Reunion and Farewell

After entering the gate, Veil and Xaveene walked for hours and hours nonstop.

The passageway felt endless, but Veil walked silently.

Xaveene just watched the girl, meanwhile, on the 12th hour of their walk, the sensation changed.

Soothing and calming feeling embraced Veil as she walks in constant rhythm.

Suddenly, she felt like she is submerged in healing potions while walking, an extremely relaxing feeling.

[…]

Veil then woke up in someone's lap, when she regains her sight, she saw Ara from the orphanage.

"Big sister!" Veil suddenly got up as she hugged Ara.

"Hey, you are finally awake, has it been a long dream?" Ara smiled.

"Mhm, it was very long and scary…" Veil looked down and slightly frowned.

"Do not worry, I am here, we will eat a delicious meal later." Ara hugged Veil again.

While hiding, the two peeked on the small hole in the door to check if Morrow and his lackeys already left.

Nodding at each other, the two run outside to play; Ara even bought snacks for Veil while they happily walked down on the streets.

The afternoon sun slowly falls down to set, Veil and Ara spotted another girl sitting near the castle.

"Hey kid, are you alright? What is your name?" Ara checked the girl's knees seeing she got a cut.

"Mhm, thank you. I am the daughter of the King, my name is Lauron." Lauron even stood up to bow as if showing she is indeed a royalty.

"I am Ara and this is Veil, should we play together?" Ara smiled as she held the other two's hands.

Nodding and smiling, the two skipped around and joined Ara.

When the night arrives, the three sat down on a wooden chair on the plaza, various torches have been lit up.

Suddenly, they heard screams from the direction of the gate, it was said that they are getting attacked by monsters.

The city immediately went into a panic, people bumped on the three as they struggled to run as well.

A tall monster with long limbs then appeared seemingly a Gaia, it kept on chasing the three girls until they reach a cliff.

Ara stepped up to face the monster; she stood up to protect the younger girls.

"You two, jump of the cliff while I buy time!" Ara firmly decided.

"No big sis! You should just jump down with us!" Veil cried.

"No, let's listen to her, we should not let her sacrifice be wasted." Lauron lightly pulled Veil.

Sniff.

"Nooo!" Veil still crying.

When the monster is very close to Ara, she turned around and smiled to Veil, almost an extremely familiar vision in Veil's eyes.

As she digs through her memories, she could still not remember a thing, however, just when the monster is about to grab Ara, she got out of Lauron's grasp and ran toward the monster.

Badump badump badump!

Time seemingly slowed down as she takes every step towards the monster readying its claw.

Her heart madly pounded as she gets closer and closer.

Thud!

She pulled Ara by her clothes to receive the attack instead while Ara fell down on the ground.

Badump badump!

Time slowed down yet again, her heart slowly loses its loud thumps.

Badump!

Swoosh! Splatter!

The monster finally swiped down on her direction to kill her.

Vuooom!

Veil's eyes blacked out as she wakes up in a throne room.

["You are finally awake."] Xaveene asked while sitting on a massive throne.

"Wha-…" Veil could not finish her question before surveying the surroundings.

["You always firmly choose to throw away your life for someone else."] Xaveene slightly smirked.

"Well… It feels better than seeing them die before my eyes." Veil unhurriedly replied.

["With that, I now know how you are recognized by both Lauerveck and Azazel."] Xaveene smiled brightly.

"…" Veil just listened with silence.

["As for your final test, you should watch the contents of this memory crystal and give me an answer; if it is an answer that satisfies me, you pass."] Xaveene added as she lightly pushed her hand.

Veil nodded before touching the memory crystal sent floating towards her by Xaveene.

Vuish! Crack!

Veil's mind was then sent again to a different dimension after seemingly enter a dream when they were walking.

She then appeared to be flying in the sky as she watches the world from above.

A massive fissure stretching from continents through continents are slowly expanding.

It looks as if the world is splitting apart.

The image then changed into a meeting room, where various kings have gathered and are discussing the states of their own lands, dividing their military forces and so on.

This meeting is happening simultaneously all over the world of Terra.

When she closely listened to the agenda of these meetings, the sole topic is the Great Collapse, a phenomenon expected to happen before the next blood moon which is about 3 months from now.

The Great Collapse is when the Underworld is forcing its way to the above world; in this case, Zekerion is crashing onto Terra.

However, the space taken up by the Zekerion is the core of the planet, which would then mean that it is akin to Terra self-destructing.

The vision then ended when an image of massive eruptions started appearing from the fissure.

["Now, state your answer and satisfy me, human!"] Xaveene stood up from her seat as she demands an answer.

"…" Veil pondered deeply and closed her eyes.

[…]

The silence remained for long until she finally made up her mind for an answer; she opened her eyes and faced the God before her.

"If something is destroying the world I love, then I will destroy the destruction itself!" Veil declared seriously with a slight smile.

