Trust Your Instincts

Yua was shocked to hear Yuuta's conclusion but she tried to hide it. But no matter how hard she attempted a poker face, she couldn't help but nod at Yuuta.

"So I was right. Your mom was Aarkra's target. But why did it resort in taking you?"

"I was a replacement. I sensed that something bad will happen to my mom and then I noticed that an Evil Spirit was coming at her." She retold. "In a split-second decision, I jumped towards the Spirit Jungle in hopes that the Evil Spirit would come after me instead... and it did. I signed a deal with that Evil Spirit, telling it that it can do anything it wants with me. In exchange, it wouldn't be able to come near my mom. Escaping out of here will just nullify the contract and endanger my mom again. That's why you have to tell her not to search for me! She can't search for me."

While the girl was trying to sound reliable, she was bawling her eyes out, making Yuuta wonder where she got her false courage. Of course, he wouldn't just leave the girl here alone. His quest is hanging in the balance as it is.

"Yua, I know you're doing this for your mom. But that doesn't mean you can't be selfish. Right here and now is a person willing to rescue you. Now, this person might be able to solve your problems and banish Aarkra to who knows where for good. That's why you don't have to beat yourself up. Just tell me if you want me to save you and your mom right now. And if you don't want my unneeded help, then just shake your head and politely ask me to leave."

Upon hearing that she and her mom could be saved, Yua's tears poured, even more, making Yuuta felt a pang of guilt in him. He didn't know why but this girl reminded him so much of his younger sister.

"Please, if there's a way... please save me... " The girl weakly said on the intervals of her sniffles. "Please, I don't want to die."

"Then, tell me how to get you out of this magic circle. By the way, you can just call me Yuuta." Yuuta said while thinking 'Now we're in business!'.

"This magic circle is drawn with blood and—"

"No duh, Sherlock." I interrupted.

"And to release the magic shackles, the magic circle needs to be partially erased... But the blood already coagulated to the point that it's hard to erase. If you get a bit of blood from the dead rabbits and wipe it on one small part of the magic circle, you might be able to erase it."

Despite the girl's detailed instructions, Yuuta just spat on the magic circle and rubbed his shoes on it. "It doesn't matter how I erase the magic circle, right? There."

Cling! Clang!

In a split second, the shackles that bounded both Yua's arms and legs disappeared without a trace. Yuuta didn't hesitate to pick her up from the magic circle, princes-carrying her out of the Black and White Shrine.

"Eh?!" Yua exclaimed upon realizing what was going on.

"Just hang on tight. We're almost there." Yuuta encouraged, scanning the surroundings to see if there was a way out of this dimension.

<Would you like to activate a skill?>

<Please choose a skill you like to activate>

<You have selected the Skill: All-Seeing Eye>

<Would you like to activate the Skill?>

<Yes/No>

<Ti-ring!>

<You have activated the Skill: All-Seeing Eye>

"What's going on?" Yuuta half-shouted as his sight turned into a greyscale. The surrounding area became shades of grey unlike his fully-colored sight before. Yuuta blinked multiple times to see if anything would change but to his disbelief, the colors on his sight were robbed from him.

Seeing his troubled face, Yua couldn't help but be concerned as well as they scoured through the area for a possible way out. After being brought here, Yua knew that this place was cut off from the world of Lucid and that's why she gave up on escaping. Clearly, there was no way out of the place.

Or at least, that's what she thought.

A few seconds ago, Yuuta was running around, aimlessly, trying to find a way out. But right now, he was more purposeful in his strides, heading towards the northeastern side of the Black and White Shrine. Yuuta's eyes underwent a change and he finally knew why.

Despite everything having a grey color, there was a purplish line of haze that directed Yuuta's attention. Since there aren't any clues as to where the 'way out' was, he decided to follow his gut instincts, tracing the mystic haze that led to an empty clearing. Tightening his calves and holding on to Yua even tighter, Yuuta dashed through the barren wastelands without looking back. Every step took him closer to the end of the line of smoke.

So far, Yuuta hasn't experienced anything supernatural from the Evil Spirits that were supposed to be in the vicinity. It was all thanks to the Black Grsrzy Scarf given to him from the Beginner Village. 'Once I'm done with this, I'll try to journey towards the Beginner Village and have Lav Kravia join me in my party. There were instances where other Dreamers party up with NPC's so I guess that's possible. But first, I have to get out of here as soon as possib—'

Yuuta's thoughts were interrupted in an instant as he was thrown off his feet. Worried that Yua would get injured in the process, he decided to harden his back, bracing for impact before they hit the ground.

"Gah— " Yuuta gasped for air as his lungs tightened and his diaphragm paralyzed. The collision with the ground almost took his consciousness from him. Fortunately, it didn't.

"How dare a resident of Lucid enter this dimension! You are not allowed here!" A growling voice echoed throughout the atmosphere. "If you didn't have that Black Grsrzy Scarf, I would've killed you right then and there."

Yuuta was up on his feet, gently putting Yua on the ground before raising his fists. He knew for a fact that Evil Spirits can't be dealt with physical attacks but putting up his fists gave him a sense of security even against a spiritual entity. "Who are you?! What do you want?" Yuuta screamed in hopes that the voice came from a person and not an Evil Spirit.

"It's Aarkra... and he seemed badly hurt. Whatever you did, it worked, Yuuta." Yua whispered as she stared straight in front of who knows what.

"You... can you see Aarkra?" Yuuta asked.

Yua nodded, pointing straight in front of her. "He's approximately ten or so meters from us. he can't approach us for some reason."

"I see, then that makes it all the more easier," Yuuta smirked as he grabbed the Black Grsrzy Scarf and threw it at the tail of the mysterious smoke they were following. To his surprise, the Black Grsrzy Scarf disappeared out of thin air, just as how he had expected it.

"Lorraine, Ashuril, I hope you're on the other side. If not then we're really in danger." Yuuta bit his lips as he grabbed Yua on a princess-carry again before leaping into the end of the smoke.

Yua closed her eyes, trying to process why Yuuta jumped out of nowhere. But the moment she opened her eyes, she realized she was back in the same old shack where Aarkra took her to a mirror that brought her to another dimension. The essence of the situation was that they are back in Lucid... and that's all that matters.

"Oh, you're back." Ashuril greeted from afar.

Standing behind him were twelve figures, all of them adorned in white robes with golden embroidery on them.