Tori raised his wing, blocking Boom off from Karasu. “Don’t be so hasty.”

“Why not?”

“We do not know who our enemies are. If there are other gods involved in this, then Karasu may be hoping for them to retrieve his essence from the seven hells. If we simply imprison him somewhere beyond their reach, then they will not have the opportunity to do so.”

Boom sighed. “Fine, you’re right. But how about the others? Do you detect any of their essences or have they already found their way to the other side?”

Tori closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them and shaking his head. “They’re all on the other side already.”

“Dammit.” Boom covered his face with his hands. “I failed them all, especially the kid. What was he doing here anyway?! I told him to stay outside, but I should’ve just… I… I don’t know.”

Tori gently patted Boom on the back with his wing. “Do not worry. While I cannot enter the other side with you, I will do what I can toer track down the kid for you. I will also call upon my allies and do the utmost in preparing for whatev war may be heading our way.”

The two looked towards the heavens as nine angels descended and landed before them.

One approached Tori and knelt. “What is your command, father?”

“Is it not obvious? Kill all of the puppets. Save as many of the living as you can.”

“Thy will be done, father.”

With that, four of the angels flew towards a corner of the battlefield and began to cut their way through the swarms of Null Empire puppets that still remained.

The rest flew toward the defensive line, where they relieved the tired Holy and Kaita Kingdom soldiers and decimated the Null Empire puppets by the hundreds and thousands.

The Holy Kingdom’s soldiers' eyes grew wide at the sight of the angels, and they cheered for the Holy Truth.

The reaction of those from the Kaita Kingdom was far more subdued, but they still looked on with appreciation and relief, for even they had been at their wits end.

As they watched the angels do their work, Boom looked his old friend up and down.

“We’ve grown complacent, Tori. We became lazy and fat. If we had approached this battle with even half the seriousness of our enemies, perhaps—”

“Yes, the outcome of the battle would have been far different if everyone had been on their highest guard. But it cannot be expected for those who have experienced hundreds or thousands of years of peace to possess the same sense of desperation and mentality as those who spent the same time preparing for the battle of their lives.”

“Tori?” Boom glared into the distance with the fury of a thousand suns.

“Yes?”

“Where’s my wife?”

***

“Finally!” Hugh shouted as the golden doors swung open. It had taken a dozen mana potions and twice as many energy potions, but he’d finally brute-forced his way through the mana protecting the door.

The inside of the room was comparatively spartan. There was a single stone pedestal in the middle with countless mana lines carved into it that flowed from the center out onto the floor and walls.

It was as if the entire room were alive—and that was fitting, for the item atop the pedestal was an overly large heart.

The heart was red and pink, with frighteningly purple veins within. It almost looked human, with four chambers and valves, but… less complicated.

Was it the heart of a giant? A titan? Hugh wasn’t sure, but that was a question that could be answered later.

The heart was tied to the pedestal by way of four chains of violet mana. Just sensing the mana within the chains sent warnings of danger deep into Hugh’s heart, but he forced himself to approach it regardless.

Strangely, the mana flowing through the mana lines in the room, tainted as it was by the purple mana, seemed to be pink in color and…warmer.

It had a nurturing, lively feel to it.

Hugh wasn’t so stupid as to try to touch the violet mana chains himself. Instead, he used one of his shields to try and break one apart.

As soon as the two made contact, the chains rattled but did not break. Instead, the edge of his shield, despite being coated with a dense layer of mana, cracked.

Hugh stared in disbelief at the crack. The violet mana had chewed through his own as if it hadn’t even been there.

Thankfully, as the chains finished rattling, the ends separated from their attachments on the pedestal and coiled tighter around the heart.

Hugh was beyond puzzled. From the looks of it, he could now just pick up the heart and leave with it.

After his experience with the chains, Hugh proceeded with extreme caution. He softly poked at the heart itself with his shield, and when nothing happened, he awkwardly used his first shield to lightly push the heart off the platform and onto the other shield. As he did so, the pink mana lines ran dry.

Hugh withdrew his first shield back into his holding item and used both hands to carry his remaining shield like a tray with the heart precariously balanced in the middle. He wasn’t about to put something so dangerous and foreign in his holding space with all of his gear.

He lifted a small crystal to his lips and called out, “Tin! I think I found what we were looking for! Get me to Sweet!”

When no response came, he looked around for a space tear.

“Guess they’re having a hell of a fight right now. Hm, what should I do?”

Hugh frowned, then lightly placed his shield on the ground. After rummaging through his holding space for a while, he found a pouch Sepequ, Boomtown’s tailor, had made for him some time ago. If there was anything he had that made sense for holding such a dangerous object, this was it.

With some difficulty, he tilted his shield and the heart rolled into the pouch’s opening. As Hugh had hoped, the pouch stayed intact. He tied the top shut and, while holding the pouch in front of him like a stinky diaper, ran out of the room and jumped through a window in the hallway.

He’d been rather high up in the palace, perhaps thirty feet above ground level, but that hardly mattered for Hugh as he crashed to the ground and leaped forward.

Moments later, he burst through Vacantia’s gates and sped northwards.