Arthur went to the outside world where he was welcomed with a grand scene. The mages coming of that world were now sitting all over the place, resting while the signs of exhaustion and even deep wounds appeared on their bodies.
But the most prominent thing he felt was that dark atmosphere that ushered over the entire place. Even staying in a graveyard would feel more cheerful than being here.
"What's going on?" he went directly towards Doaf where he was standing with a large group of people alongside Amera.
"It's far worse than we initially thought,'' Doaf said in a dejected tone.
"Who are you?" one of the mages asked, "you saved our lives but I feel your power isn't that great."
"He is Willy," Doaf said, "the one our grandmaster took under his wing before all this."
The mage was someone like Doaf, giant with a deep scar over his eyebrows. Arthur could tell from his eyes that he wasn't someone to trifle with, not any less formidable than Doaf.
"Oh, it's you… I dunno if I should express my gratitude for your help or slap you in the face for what happened because of you."
Arthur was expecting a reaction like this but hearing such mean words from the man he just saved made him quite annoyed.
"What happened up there?" Arthur asked before a sudden explosion occurred in the other world that attracted everyone's attention.
The entire world seemed to be engulfed in a mighty fiery wave that passed with extreme speed to sweep everything there. Arthur noticed that a few mages were still trying to escape towards the portals.
"We should seal it," Amera urgently said.
"No," the mage who was rude to Arthur said, "we can't let them die out there."
"But this fire will travel all the way here!" Amera was persistent in her demand before turning to Arthur, "shut the portal down now!"
Arthur turned to Doaf who seemed quite hesitant. "I'll wait till the last second," Arthur said before flying in the air towards the center of the array, "but you need to be ready. The moment I close the portal and shut down the array all those trapped monsters will be released."
Arthur went to the center of the array in no time while the mages he left behind started to relay the news.
"You shouldn't listen to them," the next moment Amera appeared next to him.
"What are you doing here?" Arthur calmly asked while hitting the ground with his leg and regaining control over the entire array.
"The war… isn't just limited to one world or one clan," Amera said, "it's a huge war between the light and dark camps… and we started it by losing a lot of good clans and worlds."
Arthur turned to see the dark look over her face. "Your clan?" he asked.
"It's… still hanging out like the bronzed giants," she took a deep breath before adding, "but they were… hit."
"This bad?" he pointed to the world up above.
"I heard it's even worse."
"What about your grandmaster?"
"She is fighting on many fronts," Amera said, "I believe the grandmasters of many clans decided to withdraw from many compromised bases and group together."
Arthur thought for a moment there before saying, "in fact this fight isn't a place I should be in."
"I can't agree more."
"But I can help link you to your world next," he said, "I hope we can get in touch with my godfather. I want to be sent back, and you… can stay here and fight."
She gave him a deep glance before bitterly laughing, "don't tell me you are worried over me?" she said while sizing him up.
"It's… one of many reasons," he said.
"What are the others?"
"I believe they lack any good fighters up there," Arthur frankly said, "despite the fact that I need all the help I can get down there, but I doubt they need more help than I."
She went into silence while watching him. As for Arthur he just tried to be decent and not look greedy. After all he got their help based on a small favor, not a lifetime allegiance or something.
"I won't leave your side until you return to that damned academy again," she suddenly said.
"That's for me?" he asked with a faint smile over his face.
"Don't get me wrong," she said with a chuckle, "I'm doing this to get my revenge over those lycans. After all I heard they were one of the first clans to betray us."
"They… betrayed the light camp?" Arthur was surprised to hear that, "I thought…"
"They are far more greedy and worse than you might think," Amera sighed, "my grandmaster once tried to scheme a combined attack on their clan but others had cold feet at the last moment."
"There are others like them?" Arthur asked after a moment of pause, "other traitors?"
"The list is so long to just say it in a few words," she sighed, "but at least our big masters have long anticipated such a list and were slightly prepared."
"Yeah, I can see that," Arthur sneered while returning to watch the world explode and the mages still pouring through the portal.
"Don't judge upon this so fast," Amera angrily said, "they were faced with at least one hundred clans combined. No one can stand against such force."
Arthur gave her a deep and silent glance, feeling bad to say the previous comment that stepped likely on her sour spot. "What are they planning now anyway?"
"They will group everyone in a group of twelve worlds," she calmly said, "it's a contingency plan that the higher ups put in a long time ago. They call it the last stand plan."
"The name suits it," Arthur nodded.
"Now can you shut that down?" she pointed towards the portal, "many have passed already and the fire is getting closer to the portal as we speak."
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