Karteira and Lucas, who were too focuses on their fight to notice the clash between Elliott and Miasma and its end, were oblivious to Layla''s recovery.


    "What do you mean? I am certain that Miasma died."


    Elliott looked at Layla, gripping at his leg.


    "No! Lord Elliott, this was all a lie!"


    Orion crouched next to her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.


    "For a start, calm down. Take a deep breath, and then explain."


    Perplexed, she glanced at him, before doing what he asked her to do.


    Breathing in and out a few times, Layla seemed to drop the pressure. After a few seconds, she released Elliott, and stood up.


    "I''m sorry. I haven''t even thanked you for saving my life."


    She turned to Orion, before holding her hand toward him.


    "I know it isn''t the best time for that, but what you did will forever be engraved in my mind. This is a debt I will be unable to repay in what is left of this life."


    Orion took her hand while standing up, and firmly grasped it.


    "I would have never expected handshaking the first person who tried to kill me."


    "And I would never have expected to be released from the corruption. We are the same."


    Exchanging a profound look into each other''s eyes, they shared muted words that described more than what they explained.


    While Orion understood that this woman was originally a kind person at heart, Layla acknowledged that the man in front of her was more than a killer.


    Judging each other swiftly, they released the other''s hand, and looked at Elliott.


    "Miasma having survived doesn''t sound so farfetched now that I think about it. He isn''t the kind of monster to come unprepared."


    Opening his hand, a tablet appeared in Orion''s hand. He quickly pressed and swiped on it, trying to find evidence of the Remnant.


    "Yes. I will explain what his real plan was when invading this realm."


    Following with a nod, Elliott listened.


    "There is something in this realm that Miasma desire more than anything. He felt its magic signature a few weeks ago."


    "A magic signature?"


    "Yes. It appeared for an entire day, before vanishing into thin air. This appeared to be a place across the entire continent, at the opposite of where we were."


    Orion and Elliott looked at each other, before a look of shock appeared on Orion''s face. He opened his mouth, and frowned.


    "This corresponds to the time everyone went to Hocride..."


    Elliott followed his train of thought, and quickly understood.


    Both Orion and Elliott opened their mouth, speaking the names of the entity in danger.


    "Tia-Norun and Enri-Ann..."


    A dark expression appeared on Orion''s face, before a dangerous bloodlust escaped his body.


    "It could even be Stella."


    "Why?"


    Layla asked carefully. Orion glanced at her.


    ''The less people know, the better. Yet, I should be able to trust her now that she is clean.''


    Closing his eyes, Orion revealed Stella''s identity that only him, the twins, and Tiohr-nam knew.


    "She''s the Remnant of Progress."


    Both fell silent, until Layla took over.


    "I believe this person is fine. At that time, there were only two signatures. If she was with them, then she wasn''t found out."


    Both Elliott and Orion eased up, but stayed focused.


    "Then, that leaves the two other Remnants."


    Elliott turned his head away, and opened his mouth in disbelief.


    "I should''ve seen it coming. Layla."


    "Yes?"


    The woman jumped slightly at the sudden call, and anxiously waited for Elliott to talk.


    "He intends to seize Tia-Norun''s power."


    "..."


    Layla slowly nodded, confirming his idea. Orion opened his eyes wide, finding out the underlying problem with this.


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    "He wants the power to control space and time?!"


    Orion''s angered voice caught the two off guard. As they looked at him, Elliott explained.


    "This was an idea I heard only once."


    -


    "Wouldn''t it be incredible to change the events that happened."


    "With such a power, I could rewind time, change what happened to Frey, and make this world as I see fit."


    -


    "So that was father''s plan all along..."


    Feeling cheated, Elliott turned around to hide his expression.


    Suddenly, a warning sound echoed from the tablet. Orion glared at the screen, and saw a notice saying that a breached occurred on the barrier placed around his house.


    "Fuck! Elliott, we need to hurry!"


    The tablet disappeared as Orion turned into his Abyssal Sovereign form. With his two wings stretching wildly next to him.


    "Right!"


    Magic surrounded Elliott, as his feet glowed brightly.


    "Take me with you!"


    Layla grabbed Elliott''s arm, pleading him with her eyes.


    ''I don''t have time to hesitate.''


    He picked up the woman in his arm, and left with Orion. The two crossed the realm in record time, breaking the wind barrier.


    Their exploding shockwaves were felt by the residents, alerting them of something terrible happening.


    The three crossed the barrier, and closed on the house, prepared to face Miasma once again.


    ~


    *BOOOM*


    "Better hurry."


    With a anxious expression, Miasma usual smile was nowhere to be seen.


    He forced open the front door, and bent forward to enter.


    "Tsk! This place it too small."


    With the ceiling being too low for his almost three meters tall body, Miasma shrunk to a normal person''s size.


    "Where is she?"


    He looked with a deep focus inside the house, until the three entities entered his internal view.


    The signature of two grown women, and a child.


    Miasma rapidly ran inside the house, continued forward past the stairs, and entered the room on the right.


    "Found you."


    When he opened the door, his eyes settled on a pink-haired woman, hiding the child behind her alongside her friend.


    "Miasma... I hoped to never be found by you."


    With a hateful glare unusual for Tetra, she spat those words at him.


    "Don''t be like that. I need your power."


    "You know I won''t give it to you."


    A sight escaped Miasma monstrous face.


    "Then, you leave me no choice."


    He stepped forward, feeling his enemies approaching rapidly. Pressured by time, there was no time to lose anymore.


