Vivi simply smiled back calmly without answering.
Finally Layla looked toward me again.
"One more thing," she said. "Is Kaalseris safe?"
I nodded immediately.
"Yes. The naga homeworld is safe and stable. Your people can explain everything that happened during your absence."
Layla visibly relaxed after hearing that.
"Good."
Then she smiled faintly before stepping backward beside the old naga warrior.
"We’ll move soon," she said. "There’s clearly a lot we need to discuss now."
The next moment silver essence wrapped around both of them before space rippled softly and their figures vanished into the void.
I looked toward Vivi and she smiled.
"Well that was... fascinating," Vivi said while looking toward the place where Layla had disappeared. "Who would have thought the old Matriarch had a personality like that."
I nodded slightly.
"Yeah," I replied. "I guess once you become that strong, you stop caring about maintaining appearances all the time."
Vivi smiled faintly at that.
"Anyway," I continued, "let’s go meet up with Lyrate and Knight."
Vivi waved one hand lightly and space folded around us instantly. The Crimson Zone vanished from sight before the familiar drifting asteroid base reappeared around us once more.
The moment we arrived, I immediately heard Lyrate’s voice.
"Send me to the core."
I looked toward her slightly surprised.
"Why?"
She shrugged casually.
"I’m going to prepare for my Saint rank advancement." Then her eyes narrowed faintly. "And I have absolutely no interest in watching Aurora enjoy being called Lady Order."
I almost laughed hearing that. Knight coughed into his fist while clearly trying not to smile.
"I’ll go with you," he said afterward.
"Alright then."
I waved my hand and sent her directly to the Null Core.
The moment they disappeared, I looked back toward Vivi.
"So where’s everyone else?"
Vivi tapped her chin thoughtfully before answering.
"Steve, North, and your grandmother are currently on Abor," she replied. "Ragnar and Silver are on an elemental world dealing with something." Then her expression shifted slightly. "Aurora and Primus are attending a meeting with Xeron and several naga representatives." A brief pause followed. "Ash disappeared into a forbidden zone again."
Then Vivi looked directly at me.
"So what now?"
"Nothing complicated," I replied casually. "Call everyone back to Abor and tell them Knight has returned with important news."
Both Vivi and Knight immediately looked at me suspiciously.
"What about you?" Vivi asked.
I smiled slightly.
"I haven’t returned yet."
Then I looked toward Knight and winked.
He stared at me for several seconds before sighing.
"Why are you like this?"
"Because it’s funny."
Knight rubbed his forehead tiredly.
**************
A few hours later my private residence on Abor slowly began filling with people one after another.
The atmosphere initially remained light.
Steve arrived first and immediately threw himself onto one of the couches while complaining loudly about how long the mission had taken. North appeared not long after and the moment she learned Knight had returned, visible relief crossed her face.
Silver and Ragnar arrived together through a spatial gate while still arguing about something involving an elemental serpent they apparently fought earlier, and even Aurora looked noticeably more relaxed than usual while walking inside alongside Primus.
Everyone was happy. Laughing and talking.
Steve was already asking whether Knight brought back anything interesting from the reincarnation world while Ragnar loudly demanded alcohol before any serious discussion started.
Then Knight entered the room. Silence followed instantly. Because he looked terrible.
One arm missing entirely. Blood stains across his clothes. Deep cracks running across parts of his skin like someone who had barely survived something catastrophic.
North immediately stood up from her seat.
"Knight..." she whispered.
Steve’s smile faded completely. "What happened?"
Knight remained silent for several seconds before slowly walking toward the center of the room.
Vivi stood quietly near the wall already with tears gathered in her eyes, selling the scene so perfectly that even I almost started believing the act myself.
Then Knight finally spoke.
"Lyrate is gone."
The room fell silent instantly.
For a second nobody even reacted properly, almost like the words themselves didn’t register.
Then—
"What?" Aurora said sharply as she stood up from her seat, visible shock flashing across her face for the first time since arriving.
Ash frowned immediately. "What do you mean gone?"
"How?" Primus asked at the same time, his relaxed posture disappearing completely.
Silver’s expression hardened while even Ragnar stopped moving entirely.
Knight lowered his head slightly.
"She’s dead."
"No," North whispered instinctively.
The disbelief in the room became almost tangible.
"How does someone like Lyrate even die?" Steve muttered while staring at Knight. "What the hell happened there?"
Aurora took several steps forward now, her golden eyes locked directly onto Knight.
"Where is Billion?"
The room became even quieter.
Knight remained silent for several seconds before finally answering.
"He was captured in that world."
The pressure inside the room exploded.
The meeting table disintegrated instantly beneath Ragnar’s aura while cracks spread violently through the floor and walls. Before anyone could react, Ragnar crossed the distance between them and grabbed Knight by the throat with enough force to shake the entire house.
"You allowed that?" Ragnar growled, his eyes blazing with fury. "You were supposed to protect him."
Knight didn’t resist at all. Ragnar’s killing intent flooded the room harder.
"You come back missing an arm and tell us you lost our king?" he snarled.
North stood completely frozen behind them, her face pale while Steve muttered quietly to himself again.
"That’s impossible..."
Ragnar tightened his grip further.
Then finally, Aurora stepped forward.
"Enough."
Her voice cut through the room sharply. Ragnar looked toward her furiously but Aurora didn’t back down even slightly.
"If we are all standing here right now," she said calmly, "then Billion is alive."
The room quieted slightly after that. Aurora’s eyes moved toward Knight.
"You wouldn’t have returned otherwise."
Knight remained silent.
Aurora continued.
"So instead of wasting time blaming him..." her gaze swept across everyone in the room, "...we prepare and go find him."
Then her golden eyes narrowed slightly.
"And this time," she said quietly, "all of us go together."
I decided then that it was the right time to step out before things escalated any further. A laugh echoed through the room.
Ragnar froze instantly.
Everyone did.
The space beside the shattered table rippled softly before tearing open, and I stepped out of it still laughing lightly while Vivi finally failed to hold herself back and chuckled openly from near the wall.
Knight snorted too.
Then his injured body suddenly dissolved into smoke entirely before reforming behind me completely unharmed, both arms perfectly intact again.
For several seconds nobody reacted.
Aurora stared at me blankly. Silver looked like he genuinely wanted to hit someone. Ragnar slowly turned his head toward me while still processing what had just happened.
And North.....North simply stood there staring at me silently.
I grinned slightly.
"Well," I said casually while looking around the destroyed room, "this got dramatic really fast."
The next instant Steve grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be part of the broken table and threw it directly at my head.
"You absolute bastard!"
I tilted sideways laughing while the broken piece flew past me. Aurora closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead slowly.
"I should have known," she muttered.
Primus actually started laughing loudly now while Silver sighed deeply in relief.
Ragnar meanwhile released enough aura pressure to nearly collapse the house again before suddenly appearing directly in front of me.
For one dangerous second it genuinely looked like he was about to punch my face through a wall.
Instead he pulled me into a crushing hug hard enough to crack the floor beneath us.
I laughed softly.
"Good to see you too."
Behind Ragnar, North still hadn’t moved. I looked toward her over Ragnar’s shoulder and our eyes met.
The shock on her face slowly cracked apart into anger.
Then relief.
Then anger again.
"Oh," she said quietly while walking toward me slowly, "you think this is funny?"
"Very funny actually—"
I didn’t get to finish. She punched me directly in the stomach.
The room went silent again.
North’s eyes were slightly red now.
"Don’t ever do that again," she said quietly.
I looked at her for a moment before smiling faintly.
"Alright."