Xaveene's lips arched up into a smile, she then slowly clapped as she approached Veil.

["Great! Great! I shall deem you worthy of stopping the Great Collapse!"] Xaveene praised the human's answer.

"What should I do now?" Veil inquired.

["Hmm hmm, I shall grant you the authority to reach the apex of the Underworld hierarchy, a Tier S entity."]

["After attaining the rank of a Tier S, you would be granted the control of this entire Underworld, how you stop it from crashing onto the above world is fully up to you."] Xaveene explained as she sent a wave of light to Veil before disappearing.

Upon receiving the light, Veil felt renewed with even greater power, Xaveene also updated her magic paper for her.

Name: Veil

Race: Terran-Human

Affiliation: None

Mana Control: S

Combat Level: S

Tier: S

Veil clenched her fists as she immediately created a gate to exit this place.

Vuoom!

She gained the ability to teleport any distance within the Underworld; she is now like a Godlike being.

With temporary Godlike sensation and abilities, she informed every single God of her plan to destroy time itself around Terra to stop Zekerion's emergence into the above world.

["Esteemed Gods, I wish to rewrite the Great Collapse, I hope this does not come as disrespect for any of you."] Veil declared in a divine language.

Upon receiving Veil's message, various Gods who are unaware of Veil's identity watched with great interest.

Tiaris and Xaveene, who are both familiar with Veil, slightly smirked.

When Veil finished speaking, she tried expanding her mana to envelop the entire Zekerion.

Vuimmm!

However, just when she was about to reconstruct the shape of the Underworld as to not destroy the above world, one of the Gods suddenly spoke.

["I object to your actions, if you are freely bending the rules of predetermined events, just what are Gods like us come down to?"]

["I believe you should pay the necessary price for bending a destruction bound to occur."] The God of Destruction, Ultear, spoke in a grave tone.

Some of the Gods nodded, they respect the course of events and destruction is part of every planets and worlds.

["I understand, then proceed and set the price I shall pay."] Veil replied in a determined tone.

["Very well. You shall lose all the authority on the Underworld after expending your powers to rewrite the Great Collapse. After that, you will never be allowed to return the Underworld."] Ultear smirked.

On his mind, he was bargaining on which choice would Veil pick, everyone on the Underworld forgetting about her, or going back to the above world where she was already forgotten?

["Mhm, sure."] Veil answered with a serious face as she terraformed the Zekerion.

Ultear was shocked himself due to Veil's decisiveness.

She soon detected the chaotic energy penetrating the ground above and around the Underworld space, she then used every bit of authority granted upon reaching Tier S to modify the structure and avoid its crash.

Boom!

As all of her mana leaked out from her hands, she suddenly fell down from flight and lied down on the ground as she looked up on the mana rain.

This mana rain produced liquefied mana due to its massive amount in the atmosphere; it then rained down on every part of the Underworld.

Everyone including monsters felt the soothing feeling.

Solara smiled as she recognized this mana of Veil, she would never forget as she asked an Elf to engrave Veil's name on her arm in runic language.

After the mana rain ended, Veil's body lying down on the ground slowly turn into small orbs of light floating upwards.

[…]

Meanwhile on Terra, everything seemed to freeze in place; the humongous fissure extending across the planet that almost connected could be seen mending.

Thud thud thud thud.

Various miniature explosions and earthquakes hit the areas around the fissure as it slowly closes up.

This fissure is so big that it bended the mana in the world, this is also the reason why the previous forces from the Middle Realm, now Aeria, has been forcing their way out to reside in the human world instead.

If the Great Collapse ruins the atmospheric mana and ultimately destroyed the Terra, all of them would drift down into the void eternally.

They would not be able to open a gate in the outside space as no mana could be materialized there.

Meanwhile due to the interference in the advent of the Great Collapse, time itself was altered.

Everything that took place while the Great Collapse is happening would also revert as if nothing happened.

The minds of the people who knew about the Great Collapse would also change their perceptions, making it so that it was nothing at all.

Meanwhile, the orbs of light from Veil's disappearance from the Zekerion all reached the last part of the fissure in the ground before it closed.

Now, everything was fixed and restored into its original state.

The invisible gray ripple of mana then broke and the time flowed again, the lives of the people all continued again normally.

Meanwhile, Solara's tears filled her face as it falls on the engraving on her arm, the runic tattoo forming the words Veil.

She could not form in her mind the reason for her nonstop sadness and grievance, but she knows that the person named Veil was someone important for her.

The time they spent was not long, but Veil was the very first person who became her friend ever since the ancient times.

However, now, she would not remember who Veil was no matter how much she thinks; the only marking of their bond is her new tattoo, showered with Veil's own mana and her tears.

"Goodbye… I hope you stay safe no matter where you go, Veil." Solara stands up and looks up at the skies, she then wiped the last tear in her eye as she walked forward.