256 Go home, Evlin

Evlin couldn't stop looking at the giant dragon right in front of her. She tried to think back and realized that she never saw an actual dragon in her life before.

She heard that Daren and Marceus faced two of these things back when they were working for East, but the most they could accomplish was to knock them out long to escape safely, and it took a fused form to perform such an act.

There was also that incident where a pair of these guys attacked her school but Leona and Marcus managed to hold them long enough for all the students and teachers to run away from the danger. Right before one of them pulverized the building like it was nothing.

And then there was her recent encounter with Wrath not too long ago, where she almost tore her body apart to try to defeat him, but the most she managed to do was to bite his hand off, not that she even remembers how she did that, followed by him standing up later as if nothing happened.

In an attempt to access her memories, Evlin realized she never heard of anyone ever defeating a dragon, only escaping from it. According to Hana, only terminal fire could take a dragon down, but there was no way she could access this kind of power in her current state.

"Your eyes tell me you get the situation you are in..." Knucker spoke again.

"Ugh..." Evlin whispered, angry that she couldn't deny that her group was at a disadvantage.

If it was only Dria, Lilith could handle her all by herself. But Wrath? The same Wrath that had some of the most absurd defensive power she has ever seen? The same guy that just reacted to his limb being removed as it was some minor inconvenience like forgetting to buy milk right after returning from the grocery store?

On the other hand, what did she had? Many of the members of her team were still tired, hurt, or simply had no means of fighting back.

For a moment, Evlin began to realize she was once again right where Knucker wanted. They always were at a place that was good for him and bad for them. All because of his power to see the future and making arrangements that meet his desire beforehand.

"Evlin!!" Daren shouted, which made her come back to reality.

"W- What...?"

"We are with you!!"

"..."

She looked again at every single member of her group. They all had fight in their eyes. There was a giant dragon right in front of them and they all still looked like they had no second thoughts about taking their chances with it.

But that was exactly the problem. These people were warriors. This was in their nature. They had no problem with the idea of dying while fighting for what they believed because, in this world, death is just as natural as life.

She was the only one who knew just how serious this was and how much they could lose.

[We are running away? Did you found out where Knucker's body is?] Ria replied.

[I don't give a damn about his body right now... Let's just get out of here safely and live to fight another day...]

[O- Ok! Just give me some time... I'm not at my best right now so this might take a while...]

Leona, Gustav, and Daren all stepped forward and stood side-by-side with Lilith.

[We will buy you some time...] Daren replied.

Knucker looked at their expressions, "Seems like your minds are made up..."

"Let's go!!" Daren shouted while rushing with his metal claws in hand.

Gustav and Lilith also moved while carrying pieces of metal as well. Leona began to charge her fire magic to summon her avatar ape. Auren observed the situation and carefully prepared to conjure an energy shield to support his team. All while Ria focused on creating a portal while holding Cia in her arms.

"Everyone..." Evlin whispered, "Be careful..."

Leona's fire ape was formed and began to surround the flaming mage as if it was her arms and legs. The blond woman glared at Wrath and charged at it to sock its face with a fist of fire.

Knucker observed while the red dragon continued to be smacked over and over by the spell.

"Magic and holy energy... Not bad... You almost got there..." he whispered while holding his chin, "But it's still missing cursed energy..."

Leona kept hitting Wrath with everything she had until she ran out of breath. She tried to stop for a bit and realized that the attacks were having no effect at all.

The dragon glared at her and began to turn its body to slap her with its massive tail, which also ended up destroying parts of the wall in the process. Auren tried to stop his tail with a shield, but the dragon just destroyed it like it was made of glass.

"My castle!!!" the king cried while pulling his hair out, "Knucker!! What's all this!!?? This isn't what you told me was going to happen!!"

Knucker just shrugged in response, "Not everything always goes as we planned... What can I say?"

Leona was knocked against the was and lost her consciousness making her fire avatar disappear.

Lilith and Daren jumped in next and tried to slash the body of the beast, but just like before, the attacks had no effects since all they had was the pure blessed energy from their weapons provided by Marcus.

"That is barely going to help against dragon skin..." Knucker commented.

Wrath raised its claws and stomped the ground, which created a small earthquake making Lilith and Daren lose their balance. The beast then took a deep breath and blew them away as well with nothing but the power of the wind released from his lungs.

"Guahhhh!!"

"Kyaahhh!!!"

Daren and Lilith were both knocked out as well as they smashed against the walls.

"Now then... Where is the blond one...?" Knucker whispered.

"Right here!" Gustav replied as he appeared right behind Knucker and stabbed him with a knife.

