"What?" Arthur said as he turned to face two vampires looking directly toward him: Alastair and Harker.
"We knew you were trying to look for her, as we tortured Tessa a few days ago and got that information from her. So, we acted dumb, and now you are right where we want you," Alastair said, smiling.
Arthur should have seen that coming, but they acted so well, and with the rift problem, he had other things inside his mind, which led him to that mistake.
"Why are you certain you can keep me inside this place?" Arthur asked, moving toward the exit, but a barrier stopped him before he could reach it.
"This room is old and is said to trap rank four mages easily. You will remain here as long as we want, and while you are there, no one can stop us from taking over the continent. See you, Placidusax."
After the two vampires left the room, Arthur tried to use his devour skill to destroy that magic barrier that was stopping him from going, yet it did not work. Instead, he wanted to attack it using all his powers, essences, and even the powerful Moon Essence he now had a firm grasp on, yet it did not work either.
It did not matter what attack he tried to break the barrier; nothing seemed to work, and he was trapped there. But, despite everything going wrong, Arthur still found Sybille, which was good.
He moved away from the barrier and went closer to where she was, wrapped in chains, not moving an inch. She was not awake either, and no matter how hard Arthur tried, she still did not wake up.
"Maybe the magical formation is doing that to her. The only way to wake her is to destroy everything, which is now impossible for me," thought Arthur.
~~~~
The power of the rift's closure was incredible, and it hit Arthur directly, sending him back to the ground with his body hurt in all parts. He stayed on the floor, wounded, for an entire day! No one was around that area to save him, and only after one day did he wake up again!
"Fuck! My body hurts everywhere," he thought after waking up.
"Also, my main body is trapped in that place, and the only way for me to save both my body and Sybille is by getting this avatar to rank four, at least."
It was the only solution he could find, as his main body tried to destroy the barrier for an entire day, yet it did not happen.
"But first, I need to recover from these wounds."
The power Beatrice gave him had vanished when he was not awake, and now Arthur was only a rank three mage and not a rank five. Also, without the help of the Phoenix blood, his healing speed was not as fast as it was, so he still had many wounds even after staying still for one day.
"Beatrice? Sis?"
Beatrice forgot to tell him she could not always be outside the ring, speaking inside his mind. She had to return, as the ring kept her alive. Arthur guessed that was the case, and there was no way she was dead, considering the ring was in perfect condition, so he tossed the thought to the back of his mind and slowly got up from that massive hole the impact created.
It was hard for him to move, and his right leg was slightly bent to the side, broken like one of his arms. But even though it was almost impossible for him to walk, at least fast enough, Arthur could still fly using his red mantle, and both the red cape and his plate armor were in perfect condition!
The red mantle did not suffer from the impact, different from his armor, which got destroyed, but it reconstructed itself, as that was one of the reasons it was an incredible treasure.
"My spear is also alright, so this is good. Now, first of all, let me see what that god had," thought Arthur as he flew toward the body of that god, which was not that far from where he was.
It was all burnt, but one thing was still intact: the magical pouch! That magical pouch was not ordinary, considering it survived the flames of a Phoenix, so Arthur gladly took it but could not open it.
"Well, I will figure that out later. Now I need to find a place to stay and recover."
With the help of his red cloak, Arthur flew away from that place and looked for a village or something of the kind, and he did find one.
"Where is everyone?"
Arthur only saw wooden houses with their roofs, windows, and walls with holes, and the trees around the village, the fences, were the same. There were some corpses on the ground, which had missing pieces — beasts had probably gone there to eat during the night.
"I closed the rift as fast as possible, but many people still died…."
There should be other villages or even cities who share the same fate, in all the different continents…. Arthur hoped the people he cared about were still safe.
"With Nefion there, everyone should be alright."
He was not worried about the safety of Jane and Wisa. Nothing could enter the dragon valley with that many dragons and dragon priests around. It was like an impenetrable fortress. Also, his wives were almost reaching rank four when he left; perhaps they had already gotten it.
"I need to go there and speak with them using this avatar. But first, I need to recover and reach rank four."
Even if his wives tried to contact Arthur's main body, it would not work because of the magical barrier around the place he was currently trapped, so they would have to wait for his avatar to go there, bringing them the news.
Anyway, Arthur looked around the village to see if any survivors could still be hiding inside their houses or the stables, but no one was there. He only saw corpses, and because of it, the place was starting to smell bad.
"I should give them a proper burial."
It was a small village, so it did not have many people, and Arthur would have to get rid of the bodies, or else the smell would be unbearable, so he buried all the corpses in an open field the village used as a cemetery before everyone died.
After that, he looked for the house with the best condition and sat cross-legged inside it. The first step he had to take was to recover his body, but he believed only natural recovery would not be enough, and he would have to gather some plants to make some poultices.
But, after he sat inside that house, his head ached. At first, it was only a minor pain, but it grew into something almost unbearable, and then both of his eyes turned white as he rolled them upwards, and images appeared inside his head.
"What is the mission?"
"I want you to go to this small planet here and find out about this mysterious rift that appeared. Also, we have some clues indicating that the slender creature is there, and we need to get the Unseen Truth Eye from it."
"Understood."