Desperate Struggle

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"Sylphy, Aquarina, time for lunch… are you girls sleeping?"

As Faylen entered Aquarina's room, she suddenly found out that her daughter and her friend were nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? WHAT?! S-SYLPHY?!"

She quickly expanded her senses, suddenly noticing that the Familiar she had left to watch over the girls was completely sealed. Its invisible nature made it so that she couldn't see it at first.

"My Familiar's sealed? How could I not detect this?! Wait… this is… Death Magic? No…!"

As she realized what was happening, Faylen quickly rushed outside, calling Allan, Nepheline, and Shade, as all three of them rushed towards her in an instant.

"What's… eh? Where are the girls?!" Allan asked. His face became paler and paler as time passed, swallowing saliva in nervousness.

Shade quickly noticed that the familiar he used to watch over Aquarina had also been sealed somehow, without him even noticing it! What kind of power was this that it could even overpower the Heroes that defeated the Demon King himself?

"This is… impossible… my familiar… sealed without me realizing it?! Aquarina…!"

Shade punched the ground in anger. In response, the entire place began to rumble!

"Aquarina… what could have taken them away? Is there a being capable of doing such a thing?" Nepheline could not help but mutter.

"I'll search for them. I left Holy Marks on them!"

With that, Faylen suddenly coated herself in her own holy aura as a massive domain quickly appeared around her, covering the entirety of the place!

FLASH!

Her eyes shone with bright light as her magic quickly began to work in less than a second. Her mind began to browse through space and time for the Holy Marks left in her daughter and Aquarina, until she noticed that they were nowhere but here!

Through her magic, she realized they were in… a different space. It was as if they were dragged into a completely different dimension, but positioned in the same place they were standing in.

"Another dimension?!" Faylen said in shock.

"Wait… so this is… it can't be! I'm pretty sure we killed the Dimensional Lord. After all, he was one of the Four Heavenly Kings! That fight… even took the life of one of our companions…" Allan could not help but feel despair.

"But the Dimensional Lord is the only one capable of conjuring such advanced Space Magic… unless there's someone we don't know about?!" Faylen said in response.

"No… it can't be… why our children?! Why not us?!" Shade roared, feeling utterly powerless.

"Stop being a crybaby, Shade!" Nepheline roared back, grabbing Shade's head as she forced him to stand up.

"Nepheline… I… Aquarina…!" Shade muttered.

"There's no time to cry. Let's do this like we always do it. Together," Allan told everyone.

"How can we even access another dimension if we don't have her in here?" Shade asked.

"How? Simple. We just have to break time and space," replied Allan. Soon, his eyes shone brightly, flames flickering from within…

"Y-You… you mean it?" Shade asked with a hint of doubt.

"You lack a lot of faith in your own power, Shade," Allan could not help but tell him. Soon, his muscles began to bulge to a great extent as a massive sword was summoned on his right hand!

TRUUMMM!!!

"Familiar Fusion."

FLASH!

Suddenly, all the familiars Allan had a contract with fused into his entire body. Within seconds, feathers made of flames grew around his body, several fox tails appeared behind his back, while scales grew around his torso and legs.

Then, a massive blazing helmet in the shape of a roaring dragon appeared over his head as his strength multiplied dozens of times!

"Sorry for doing this to your child's room, but… there's no time to think about this! Ultimate Technique: Inferno Blade!"

SLAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSHHH!

BOOOOMMM!!!

The entirety of Aquarina's room was engulfed in flames in an instant as his blade pierced not through the outside world, but… thin air?!

CRACK… CRACK!

Spacetime began to crack like fine glass before Allan!

"I-I did it!" he muttered as an insane smile appeared on his lips. At the same time, the entire village began to run away from the scene as an entire land of flames emerged around Allan. Surprisingly, his blade had pierced space and time!

"Y-You actually did it in the first try?!" Shade asked in great shock.

"Help me out!" roared Allan in response.

Hearing that, all three heroes quickly began to help Allan. After all, they weren't going to give up that easily until they could save their children.

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FLASH!

I felt the voice of Theia resound throughout the dark space, the same goddess I disliked back then. Her Divine Protection kicked in and protected me from this lethal attack, which would have disintegrated me into ashes if not for it.

The power of this Death Beam was incredible. It completely shrouded me with death to the point it turned all life in my body into nothingness. In other words, it was absolute decay. Though, it wasn't as if I turned into ashes. It was more like my entire body was rotting until it turned into ashes. However, the miraculous power of Divine Protection even shielded me from such a powerful attack.

It felt as if my entire body went back to normal, as if time began to run backwards. I fell on the ground, my body still hurt, but I was still somehow alive.

"Hmm?! Divine Protection… so you've already gotten blessed. Oh well, that's only once a day, right? If so, this one will surely kill you," said the skeleton, its dark voice resounding throughout the darkness.

"Sylphy!!!"

While screaming, Aquarina rushed towards me. Her entire face was crying desperately, her tears fell over my face, her little lips were trembling.

"Run… nngh… run away, please…!"

"Ah… no…! I cannot! I…"

"Death Beam."

BOOOMMM!!!

"Ah…!"

I saw with my own two eyes as Aquarina's entire body was devoured by death. Soon, her entire body began to rot away incredibly quickly, but then…

FLASH!

"Don't give up."

The voice of an adult man resonated across the space, covering her with oceanic water. Just like what happened to me, her body suddenly recovered, as if time itself reverted.

"You too?"

"Aghhh! Unggh…! It hurt…! Hahhh… S-Sylphy…"

Aquarina fell on the ground, having experienced the same horrendous thing as me. At this moment, she began to feel pain all throughout her body.

"Good, good. Now there's nothing else protecting you little girls. This is it," said the skeleton, getting closer to us.

No… no… no!

Naturia…! Where are you?!

"SPIRIT SUMMON!"

I roared the words that my parents said when they summoned their spirits. Soon, a sudden explosion of emerald light came from my body. Thankfully, Naturia was summoned!

"Foo!"

"N-Naturia…! It worked!"

"Huh? A Spirit? Well, that won't change anything."

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