without being heard within the general space of the Spell. However, once we had important messages to pass across to everyone, we could always use the phantom tether that Ciara attached to all our minds.
We could also sense our positions by tracing the tether placed on all of us, making it easier to reach the location of any ally if they found something.
With everything functioning as intended, we bid one another a temporary farwell and set off for our respective destination.
~WHOOOOOOSSSSHHHH!~
Whether it was through teleportation or simply high-speed movement, all four of my allies swiftly departed the moment I gave the signal to begin.
'I should get to work too…' Ascending to the clear sky above me, I raised my body far above the earth, and then the clouds, and kept lifting myself till I reached the very borders of the planet.
The view, watching as everything that would otherwise have seemed relevant and overwhelming, now seemed insignificant.
Perspective really was everything.
"Alright, Jared. Let's see…" Closing my eyes, I spread out the Aether I could afford to release from my Cores, fusing them with the pure energy that shimmered around in the void of space.
Activating Spellcraft, I now had access to more than enough Aether, granting me heightened control over my senses.
Like connecting the dots that existed around me, I could navigate thrugh the recesss of space that I wouldn't be able to percieve normally.
The result?
"Ahh…" I could sense the immediate worlds—that is, planets—within our galaxy.
"... It's as I suspected."
Whatever happened to our planet happened everywhere else.
I had just done a widespread search for life throughout all the planets and dwarfs I had access to, and ended up with only one result.
NIL!
Not a single one had life within it.
"They're all empty. Gone. Why?"
No, perhaps that wasn't the right question to ask. The reason for their disappearance could range through multiple possibilities.
The true problem was where they had all gone to.
"Legris couldn't have gotten rid of so many people. For what purpose would he even do that? It means Neron had to be the one who sent everyone away."
I was certain of that now.
But where?
I returned my gaze to the world directly beneath me, and I stared long and hard at it, using my heightened abilities to spread my senses through the entirety of the world.
I could see all four of my comrades doing their best to search for anything that could lead us to the truth. Would we have to search every single planet in the cosmos like this in order to scrape together the information we required?
That was absurd! Especially if time was of the essence.
In the silence of space, I contemplated our options as I kept observing the landscape of the planet. I took note of the Eastern Kingdom, the Fairy Sanctuary, The Beast Kingdom, The Dwarven Kingdom, the Elf Kingdom, The United Kingdom of the Magic Beasts… the…
"... Hold on, something is missing."
I didn't notice it before since I was just giving a general overview, but now that I was being specific about the various locations I knew, there was one place I couldn't find.
"Where is the Safehouse?"
My heart thumped slightly as I focused on the location that the Safehouse was supposed to be in, but I found absolutely nothing at all.
"This makes no sense…"
The Safehouse was a place my friends and I built to keep our secrets, including the Arcanas we found in our lifetime.
It was meant to exist between the East and Western area, and I couldn't forget its exact position, yet from the way it seemed at the moment…
… The Safehouse didn't exist at all.
"What in the world?" I murmured, slowly descending from my position and nearing the position where there had to be something present.
Yet, to my surprise, nothing appeared.
"Strange…" My shoes touched the earth and I looked more than perplexed by the current situation that had presented itself to me.
"Something isn't right here."
The hidden lair of the Hero Party, the place I trained rigorously for a hundred years… all of it didn't seem to exist.
I looked around and found nothing but a wilderness that stretched on for a long distance, and just as I was about to utter something else, my gaze picked up a glittering stone on the ground.
It sat not too far from my position, and it gleamed with a forbidden blue light that called for me.
"I don't remember anything like this being here. Is this a clue?" Whispering barely inaudibly, I reached out for the gem.
However…
~VWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!~
An intense wave of energy suddenly blasted its way through the stone, sending me sliding a few meters back.
A swirling twister made of pure azure energy manifested before me, like an untamed torrent of blazing power that would not be silenced.
The whirlwind of energy then began to converge, almost solidifying in structure. It grew smaller and smaller, and it began to take a form that seemed humanoid.
Before long, a being of pure energy was born.
The entity looked human, except made of blue energy. It was bald, and it had no appendages that would signify a sex. Its eyes were pure white, and its energy-like skin were sparkling blue.
This creature, whatever it was, looked at me with cold—almost mechanical—eyes.
"Jared Leonard. You have finally come." The entity spoke, its tone warbling with each syllable it uttered.
"You know who I am, huh? Figures. Did Neron put you up to this?" I sighed.
So this was the big secret he was hiding. Was this energy being going to tell me everything I needed to know? If so, I could understand why Neron told me I shouldn't have traveled to the past.
Had I been a little more dilligent, I would have found it, after all.
"So, since I activated you, isn't it time for the—"
~WHOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH!!!~
A sudden beam of light raiated from the open palm of the blue entity, and it blasted toward me before I could complete my sentence.
'What?!' With widened eyes and quickened steps, I swiftly steppe away from the line of the attack.
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!~
The destruction caused by that single beam of light was no joke!
It cleared nearly everything that existed behind me for at least a few miles, leaving behind charred remains.
"What the hell?" I yelled, swiftly taking a defensive stance against the floating being that gazed upon me with the same unfeeling eyes as before.
"Threat analysis initiated. Jared Leonard is an A Class obstacle that should be exterminated."
My eyes widened upon hearing those words.
'Could it be… this isn't from Neron? If so, then what is it? Why was it waiting for me here?'
Clearly the disappearance of the Safehouse and the presence of this thing in the same position wasn't just by coincidence.
Something was going on here!
"Jared Leonard… you must perish."
*
*
*
[A/N]
The time has come for Jared to fight his opponent while trying to analyze the current situation.
What will become of his current predicament?
