"Yea, didn't expect we would meet the Corrupted One on the way," said Baldwin, making the Puka vanish.

"Did you finish him off?"

"Hardly, but I can confirm that the Umbras have been eradicated from the earth. With the leader escaping," explained Z.

"The leader being?"

"Benjamin himself."

"Hmm, so that brat did not lie at all... I a.s.sume that we would be facing the Husks next?" asked Gil, sipping on some warm milk.

"Let's hope not. Most likely, Old Man Pond's gonna pop back up. Which brat are you referring to?" asked Baldwin, raising his eyebrows.

"Shall I let him explain the situation to you?"

A familiar flash of light appeared and a certain Time Mage was met eye to eye with the Angry Man.

"Hey, Gil said you missed me," said the young Time Mage.

"Yea, I missed you for being my target practice."

"You've got to have something called 'aim' before having a target," laughed Raiyen as he approached Mavislin.

"On the other hand, I missed my partner in crime," said Raiyen, cuddling the exhausted Valkyrie.

His eyes laid on her burnt up arm. His expression darkened as he gently ma.s.saged the arm.

"And how did you pull that off? That spell should be taxing, even for a Valkyrie. It requires a limb."

"Fire Storm Lance. Never thought that lending that book to you would do so much damage," said Gil, pointing at Mavislin's arm.

"Well, it did manage to take down the Umbras. I'd say it did a tonne of damage," said Mavislin.

The Aki's wife stood near the crackling fireplace. For such a tense situation, the atmosphere portrayed warmth and comfort. As for Ysabeau, she could hardly control her tears when glancing at her little Valkyrie. All battered and bruised with a cheeky smile.

"Ma, I'm home," said Mavislin, rubbing the back of her head in shyness.

Ysabeau blinked a few times before rus.h.i.+ng to the teenager to give her a warm embrace.

"You silly child. You made me worried sick!" exclaimed Ysabeau as she let her tears flow freely.

"I know, I'm sorry. But Ma..."

The Valkyrie hung her in shame as recent memories of Minwoo and her twin flashed through her mind. Her eyes were the floodgates as hot tears pushed through. With a crying Valkyrie standing by the fireplace, the Time Mage was deniably scared.

It was rare for her to cry, even if she had lost a match, she'd still get back up. Thus, seeing her in a state like this, Raiyen felt terror rack through him. He stood there, rooted to the ground. Z went up to the pale boy.

"You... You didn't do anything wrong, you know?" said Z, trying to unfreeze the poor boy.

Ysabeau tried her best to ease the crying Valkyrie. It had been a while since she had this much tears going through her eyes.

"Minwoo's death had a huge effect on her, eh?" asked Gil, ruffling the girl's hair.

"It's not Minwoo's death that she's upset about. It's something else," said Z as he scooped the crying Valkyrie up.

"Where are you taking her?" asked Raiyen, following the chubby Igor.

"Back to her room. She needs a timeout for a bit."

"I'd say that would be her punishment. After all, she left us for an entire month."

"A month?! Sure doesn't feel like it to me. I'd been away for that long as well?!" asked Raiyen, shocked.

"How long has it been for you, Time Boy?"

"A few days..."

"And who'd you last see?"

"The big three. On a cliff. In Russia. You called it 'Operation Barbarossa'. Gil used his Ancient relic. You three seemed to have an in-depth discussion but I was too far away to hear about it."

"Hm. It must have been something bad since Gil rarely uses his Ancient Relic to attack. You seriously need to get your Time in check."

As the two opened the door, a wave of nostalgia slammed into the Valkyrie's face. She blinked a few times before fully opening her eyes. Her hands rummaged about, trying to feel the soft surface of where she had been lying on.

But a set of scrawny fingers gently cupped her moving hands.

"Raiyen? You still in here?" she asked, her voice raspy.

Raiyen looked concerned as he took an entire pot of tea and fed it to his Valkyrie.

"A month of leaving this place... I never thought I would be so happy to see this place again," smiled Mavislin as she got up slightly.

"And I never thought I'd been away for so long. I meant it when I said I missed you," whispered Raiyen as he hugged the young girl.