Diora clenched her bleeding shoulder and stumbled backward as she stared at the silver-haired man opposite her with dilated eyes. In that exact moment, another sword pierced her stomach, and blood oozed out from her mouth. But instead of panicking, she let out a crazy laugh because she could sense that she would be leaving this place in a few seconds.

And she swore to come back just to kill every single living individual on this planet. Especially the two men who had made her go through so much.

The woman tightly grabbed the tip of the sword protruding from her stomach before tilting her head to stare at the blue-haired human behind her.

"You think you... can kill me? No, you can't... haha..."

She smirked at Alec, but her face paled when Kyle waved his hand in front of her face. It wasn't because of his hand, but because of the ordinary-looking black pendant that hung down from the metallic chain in his hand.

"How...?"

She questioned and slowly lowered her gaze to her waist where the pendant should have been. But it wasn't there. Then, she stared at Kyle and desperately reached out to snatch the pendant because it was the only artifact that would teleport her back to her home planet once it was infused with enough divine energy.

But before her hand could reach the pendant, the man vanished from her sight. In the next second, Kyle surprised Alec by grabbing his collar roughly. The blue-haired man let out a shocked gasp when he was suddenly tossed into a portal, and Kyle jumped into the portal after him.

Diora's trembling eyes followed their movement.

She wanted to chase them, but it was too late because the glowing symbols beneath her spread out with lightning-fast speed and enveloped her entire body. The woman screamed, and a loud booming explosion echoed in the area. It was so loud that all the land occupied by the former east continent trembled due to the noise.

The place where the war was going on also shook, and many individuals cried out in surprise. But just after a few seconds, the noise settled, and once again the battle raged on.

However, this time the people with black petals engraved on their bodies started retreating or running away because a lot of divine rank individuals on their side had already vanished into thin air, and the two divine rank individuals who were present above the battlefield were surrounded from all sides.

Quite a distance away from the place where the explosion took place. Kyle watched as the black pendant in his hand turned into particles after he used his flames on it.

He thought everything went well, but then suddenly Alec let out a frustrated cry.

"You bastard! At least tell me what you're up to! My sword! Noooo..."

Alec grabbed his knees and landed on the ground with a dejected expression.

His one and only precious sword, the one he found inside the tower of opportunity, was just gone like that? He had been taking care of the sword like his child because it was a growth-type weapon, a powerful weapon that had been steadily growing alongside him as he fed it a part of his mana sometimes.

Kyle blinked. Now that Alec mentioned it, he did just toss the blue-haired man inside the portal without any prior notice, so Alec wasn't able to retrieve his sword.

'It's a good thing I took mine in time.'

Alec shot a fierce glare at the man floating in mid-air. After fighting with Diora, his breathing was erratic, and now, noticing Kyle's expression of relief, a vein visibly flared on his forehead.

"What the heck? You're relieved that I lost my weapon!?"

Kyle immediately shook his head and his expression turned solemn. No way, he would never say that he was relieved because he took his sword back on time.

"Stop whining, it's just a sword. Let's go check the place where the explosion happened. Maybe it survived...?"

'Maybe...'

Alec sucked in a deep breath and controlled the urge to go one-on-one with the man floating in mid-air. He reminded himself that a war was going on, and it wouldn't be good if he started fighting with Kyle right now.

He closed his eyes for a minute and rubbed his temples, really hoping that somehow his weapon would survive. That's why Alec didn't notice when Kyle started sniffing the air around him and locked his bright green eyes on his body.

'Hmm, I did have my suspicions, but Diora's words confirmed it.'

'Regardless, the dark energy radiating from him is very faint. Maybe he just consumed something he shouldn't have? I don't know if I should ask because there's no way he's going to share this with me or anyone else. And after seeing how stiff he became when Diora confronted him, I know he's gonna run away instead of letting me or anyone else worry about his problem.'

Kyle stared at the bright moon.

'I think I should just let him handle it because there's no way a little setback can stop him. After all, he's the most hardworking one among all of us.'

In that moment, something buzzed inside his mind space. Kyle grabbed the small crystal that Lie, one of the tower guardians, tossed at him before leaving with Jordan to restore the planet's core energy.

Kyle's expression turned serious as he quickly answered the woman whose voice sounded from the crystal. It was the second time Lie had contacted him. The first time was to tell him about the air pollution, so he wondered what she wanted to say now.

Alec also heard the voice and, even though he wanted to stay seated on the ground for a few more minutes, he knew he had a lot to do right now.

Lie paused for a few seconds when she noticed Alec and Kyle's condition. The duo was completely drenched in sweat and blood, not to mention their dirty clothes.

"Ahem, I just wanted to let you know that the planet's core is fine now. It has once again started supplying energy to the structure connected to the barrier that enclosed and hid the planet in the past."

"I believe the barrier will regain its power before the sun rises. So, make sure no one from the enemy side can escape this planet. If they do, all our efforts will be wasted."

Kyle's eyes lit up. He smiled and looked at Alec, who had a similar expression. Finally, the planet would be safe from the shadow generals, at least for a while. And that time would be enough for the people of the planet to get a little stronger. Kyle closed the crystal after Lie finished speaking. He chuckled at Alec, who groaned because the latter's body was aching like crazy.

"I'm tired too. Let's finish off the enemies once and for all. Then we can rest for as long as we want."

Alec let out a tired sigh but still entered the portal that materialized in front of him. Kyle wanted to follow suit but paused when he noticed a faint glint from the corner of his eye.

He looked back at the distant area where the explosion happened with squinted eyes. And then, something shiny in the darkness caught his attention.

"Haha, his sword survived, but how? Now I'm tempted to steal this sword. It's too unique."