    "Stay away!"


    Henrietta stepped in front of Miasma and attacked him with a blade of water.


    "Fuck off!"


    Without a single shred of compassion, Miasma destroyed her attack, and grabbed the woman''s arm.


    *Crack*


    He bent Henrietta''s arm in an unnatural angle, before ripping it off.


    "Aaaah!"


    Then, he threw the woman to the side, and glared at her.


    "I''m not interested in your shitty power. If you''ve stayed quiet, I would''ve ignored you, but you''ve made the first move, so don''t blame me for that."


    "Enri!"


    Tetra shouted the name of her friend, holding herself from running to her side.


    Blood gushed from her wound, as her consciousness slowly faded away.


    "I''ve left you a little gift. Enjoy the corruption."


    Dark veins began to stretch under her skin, moving upward on her neck.


    "Why are you like this?!"


    "Because I can. Now, give me your power."


    Miasma walked toward Tetra, and grabbed her neck.


    "Kuh!"


    She glared inside his bright red eyes, before the strength in her body slowly drained.


    ''Orion... I''m sorry.''


    The light in her eyes faded.


    "Noah..."


    Until her lifeless body remained in Miasma''s hand. The sigil of her power appeared in his eye, alongside his own.


    A digital 0 appeared, before vanishing. Miasma''s eye possessing Tetra''s sigil cracked, before blood gushed out of it.


    "Ah! Damn it!"


    "I''ll have to control this thing before using it!"


    He let go of Tetra, who fell lifelessly to the ground, right in front of Stella.


    Miasma stared at the little girl, who was terrified beyond belief, holding her tears.


    "..."


    His hand moved unconsciously toward her, before he recovered his senses.


    ''There''s no time for that, I need to get away!''


    With no time to lose, Miasma destroyed the wall behind Stella, and escaped the house.


    While Orion and Elliott entered the house, Miasma took this chance to flee.


    A few minutes later, he stood in front of the rift leading to Eogis.


    "I made it... I have the soul and power of Tia-Norun."


    With a vicious smile, he looked back.


    *Shiver*


    A intense and threatening aura erased his smile.


    "..."


    He was prepared to fight Orion at some point, but not today. Still, he didn''t know how to process the fear he felt from this aura.


    "Death... Am I... afraid of this man?"


    Pondering about this, Miasma walked out of Horizon, having obtained what he came for.


    ~


    When Orion ran inside the room, it was already too late.


    "..."


    His eyes quickly examined everyone. Henrietta was barely alive, Tetra was laying on the ground, her eyes wide open, and Stella was shaking, grabbing Tetra''s arm.


    Elliott and Layla entered a few seconds later.


    "Father..."


    Disappointment and rage filled Elliott, as his eyes fell on the poor girl, the only one alive and well in this room.


    Still, she wasn''t ''fine''. She was the witness of violence and murder.


    "I''ll check on Tia-Norun. Orion..."


    "I know."


    With his face hidden behind a dark veil, Orion approached Henrietta. He kneeled besides her, and placed his hand on her head.


    His head turned to look at the arm laying on the opposite side of the room, before turning to the gaping wound where it was supposed to be.


    Lifting his hand, a dark tendril formed near the ripped arm. It grabbed it, and brought it to Orion.


    Orion attached the arm back as he changed to his angel form. The white aura around him oscillated, as his emotion were clearly starting to change.


    He freed Henrietta from the corruption inside her, and healed her back to normal.


    As she slowly opened her eyes, she spoke with a faint voice.


    "I couldn''t... protect her..."


    Standing up, Orion''s wrath seeped through his body.


    ''Neither could I.''


    An aura of death exploded from his body, freezing Elliott, Layla, and Stella, as they stared at Orion.


    On Orion''s face, a single tear traveled down his cheek, before he walked out of the room through the broken wall, passing his daughter.


    "The death of a friend, and the scar on my daughter''s mind."


    "You will suffer."


    "Painfully, and slowly."


    Wrath and agony filled his mind, as he walked toward the rift with heavy steps.


    Elliott closed Tetra''s eyes, before standing up.


    "I think... we''ve made a huge mistake."


    "It was my fault..."


    Layla looked down, recalling the terrifying expression she saw earlier.


    "There''s nothing we can do anymore. If there''s only one person who can stop him..."


    "It''s Amelia."


    In a precarious mental state, Elliott knew that it was a matter of time before Orion turned into his berserk state.


    But this time, he wasn''t sure he would be able to bring him back. He wasn''t even sure he would be able to win against Orion in his faction forms.


    "And now..."


    He glanced at Henrietta, who was crying faintly at the loss of her dearest friend.


    "There is no way to turn back."


    Locked into this timeline, there was no room for mistakes anymore. If Orion died, or lost control, the world would be doomed.


    And never Henrietta, nor Tetra, would be there to turn back these events.


    With a heavy heart, Elliott patted the little girl''s head, before leaving the room after Orion.


    "Layla, take care of Stella."


    Without giving her time to answer, Elliott walked away.


    "I will."


    Layla carefully wrapped her arm around the little girl, before hugging her tightly.


    "I am deeply sorry. I wish this would have never happened."


    Stella finally broke down, and cried on the woman''s chest. The terror, the sorrow, and her father''s expression. Everything came back like a boomerang.


    The fate of the continent was sealed that day, alongside the clash between Orion and Miasma.


    Their last battle would occur in the Forgotten Land, Eogis.