"Ugh!!!" the white-haired man cried, "What do you hope to accomplish?? This body is not real!!"

"Maybe... But the mind is!! Now... Show me where the real you is hiding!!" Gustav responded as he tried to use his ability to enter inside Knucker's mind.

"Oh... We can't have that... Dria? Would you be so kind?"

"No problem, boss!" Dria replied as she grabbed Gustav with her vines and launched him against the wall and right after that, against the ground.

"Guaahhh!!!" Gustav cried in pain.

"I missed you mister Horse! You always were my favorite punching bag!!"

"Ugh!!" Gustav mumbled while trying to stand, "And you are still the same pathetic demon who just keeps hiding behind those with actual power while cowering in the shadows..."

Dria's face turned into an expression of disgust as she began to bite her lips and glared at the blond man.

She grabbed Gustav and threw him towards where the others had been launched at.

"Starting to get tired of everyone complaining about how I choose to do things..." Dria commented.

"Control your emotions kid..." Knucker suggested while closing his wound by pressing his hand against it, "We are too far in the game to get take by our feelings and make unnecessary mistakes..."

"R- Right..." Dria replied while taking a deep breath.

The king continued to observe the situation while paralyzed by fear. Knucker's red dragon just defeated Evlin's entire group in a matter of seconds. He gazed at Evlin herself wondering if she would try to fight him next, but the mage was just as pale as he was.

"Did I make my point clear? Miss Evlin?" Knucker asked while giving a few steps closer, "You can't win against me! Go! Home!"

"..." Evlin was speechless. She looked at Ria wondering if the portal was ready so they could try to escape, but from her behavior, it seemed like she still didn't have enough strength.

"You are probably thinking about running away right now..." Knucker guessed, "I just want to ask, where are you even planning on going?"

Evlin also didn't know how to respond. She knew they still needed to re-unite with Ellie and the other kids, but after that, what then? Where could she go to escape from this man?

"These are your options... You can try to escape to try to fight me another day... Which would mean I would have to send my friends after you to kill you... Imagine how much destruction I could cause while playing this small game of cat and mouse with you... How many lives could be caught in a crossfire of our dispute..."

"..."

"You and your buddies can try to go for round two against Wrath right here and get killed by him in the process... Which would be totally fine by me, just wanna let you know..."

"..."

"Or... And I can't stress enough how much I'm trying to be a good pal and help you out with this one... You could go home!!"

Evlin glared at Knucker, "You want me to just go home after everything you did to me?? After all the damage you caused!!?? You want me to just forget all that!!???"

"Of course not..." he corrected, "I'm just asking you to surrender and save the lives of your friends before I make them turn into dinner for Wrath..."

"Why!!??" Evlin shouted, "Why even give me the choice?? Why not kill me right now??"

Knucker's eyes began to glow for a bit to show he was looking into the future again, "I have my reasons..."

Evlin still didn't understand what his true intentions were. He wouldn't stop talking about how much he hated her, but now he was giving the chance to come out of this alive? Even though she represents such great danger to him?

Evlin then widened her eyes and gasped, "Ah...! Danger..."

Knucker flinched a little.

"Your power..." she continued, "The power of future sight... It exists to warn its user of incoming danger... And I am the greatest danger in your life..."

"..."

"If I die... Your power will vanish..."

Knucker tried to force a smile, "If you die... I wouldn't need my power anymore..."

Evlin began her thought process, "You would... In order to defeat Ellie..."

"..."

"Terminal fire is the only thing that can stand against dragon powers... And Ellie is going to master terminal energy one day... So will Marcus, and Dia... But they are still young... They are not a threat big enough for your power to warn you yet... I am... My existence allows you to continue to look into the near future... While they only allow you to see the distant future..." she then finally realized why Knucker wanted her back at her own world so badly, "If I go home... I can be a contained threat for you since there is no magic in my world... A possible threat that allows you to still use your power..."

Dria looked at Knucker and realized small drops of sweat appearing on his face.

"You hate me... But you need me... You can't kill me... Or you won't have a way to know how these kids will kill you..."

"Or... I could just kill all the kids right now and solve all my problems!"

Evlin smirked, "If you could do that... You would have done it already!!"

Knucker shifted his glare and realized that Ria was reaching for Marcus while everyone was distracted.

"Hey!!"

Marcus noticed that Knucker had seen them and rushed to turn into a gauntlet for her arm.

"Evlin!! Ashley!! We are leaving!!" Ria shouted as she activated the power of her wind-scar and opened a portal for them to escape.

Knucker panicked and shouted for Wrath to go after them, "Don't let them get away!!"

At his orders, Wrath locked target on Ria and began to charge at her.