"So, the only survivors are those two?" - Cloud asked as he tried to confirm the words of the former hero's spirit.
"Yes" - nodded Gruen as he closed his eyes for a few seconds - "Well, now that I've said all I had to say, it's time for me to ask you for a favour."
"What is it you wish for?" - Cloud asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"This is something more personal, and relax, it's something you can do without much trouble" - said Gruen as he opened his eyes and looked carefully at the boy in front of him - "I want you to take the stone from the pedestal that will appear when we finish this conversation, and destroy it"
"Why?" - Cloud asked with a frown.
"Because it's where I'm locked up, and suffering for all these years without being able to see my two loves" - replied Gruen as he gritted his teeth - "I... I just want to see them one more time, to be by their side and apologise for killing them."
Cloud was silent before nodding - "Ok".
"Thank you" - Gruen smiled as he sighed regretfully - "By the way, before you do that, you'd better activate the transportation seal because the moment you break the rock, the volcano will erupt"
"Why didn't you say that before?" - Cloud asked with a frown.
"Because I just remembered it" - replied Gruen as he averted his gaze - "Being locked in a rock makes you forget some things."
Cloud gave him a look full of disdain before he felt everything around him start to tremble.
"I guess it's time to go," Gruen muttered as he smiled slightly because he would finally be free, "I wish you luck on your way, and success in your mission. Oh, and as a last piece of advice, make the most of all the time you have with your special someone because you never know when the world will try to take them away from you."
Cloud was silent as he watched the scenery around him change, showing that he was once again inside the central pillar of the great volcano.
"Are you alright?" - Shea asked as she walked over to Cloud and began to touch his body to make sure nothing was out of place.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Cloud replied as he let her do whatever she wanted, though after a few seconds he felt how the perverted doe's hand was getting dangerously close to his crotch - ". . ."
"Hehehe ~! Sorry" - Shea muttered as she slowly backed away.
Yue shot a blank look at the bunny girl while Tio shook her head in denial. Shizuku was still concentrating on the applications of the space magic she had just learned, so she was still oblivious to the strange state Cloud had been in.
Yue was about to ask something, when she saw a strange pedestal appear near the teleportation seal - "What's that?"
"It's the promise I made to Gruen-san" - Cloud answered while looking at the strange red stone that brought him a familiar feeling - "But for now I want to know if there's any way to activate the seal".
"It needs a large amount of mana to activate it, but nothing we can't fix, though it will take a few minutes to recharge" - Yue replied neutrally.
"Start immediately because when we're done, the volcano will erupt" - Cloud replied calmly.
"Huh?" - the girls looked at each other, surprised because the volcano didn't seem to be showing any signs of awakening, let alone erupting, so Cloud's words made no sense.
"The moment that rock breaks, the volcano will start to erupt" - Cloud replied as he shook his head.
"That doesn't make sense!" - Shea exclaimed as she carefully moved away from the stone because he didn't want them to be covered by lava.
"Ok, I'll start right away, Tio, help me" - replied Yue seriously.
"Ok, I'm well enough to be able to use this new magic" - nodded Tio as the two girls started to check the seal more carefully before starting to activate it with their mana.
Shizuku was watching silently as she watched the two girls work.
Cloud started to look around for any unusual objects, although to his annoyance, there was nothing in this place apart from the pedestal with the stone, the transportation seal, and the compartment to take the test out of the labyrinth.
The minutes passed slowly and the girls had already made their preparations.
Shizuku had managed to help them after seeing what needed to be done.
Cloud walked over to the pedestal and picked up the stone, only to squeeze it with all his might.
The poor stone couldn't resist Cloud's prominent strength, who only watched as Gruen's silhouette smiled at him before disappearing.
Shea stood in silence, waiting to hear some sort of mechanism, or something to prove that the volcano was about to erupt, but no matter how long she waited, nothing happened.
"Are you sure this place will explode?" - Shea asked, only to hear the sound of a powerful explosion just outside the monolith - "Ok, forget it."
Cloud didn't answer, he just took the stone fragments and stored them in his inventory before walking to the seal and disappearing along with his group.
* * * * * *
When the group managed to regain consciousness, they saw that they were in some kind of cave.
Cloud quickly left the place, seeing that he was close to the sea.
"Looks like we're further away than we thought," Cloud muttered as he looked at the crystal clear waters of the place, then looked a little further north and saw the desert stretching towards the horizon. He quickly pulled out the map of the continent before frowning - "Ok, seeing the city in the middle of the sea, I want to assume we're here, and that's Erisen, the city where Myu-chan lived before she was captured."
"This is a bit annoying, but at the same time it's perfect" - Yue said as she walked towards the seal that had transported them from the great volcano, and started to modify it.
"What do you plan to do?" - Cloud asked as he analysed Yue's movements, seeing the huge difference in magical talent between the two. Yes, Cloud could control the elements instinctively, but what Yue was doing was something very different, she could not only control elemental mana, she could also analyze, deconstruct, and modify magic formulas with utmost ease, something very few people could do.
"I'm changing the magic formula of the seal to connect it to a different target," Yue replied as she continued to concentrate on her work, "When I'm done, I can connect with Ankaji and we can bring Myu-chan home without having to travel all the way across the desert."
"That's an excellent idea, as you'd expect from the prodigy of the vampire clan," Tio nodded as she walked towards the outside of the cave.
Cloud looked at the map again before frowning because the distance wasn't short, in other words, it would take them between a few days to get back.
"Maybe we should split up," Tio said as she looked at Cloud with a serene face, "You guys can go to Erisen and try to contact Myu-chan's family while I go back to Ankaji to sort out the situation and look for our two companions."
"How long do you think it will take to get there and back?" - Cloud asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not long, remember I now possess [Space Magic]" - replied Tio as she walked a little further away from the cave entrance and spread her wings - "Though if you want an exact time, I'd say between 2 or 3 hours if I use all my speed and mastery with this new magic"
"Ok, let's do that" - Cloud nodded as he watched Tio smile slightly before taking flight.
The blond shook his head before going back inside the cave and telling the girls the new plan.
"You could have said it before, now all my work ended up being useless" - Yue said as she gave Cloud a blank look - "You have to make it up to me".
"Whatever," Cloud muttered as he shook his head.
"Hey, I want compensation too!" - exclaimed Shea with a frown - "Forget that, I want time alone".
"Fine, you've earned it" - said Cloud as he shook his head.
"Great!" - Shea exclaimed with a happy smile.
Cloud looked at Shizuku and noticed how she was frowning - "You want alone time too?"
"Yeah, I mean, no," exclaimed Shizuku with embarrassment.
"You've already laid your feelings bare, you don't need to hide them" - Shea said as she patted her new friend on the shoulder - "Be honest with yourself".
"Ok, yes I want to have quality time, although I feel like the one who has been trying the hardest out of us, are Kaori and Tio-san" - replied Shizuku as she blushed slightly.
"You have a point" - nodded Cloud - "I guess we'll talk about all this later, right now we have some things to prepare."
"What?" - Shea asked, confused at her beloved's words.
"It's simple, we have to make sure that the people of Erisen don't think we are hostile visitors" - Cloud replied while frowning - "Remember that Myu was kidnapped not too long ago, so they have to be alert or looking for signs of her captors"
-
NEW WORLD - ARIFURETA
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