Emma and Shiroi, who were waiting by the foot of the mountain, heard the commotion even from afar. The shrieks of the Quasar Lightning Snake were more deafening than usual, and the skies seemed to sing its chorus with the lightning and thunder.
"Do you think it's over?" Shiroi worriedly asked, turning her head at Emma who was casually sitting on a huge boulder.
"I think so. The storm's calming down a bit." Emma pointed at the mouth of the volcano where the black storm cloud was beginning to dissipate a bit. "It's bound to be over soon."
"Aren't you worried... Satoshi might be in trouble." Shiroi anxiously asked, pacing back and forth while looking at the volcano from time to time. As much as she wanted to assist Satoshi, she didn't have any teleportation ability that would get her to the mouth of the volcano in an instant.
If she had to, though, she wouldn't think twice about scaling Mount Etna.
"He'll be fine. Satoshi's much stronger than you think." Emma shrugged as if she couldn't care less. Unbeknownst to Shiroi, however, Emma was peeking from her dimensional portals from time to time to check up on Satoshi. The reason why she wasn't that uneasy was that she was already aware of the outcome of the fight.
Satoshi was able to tame the Quasar Lightning Snake, and he was on his way down the volcano. Since she was aware of that, there was no point in her worrying over nothing. Emma found it amusing that Shiroi was worrying over Satoshi so she decided not to say anything until Satoshi
...
"You look different."
Since this was the last day Satoshi could get to explore Emma's home planet, he decided to scale the mountain on foot instead of teleporting to where Emma and Shiroi were. It wasn't every day that he got to take in the dewy air while going down the mountain.
Beside him was the Quasar Lightning Snake, who took a smaller form to keep up with Satoshi's pace. "I can adjust my size at will... but you're right about one thing. I feel different than normal. Was it because of your blue flames? What was that?"
As the two of them spend their time taking in the picturesque scenery of the mountain, untouched by human civilization, Satoshi explained how his superpowers worked. Well, more like he explained what he knew about his power. Until now, his power still remained a huge mystery even though he had already used it a couple of times in the past.
"So that's why... that's why I feel so much power brimming within me. If this is the perk of being your tamed beast, then I would've agreed to it, no questions asked." The Quasar Lightning said. "I knew about your tamed beast, the one you nicknamed Orb Oboros. In one dimension, it is said to be one of the weakest beasts to ever exist since it could only store small objects in its spatial dimension. I couldn't believe that your Orb Oboros could contain even the great Quasar Lightning Snake himself. If we were to go in my dimension, I'd be a laughingstock."
"So, you're not originally from here? How did you get here? I'm pretty sure that you don't have any teleportation abilities." Satoshi asked.
"I don't know. Our dimension... was attacked by a powerful beast tamer. I have no idea what happened to our world. When I woke up, I was already in this dimension. It was total chaos out here. I had no idea what to do so I just stayed here, by this volcano." The Quasar Lightning Snake narrated.
"I see," Satoshi could tell that the Quasar Lightning Snake wasn't lying. Just like how Emma's home planet was invaded by an unknown attacker, the Quasar Lightning Snake's homeland was invaded as well. Both of them were victims in this case, and Satoshi couldn't help but think that there was only one entity behind these things. After all, the invasion seemed to be premeditated, and it was more than successful.
'Could it be the World Eater?' Satoshi muttered to himself.
A few minutes later, Satoshi reached the foot of the mountain without even realizing it. Emma and Shiroi ran up at Satoshi, stopping in their tracks when they noticed that the Quasar Lightning Snake was right there.
"Is it just me or did the Quasar Lightning Snake get smaller?" Emma asked out of curiosity, approaching the beast and poking its head.
"Watch it!" The Quasar Lightning Snake exclaimed in annoyance before floating behind Satoshi. It was a cute gesture, and Emma and Shiroi were enamored by it.
"I guess that's the last of them. Are we ready to head back? You still have to prepare for the entrance exam of sorts, right?" Satoshi asked Emma.
Emma nodded and without further ado, created a dimensional portal that led straight to the Midoriyama household's doorstep.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your family first, Emma?" Shiroi asked since they were already there and all.
Shaking her head, Emma forced a smile on her face. "I already did. Besides, I could always come back here whenever I like." She continued. It was all thanks to Satoshi who got rid of all the berserk beasts on her home planet. It was solely thanks to Satoshi that the planet once again experienced peace, and the dangers of the beasts were completely eliminated.
"All right then,"
They didn't even bother packing their things since Orb Oboros took care of everything. It only took one wave of Satoshi's hand for all their things to be packed. And then the three of them stepped into the portal, finding themselves, right in front of the Midoriyama household.
...
It was early in the morning, and Tatsuki was relaxedly sipping on his morning coffee while watching the usual morning news. It had been a week since his son went to another dimension with Emma and Shiroi, and he couldn't help but feel worried.
Of course, he didn't show it in a superficial sense since doing so would just worry his wife all the more. Even now, he couldn't help but think about his son's well-being. He knew his son was strong, but that didn't stop him from worrying.
Suddenly, he felt an instant spike of energy in the vicinity, causing him to perk up and look around. From the window, he saw a familiar dimensional portal, and he heaved a sigh of relief. "It seems like everything went well with their subjugation," Tatsuki commented.
"Are the children back?" Ayumu asked, rushing from the kitchen and then peering through the window.
At the same time, the trio came out of the portal, still in their outdoor clothes.
Ayumu's face lit up in an instant, and she rushed to the door to greet her son first. As soon as Satoshi heard the door open, he was tackled by his mother who hugged him tightly. "Welcome home!" She greeted, giving Emma and Shiroi hugs as well.
"Did you get thin? Why do you look so dirty? Did you have a hard time?" Ayumu cooed, bombarding her son with multiple questions before he could even breathe from her hug. "I've already cooked breakfast. Come inside." She beckoned excitedly.
"I'm back," Satoshi greeted back, seeing his dad sitting on the couch while nodding his head towards him in greeting.
The atmosphere of the Midoriyama household changed in an instant. With the arrival of Satoshi and his party, the somewhat mundane atmosphere changed into a lively one. Ayumu vibrantly set the table for six people, gesturing that the three of them sit down and eat first before doing anything else like taking a shower.
Emma, Satoshi, and Shiroi didn't reject the offer since they were starving. Due to their hectic schedule while trying to subjugate every berserk beast on Emma's home planet, they barely ate a proper meal. And quite frankly, Satoshi missed his mom's homecooked meal.
"Don't rush, there's plenty more where that came from," Tatsuki advised after he saw Satoshi stuffing his mouth with karaage.
Emma and Shiroi were no different. They were holding back though since they didn't want to have a bad impression on Satoshi's parents.
"Goo' mo'nin~" A light tip tap of foosteps could be heard descending the stairs. A couple of seconds later, Aira could be seen sleepily walking down the stairs while rubbing her eyes. She woke up due to the commotion, but she hasn't realized yet that Satoshi and the others have returned.
"Ah! Big brother! Emma-nee~" Aira called out before hugging Satoshi. "Welcome back!"
"You woke up quite early today, Aira. Good morning." Ayumu greeted, handing Aira a small plate before pulling out Aira's chair for her.
With the whole family gathered around the table after a week, Tatsuki felt a wave of relief washing over him. He was glad that his son was all right, but he also knew deep within that these peaceful days wouldn't last long, Even though he had no idea about the coming World Eater, he could tell that something was coming, and it's going to be a serious threat to their dimension.