'They will appear now!' Gege said in urgency while endless portals flashed all around him. His entire forces appeared here, surrounding him and the portal.
"Our priority is to destroy the portal, or seal it," Arthur shouted the moment he saw Doaf and Amera.
The two were on two different sides than his. Yet they heard his calling and nodded before they started leading their forces to face the frontal enemy.
Yet the enemy numbers seemed endless. The more they killed the more to come out of the portal.
'Ding! Hurry up,' the system urged, 'Ding! I can already sense the change in the energy coming from that portal.'
'It's getting ready to unleash its deadly energy,' the golden dragon warned.
"I already know that!" Arthur was already pissed off, yet he couldn't help but hoping to reach the portal in time. "Bring her now!"
The next moment the gigantic octopus-like monster appeared from a portal beneath him. The monster roared and Arthur shouted in return:
"I need you to prevent anything from coming near me," he then turned around before softly adding, "bring everyone here… Everyone!"
'Got it!'
It was either do or die now. It wasn't the time to try and fight a fair fight with those enemies.
They had to help him reach that portal at any cost.
With the brutal octopus monster in the lead, and thousands of mages and tens of thousands of mechas around, Arthur was finally able to move faster this time.
Any enemy coming towards him is shot to death by his securing forces. Yet this also came at a hefty price as well.
Each step he took was on the dead bodies of his allies and own forces. But he didn't even stop and look at anything.
He knew if he stopped, if he failed, then everyone would fall and die here.
It wouldn't be only part of the army, it would be the entire army, the entire clan, and the entire planet.
"C'mon!" He was racing up with time here, however the closer he got the denser the opposing forces would be, either mages, monsters, or even the repelling protective force of that portal.
It was like having its own mind. The closer Arthur got to it the more resistant it showed.
As if it was able to sense its death coming from this small weak looking mage in the center of all this mess.
"Is that… a protective shield?!" Amera asked in surprise.
Arthur wasn't now alone. Amera and Doaf became like hawks, each on one side of him.
Despite Amera's exhaustion from using her ultimate technique, she knew how critical this moment was.
And so she didn't hesitate to join this desperate charge towards the portal and even be in the leading lines alongside Arthur.
Yet in front of them, a glistering black semi-circular bubble appeared on top of the portal. It appeared without warning and was expanding fast to envelope the entire portal and seal it off their reach.
"We will be doomed if that happens!" Doaf screamed in rage as he tried to push forward as hard as he could.
"Be ready boy!" Doaf's charge, Amera's desperate attacks, and even Arthur's usage of portals to push his way through were all met with failure.
But when they were about to lose hope, the familiar sound of Aemie appeared as she stood just above that doom.
"Go to hell worthless sh*t!" she screamed in anger before she waved her sword and released a mighty wave of attack that landed over the portal like a nuclear strike.
The strike landed over the portal and caused a silent explosion at first. The hit created a growing ball of golden fire that extended rapidly outwards.
"Take everyone in," Arthur said before shouting, "do it now!"
'What about you?' Gege didn't find any problem at taking back all these numbers of mages and mechas in the few remaining seconds before that attack would reach them.
"Take me in and then out," Arthur said without hesitation, "I need to be sure this portal is destroyed."
'Get ready,' Gege said and the next instant she took him away before the deadly wave of explosive energy would blast him.
Then she waited for a minute before she took him out.
'You are now supposedly above the location of that portal,' Gege explained as everything around was a storm of scorching hot sand. 'I'll guide you to the place of it.'
Arthur found this place unpleasant even for a fire lover dragonair like himself. He glanced around before he noticed a beaming pattern, like a flashing signal coming from the bottom.
It was like a heart beating slowly yet regularly. "No need," he firmly said while his face changed, "make sure my monster is ready to come here. Also notify the top mages and mechas, I might need their help."
Arthur didn't hesitate to fly deeply towards the signal. The closer he became to it, the hotter and more uncomfortable the atmosphere around became.
"As I feared…" When Arthur finally got next to that flashing signal, he found out what it was, "you are still alive."
"Stop it," Aemie pushed his hand before coughing. She coughed out blood while her body trembled in weakness.
"Why didn't you get into one of the portals of mine?" Arthur held her to stand slowly on her weak and shivering legs.
"I wanted to make sure the portal is gone," she said while her eyes were attracted to some place in this hell.
"Is it?" Arthur paused while the look on his face was so serious.
And Aemie simply nodded.
"Are you sure?" Arthur didn't want to leave any room for second guesses or later regrets.
"You can go and check out the area," Aemie said before adding in a long sigh, "I'm really tired. I appreciate getting into your portal for now until you finish your search."
Arthur nodded and the next moment a portal appeared beside her. The portal seemed to be a circular cut in the universe, like a piece of paradise in the middle of this heaven.
"Are you coming?" she paused at the entrance before adding, "staying here is really like a torture."
"Nah, You go ahead," Arthur simply waved, "I'll be there beside you in no time."
Aemei smiled in contempt before she turned to walk inside the portal.
"Thank you," she said before she vanished inside the portal without a trace.
"Keep an eye for me on her," Arthur slowly said.
'Are you worried about her?' Gege asked in a playful tone.
"I'm worried about her," yet Arthur said this strange answer before he turned around. "She was right nonetheless, this place looks like hell."
He had to keep looking for that portal.
'Do you need any troops on alert now?' Gege suddenly asked after one hour of continuous search.
"Oh, I forgot about that," Arthur couldn't help but laugh, "say my sorry to them, and let them rest."
He already searched in the central place where the portal was. He didn't find even a scrap of metal from that portal.
But he didn't hurry to enter. After all, the scorching sand storm seemed to stay here forever. If he didn't make sure nothing bad festered here, then all this fight and all these sacrifices would be in vain.
After ten hours of constant search, he came to the realization that nothing remained here.
The entire area turned into a large piece of desert. Not even a single monster or plant escaped such an explosion.
And the moment he realized this, he felt blessed by Gege and her portals. If not for that, then even his life would have been in danger.
"How is she doing now?" he finally crossed the outer border of that damned place. When he turned around, all he could see was a gigantic sand storm that kept swirling around itself in an intimidating way.
"This place would be off limits for generations," he could only sigh before turning his back to this place and starting walking towards the direction of the big city.
'She is holding up,' Gege said, 'but she got injuries far worse than what I initially thought.'
Arthur could only nod in agreement. "I imagined that already," he said before honestly adding, "it's a miracle for her to stay alive after getting such a close hit from that attack… Do you think it was her ultimate technique?"
As he removed the burden of looking for that portal he finally got the time to contemplate over what happened.
And the first thing to attract his attention was the technique Aemie used. For him such technique wasn't usual.
Even if its energy got augmented by the opposing force of the portal, the main devastational force came mainly from the technique itself.
"Wasn't her ultimate technique that of lightning? Like Amera?" Arthur couldn't help but ask, yet no one held such an answer to his doubts.
"Something… doesn't add up," he muttered, "something is fishy."
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