Chaos year 3, Day 110, 9:41 am.

"Why are you so late?" asked Hikari, spotting me the moment I logged into Chaos. "We almost went in without you."

"Sorry, I had to take care of some family stuff," I replied.

"Alright everyone's here," said Boss and turned to our half-feline squad member. "Pika, teleport us inside."

"Ah, yes."

Nodding, Pika began chanting her teleportation spell. I ran up to them and joined the huddle, stacking my hand over the others'.

Soon we got teleported inside the void gate and began falling inside the snowstorm like last time.

"We gotta go through all this again?!" Shinji screamed but his voice could hardly reach my ears because of the turbulent wind.

Nyx said she would summon us before her the moment we entered the void. How would she know though? Some kind of magic tracker spell?

"Hey, guys…" To quench my thrust of curiosity I looked around for my squad mates to ask them about it. They should be plunging alongside me. However, no one was around. "Where did they go?"

While I was pondering on the subject my teammates around me disappeared one by one. Next moment the scenery around me changed and I was back at the bottom of the pit where I and all my squad mates once died. We finally got teleported or rather summoned by Nyx, the war witch. She stood before us with a smile.

"Welcome back, my children." She stood in a proud stance folding her arms under her breasts, looking haughty with that slight smile. "Did you rest well?"

In reply, we nodded. Then I immediately asked, "How did you know that we were here?"

Listening to my question her smile widened as if she expected me to ask that.

"Your life force is linked to mine. When you entered the world I could feel the connection. So I summoned you right away with that summoning magic circle." She pointed at our feet.

Beneath our feet, a circle of 2 meters radius filled with lots of unknown signs and geometric designs glowed brightly.

She continued, "I can summon my subjects whenever I want. But I do need some time to draw this circle. I managed to summon you fast this time because I drew this beforehand. However, usually, I can't do that. There are lots of calculations to be done before drawing this you see. Any more questions?"

"Ah, I have one." Pika raised her hand as high as she could.

Nyx smiled, glancing at her. "Ask away."

"How did you know that we will be forced out at that time yesterday?"

"Oh, everyone knows that. Outsiders can't stay in the world for more than 6 hours at a time. They will be automatically forced out no matter what. It's basic knowledge just like everyone knows they need food to survive."

After that, she waited for a moment to check if we had any more questions. But none of us raised our hands.

"Alright then, you guys have to excuse me. I need to prepare for your teleportation. Don't go far away though. Ah, and the quest details will be sent to you soon. Check it out while I'm gone."

With that Nyx left the area, disappearing into thin air. Right then a system message popped up in front of everyone.

"We are fucked, aren't we?" Asked Shinji, staring at the quest menu. "I mean one way or another we are getting fucked no matter what."

"Yeah, I guess. We are gonna get stuck with that crazy ass "Master" if we succeed, if not…haha…nvm let's not even talk about it." replied Hikari.

"I'm not talking about that," Shinji cut in. "How are we gonna even get hold of that artifact? It's a fucking national treasure for God's sake."

"Yeah…," sighed Pika. "It's even mentioned here that they are gonna chase us to the end of the world."

"And we can't even turn down the quest."

"No point thinking about that. We gotta do this no matter what. There's no other way. Think positively, guys." Boss encouraged us. 

I took the baton from Boss. "Yeah. Imagine how amazing it would be if we could revive on the spot without losing anything at all. We are gonna be broken." I was grinning ear to ear. For some reason, I was far too excited instead of worried.

"Are you done reading the details?" The majestic lady wearing the red gown appeared out of nowhere again.

"Wait. This is all the information we get?" Lynx asked Nyx.

"I'm afraid so. Even I don't know anything other than that, being stuck here," she replied. "But you should get more information from where I'm sending you now."

"Yeah, where are you sending us?" I asked.

"Come with me."

We followed behind her to a narrow tunnelway, which then opened up to another large room that looks like a worshiping chamber for cult fanatics. There were lots of candles lit all around with a large magic circle drawn in the middle.

"Stand inside the circle, all of you."

We walked in like obedient soldiers. She began chanting with her hands folded before her chest as if she was praying before her Lord. The magic circle glowed beneath our feet while a faint current of wind orbited around her.

"What's happening?" Pika's voice shivered as she held onto my arm.

"Probably she's just teleporting us?" I replied.

"You trust her?"

I glanced at Pika. She was staring at me. 

"Not really." Then with a slight smile, I patted her head. "But don't worry. I'm here with you."

After a few seconds, everything around became a blur and next it turned deep dark as if we jumped into the abyss itself.