Orion, who was still in his own dimension, turned around and saw that Ryfin, Famir, Lisa, Ron, and lastly the masked girl had all regained their youth.
They weren't old anymore. They appeared exactly the same when they looked before entering the mirror world.
'Thank God '
Orion sighed in relief as he saw that. He believed that if they were to never return to their normal selves, then this incident would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. But it was fine now, and he was really glad that they were fine too.
However, there was still a greater obstacle that made him reluctant to face them. He felt that, given what he had done to them, he had no right to confront them.
Moreover, he had a sinking feeling that their relationship, if it had ever been good, would never be the same after all that had transpired.
So, he hesitated whether he should reveal himself or not.
'I can't run away from things always. I will have to face them eventually. I ran away last time but not this time.'
In the end, he took a deep breath and decided to face them. He felt that he couldn't run away from them forever, and since everything was fine now, he should take responsibility for what happened and apologize to them truthfully.
Having made up his mind, Orion deactivated his curse and appeared on the ground before them.
"Orion!"
They finally saw him and so did Orion. He also saw them and looking at their faces, which didn't seem to hold any grudges, he sighed in relief inwardly.
"Hi guys."
He waved his hand at them in greeting, but it looked quite awkward since the confidence he always exuded was missing, replaced by a nervous and forced smile on his face.
"You have the gal to say hi to us after what you have done?" The masked girl mocked him.
Orion looked at her and felt that she was still angry at him for that. But it was understandable. Anyone would be angry if this were to happen to them.
"But it turned out that aging in the mirror world and dying there was the real test," Famir continued. "After Ron died there, we despaired even more, but Ron was totally fine. He appeared on the other side of the mirror and was also young again. He then used his ability to teleport in front of us and told us what happened. That's how we are here."
Orion nodded at them. He felt the trap was quite a sinister one. One would have to die for them to pass through it and nobody in their right mind would be willing to die.
"Well, it's good that you guys are fine," he said, nodding at them.
"So, what happened here?" The masked girl asked, pointing at the huge monster locked by black chains. "I believe that thing won't just pop out of nowhere, right?"
Orion's face became solemn as she mentioned the huge monster.
"That monster is an Apocalypse-level monster..." he explained to them from start to finish as to what really led to this moment.
"Apocalypse-level monster? Anomaly? Destroying core?" The masked girl frowned when Orion recounted the whole situation to them.
She felt the situation here had gotten out of hand. They, a bunch of kids, wouldn't be able to do anything here and would only get killed if they overestimated their ability.
"We can't do anything here," she said, looking at Orion. "We can only watch from a distance now."
"Don't worry too much," Orion said. "I have already informed my family about the situation beforehand so they should be here eventually."
"Your family?" She asked in puzzle.
"Well, I am from one of the seven Magi families," Orion said, looking deep at her. "I feel you are too, aren't you?"
She ignored him when he asked that and turned to look at the monster.
However, Orion became sure that she too was from one of the seven Magi families. After all, she didn't refute him when he asked her that.
"Anomaly detected."
But at that moment, the huge monster that had been silent the whole time because of the shackles suddenly awakened.