Arthur knew she was telling the truth, but the next moment Doaf and that other mage came suddenly to join the two of them.
"Please don't," Doaf urged, "they can still make it."
"They need only a few minutes, that's all."
"What if the fire came here?" Amera crossed her arms before adding, "not only those you are desperately trying to save will die, but others standing safely here will die as well. Besides, the array we took much trouble to activate will be damaged and we will return to the start point again."
Doaf knew she was telling a high possibility, but that mage wasn't convinced by her logic or he was simply stubborn.
"We will wait."
"This is nothing you can decide," Arthur stepped in this time to put an end to this unneeded clash. "I'll wait as long as I can, but if the fire gets near the portal then I won't hesitate to crush it."
"You…" the mage's body trembled and he emitted a very dangerous aura.
"Marcos, stop it," Doaf had to step in as well as he shouted and blocked the aura of his friend. "If not for him, you won't be able to cross safely here."
"He can't tell me that and you expect me to stay calm!" Marcos shouted but that didn't affect Arthur.
"Where is my godfather?" he simply changed the topic and Marcos glanced deeply at him and said nothing.
"He is safe for now," Doaf said with a long sigh, "as I told you before, he ditched that world and went to regroup with others."
"And the main force?" Arthur asked again while keeping his eyes over the portal and the devastated world beyond.
"They are with him," Doaf answered.
"Can you relay the message to him then?" Arthur finally asked what he wanted to say from the start.
"The message we previously sent must have reached him," Doaf confidently said, "but he is way too far from us. I believe he will need more time to be here."
"How can you tell?" Arthur asked, "y'know if the message didn't arrive to him then we are doomed."
Doaf understood his meaning. After all, what they did here and their intervention in this giant war would attract more attention to them. It wasn't planned but this was a fact they couldn't ignore.
"I can contact him," Marcos said, "but that depends…" he paused and his meaning was understood by the other three.
"Are you trying to blackmail me?" Arthur calmly asked while his eyes turned cold as he waited for the answer of Marcos.
"Humph, I'm just stating simple facts that's all."
Arthur was about to crush the portal, and Doaf read what he was about to do and hurriedly stopped him.
"Marcos, stop it already," he shouted at Marcos, "if you have a way then you'll use it… now!"
Doaf's back was exposed to Arthur not his face, however Arthur knew his face was sending an obvious message to Marcos to stand down.
Marcos kept standing in his place motionless while gazing deeply at the eyes of his friend.
"I'll… use it now," he said before taking out a strange pillar and the next moment, even before Arthur could spot it clearly, the pillar was smashed into tiny pieces. "The message is gone," he said and he glanced at Arthur as if he was saying these words to him.
And Arthur retreated from the idea of closing the portal now. "Let's wait for the last moment then," Arthur said, "I'll wait until the fire is midway through the portal before closing it down."
"This…" Marcos seemed not satisfied with this answer.
"Hey, if the fire passed to the portal then all the men trapped there will be dead," Amera stepped in as she said in a strong tone. "Deactivating the portal will take a few seconds, enough time for all possible mages to cross it before shutting it down."
"This is the best option here," Doaf said while gazing again in a meaningful way to his friend.
But Marcos didn't speak, and he didn't object.
Arthur then gave his full attention to the portal. The fire was now getting much larger, forming giant ocean-like waves.
And these waves were getting closer to the height of the portal in the sky at a rapid pace.
"C'mon," Doaf was more anxious than Arthur thought as he stood there while tapping with his legs over the ground. "It's just a small distance remaining for your safety."
Arthur heard his words and remained silent. It was pretty obvious that many would be able to pass, but also some wouldn't.
"Sorry Doaf," Arthur deeply said before hitting the ground again and this time the array stopped working and ceased any connection it had with the other world.
And the next moment the portal started to crack. The fire already coming through it was almost at the last third.
Arthur waited for the last moment before crushing the portal. As Amera expected it took roughly half a minute to completely shutter into nothing.
And that time was enough to let those passing through it, chased so close by the fire to finally escape.
"Oops," Amera said, "a small amount of that fire passed."
The moment those runners finally crossed the portal, the fire managed to emit a long tongue towards them. However as the portal was crushed, they only suffered wounds and not their lives.
"They are safe," Doaf said, "that's all what matters."
"Let's go to see them," Marcos went to the air but Arthur's next words made him freeze.
"'We have another world to rescue."
"Which one?" Marcos turned midair and asked.
"Mine," Amera said before adding, "do you think we were only coming to rescue your world alone? Mine is also compromised, and god knows what's happening right there as we speak."
"But…"
"We saved yours," Arthur stopped Marcos midway, "and I waited as much as I could to save as many as I could. However I also have another world to rescue and I'll do that now."
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