Chapter 41: Ripped Out Reality

Bane watched Lysia work but he no longer needed to tell her which runes to carve over. Bane figured that she already knew what to do, but she was just acting jealous of the voice in his head, Eve. He wasn't sure how to convince Lysia that Eve was not a threat to her in that way, but that thought was second to what was going to be on the other side of the portal.

Bane was from a world where Spiritual beasts and demons didn't exist. The beasts so far had looked like exaggerated forms of things from his world, but they didn't really bother him. Demons, on the other hand, well, Bane knew what his world thought of demons in all their forms. He didn't like the idea of those grotesque forms being exaggerated.

This was when Eve, Bane's ever helpful assistant, decided to help clarify things. 'Demons are born from negative emotions, but they also become that emotion. That is, unless they are a named demon. Those ones gain full control of the negative emotion and they gain much stronger abilities. Demon ranks are dependent on the strength of the negative emotion. Sadness Demons are the weakest and they make up Minor and Lesser Demons; Crying Demons and Screaming demons. As for what they look like? They are much worse than what we see as demons.'

Bane pinched the bridge of his nose, but then jumped as Mizuage spoke up beside him in a harsh whisper. "We shouldn't be here! With the Demonic energy so thick here, the other side of this gate is likely to be much, much worse than the elf assumes it will be! I don't even understand how you can just stand over here?! Are you even human? Or a demon in disguise?! I can barely stand being this close to where the portal will appear, but you look perfectly fine! Look at poor Wei Nam Lee!"

Looking over to the entrance of the cave, Bane saw that Brother Wei was not looking so hot. Bane turned to Mizuage. "Then take him out of here, and get a safe distance away. Lysia and I can handle this since this bothers you so much."

Mizuage staggered back with a look of disbelief on his face. "You are just as bat shit crazy as the elf! No wonder she picked you!"

"Little white dragon. I will give you one chance to leave with the boy, and then I will be taking my current frustrations out on you if you are still here," Lysia said in a loud and dangerous voice that echoed around the chamber, making Mizuage grind his teeth, but before he left, he grabbed Banes shirt.

"Don't you dare die, boy. You have a bright future ahead of you, no matter how much you frustrate me. I have much to teach you," Mizuage said and then rushed over to scoop up Wei Nam Lee and leave the cave.

Bane let out a sigh and shook his head. It was better this way, but with the way Mizuage acted, it had to make Bane wonder about Lysia. The demonic energy wasn't bothering him, in fact he felt great in this cave, and even better at the center. It was almost like this place was built for him, but what effect was it having on Lysia?

Walking over to where she was working, Bane spoke up. "How are you feeling? Is this demonic energy bothering you?"

Lysia didn't even bother to look away from what she was doing. "That little dragon hasn't fought demons like I have. I didn't expect the energy to start getting stronger as we unlocked the gate. This is probably going to be much more difficult than I expected, but since you aren't affected by it, we will still be able to destroy the power source to this portal. Though, we will be gone for a while. Something like this could take us up to a year."

Bane shrugged. "While time is really not on our side right now, it's not like we will be sitting on our hands the entire time. You can train me, and I will have strong opponents, which is pretty much what we need, right?"

Lysia finally stopped carving, and it was the last one. As she turned to smile at Bane, the runes activated. Lysia's smile surprised Bane, but he didn't have time to appreciate it. The portal appeared in the center of the cavern, but then Bane alone was sucked into it in the blink of an eye. Right as he entered the portal, Agrata, Kyōka and Yume, Eve in the same form as when she first met Bane, a black sphere, and for some reason Mizuage were ejected from Bane's body.

The smile on Lysia's face vanished as she rushed at the portal, but it closed the moment Bane was through. The first to react before Lysia could even get close was the black sphere, Onyx. The A.G.I tried to force the portal back open, but then stopped and then vanished. Eve just sat on the floor with Mizuage and Bane's weapons, both of them just staring at the space where the portal had been.

"How did this happen?!" Lysia screamed as she tore at the space where the portal had been in the center of the cavern, but then she turned on Eve. "You! You were supposed to protect him and stop something like this from happening, right?"

Lysia's voice was laced with killing intent that made even Mizuage cower, but it had no effect on Eve. "I don't think you are thinking properly right now and you need to calm down, for Bane's sake. That orb that just vanished was the all mighty thing that has been blocking and protecting Bane, but even Onyx was kicked out. There is no way that either of us should have been able to separate from him."

Lysia growled, but then took a deep breath to calm herself. She should not have lost it like that, but Bane was too important to her, and she had just found him. While she might act tough, and standoffish to him, Lysia was near to tears with frustration now that she really understood the implications of Eve's words.

"What can we do?" Lysia asked in a near whisper.

"Believe in him. You all have taught him a lot in a short amount of time, and now Bane has no restrictions on him. Everything that Onyx was holding back will be released all at once," Eve explained, though that wasn't enough to convince Lysia that Bane would be fine, but there was nothing she could do about it.