Seeing the expression on Chumo's face which generally said bad news, Emery couldn't help but feel extremely anxious. He had, after all, gone for over 4 months basically without any news, and that was a long time to be in the magus world.
Emery himself had been through a few life and death situations over that period of time.
"What's wrong, Chumo? What's with your expression? Don't scare me! It's not funny at all! Hurry, tell me what happened!" Emery said quickly. It was clear that he was pertubed by the reaction Chumo showed.
However, the response he wanted from the other party did not come. On the other hand, Chumo continued to appear distraught, which only served to further unnerve Emery.
"L-lots of things have happened since you went missing…" Chumo stuttered. "I - Klea… she…"
"What?!" Emery panicked when Chumo finally spoke Klea's name. "What happened? What is it?!" He could literally feel his heart beat so rapidly at the mention of her name that it felt painful.
"She.. I can't really explain.. But she's not… with us anymore."
Hearing that, Emery's body instantly shot towards Chumo and grabbed his shoulders with both hands. Subconsciously, he grabbed him so tightly that Chumo's face contorted slightly in pain.
"WHAT!? What do you mean?!! I don't believe you!!"
Chumo didn't say anything and just threw his head away in response. He seemed to be on the verge of tears when he opened his mouth and spoke in a weak tone.
"I.. I'm not lying! If she is fine, then she will definitely be here to meet you!"
Before he could say anything, Chumo shook Emery's hands from his shoulder and turned around. "Come with me. I will show you."
Still unable to comprehend what he had just heard, Emery ended up following his Asian friend while in a state of disbelief. In his mind at this moment, Emery thought that Chumo actually had the ability to joke.
There's no way what he said was true, right?
That was Emery's thought, until Chumo brought him to enter a portal into another world. And, Emery quickly realized what the place was.
Varuna.
The place where the Water Institute was located.
The mesmerizing view of the deep blue ocean and the milky white sand, however, couldn't stop his pounding heart that seemed like it was about to explode. Instead, it only reminded him of the early times he spent with Klea during their freshman year.
Without saying anything, Chumo jumped into the water and Emery quickly followed. The two of them made their way to a part of the facility, but not the place where the acolytes usually gathered.
The place had the appearance of a huge pearl at the bottom of the ocean, and after Chumo and Emery entered inside, they quickly arrived at what looked like a laboratory with a huge water tank in the center.
"What is this place, Chumo?" Emery asked, while his eyes wandered around the place.
Emery turned his gaze to Chumo when he realized that the latter was still not saying anything. As a result, he saw that Chumo was just staring at him in silence while his finger pointed at the conspicuous water tank.
Shifting his eyes to the water tank, Emery could see inside the huge water tank there were many fish swimming, hundreds of them and as big as a human arm. At a glance, he could recognize the fish as a type of lightning element, a species known as Electric Eel to be exact.
Then, it suddenly dawned on him that among the swimming eels, deep in the tank, there was a vague figure of a person floating.
A beautiful girl with dark hair.
"Klea!!"
Thum! Thum! Thum!
Before he even knew it, Emery had used his Spirit Reading and thus could immediately tell that there was no life force within the girl's body. At this moment, Emery felt as if someone had suddenly clenched his heart and made it stop beating.
"KLEA!!!" Turning his bloodshot eyes to Chumo, Emery said loudly. "What the hell happened, Chumo?!"
Chumo didn't say anything in response. Meanwhile, Emery had averted his gaze and slowly walked towards the water tank. His body could be seen trembling.
"Why.. why.." He muttered under his breath. "I mean… what's going on..?"
It was at this moment that an alarm sounded loudly in the air. Emery watched as the Electric Eels in the tank began to move chaotically and conduct high-voltage electricity throughout the water.
"What's going on?! What happened?!!"
Despite the flashing arcs of lightning visible within the water tank, Emery clearly saw that Klea's body remained motionless and unaffected. Seeing this, he couldn't help but think that the girl was in some kind of treatment.
"What's happening to her, Chumo?! Tell me NOW!!"
Emery darted to Chumo and gripped the collar of his clothes tightly. However, once again, his Asian friend chose to turn his head away and said, "I'm sorry, Emery… I… I really can't stand it.."
After saying those words, a smile appeared on Chumo's face and he chuckled.
"..."
To say that Emery was stunned into silence was an understatement.
Before he could ask Chumo what he meant by his words, Emery's attention was quickly diverted when he suddenly perceived a heartbeat coming from the body floating in the water tank.
Emery immediately turned around and saw Klea open her eyes. He watched dumbfoundedly as she was absorbing all the electric current in the water and her strength rapidly increased. In an instant, he could tell how strong she was now.
"That's the 7 pillars formed? She's a rank 9 high stage already?!"
Emery was stupefied. The last time they met, he remembered that Klea had only managed to form her first pillar. But now, she had already formed seven of them and reached the high stage of rank 9.
This was certainly quite an achievement after only four months.
It took the girl several minutes to grasp all the lightning energy within the tank before she finally had the capability to notice Emery's presence. She quickly swam towards the entrance of the tank and jumped out of it.
Klea was all wet and her form-fitting bodysuit that clearly showed her curves made her look even more tantalizing under the droplets of water. However, Emery didn't even care about such things at the moment because he simply missed the girl so much.
The girl looked at Emery with a piercing gaze as she walked towards him.
"Emery!" The girl shouted and quickened her pace.
To Emery's surprise, the girl swung her arm and landed her palm on his cheek hard.
SLAP!
Emery's eyes opened wide
"Klea, what… wh-"
Emery was about to continue when he noticed the tears in her eyes and the girl was already half crying.
"WHY??!! You dare ask me why?! You said a few days! It's been months already!! You deserve that, jerk!"
"Klea… I…."
Before Emery could say any word of defense, Klea had jumped at him. She hugged him tightly as if she would never let him go. Her face was buried in his chest, trying to hide her tears that were threatening to collapse.
Emery could clearly feel her body trembling, as the hands around him strengthened.
"You… heartless.." She whispered. "Don't you ever leave me again…"
Emery took a deep breath and moved his hands, one to hug her back while the other to gently stroke her wet hair.
He slowly whispered, "It's alright.. Everything it's alright… I'm here now.. I am already here…"
Hearing that, Klea slowly raised her head to look Emery in the eyes. Seeing the tenderness reflected in his eyes, she couldn't hold it in anymore.
She slowly inched closer, while he too did the same.
Two lips connected with each other as the two of them kissed.