Chapter 395: Escape and unexpected help
In the west of the Dark Valley, on the edge of a deep rift, stood a small dark palace.
Around dark palace, one could see strange buildings with inscriptions on the walls, which indicated that these buildings belonged to the Womskinner race.
In the sky, not far from the castle, a lone red figure with huge fiery wings on its back stopped.
Idan, who had been flying at an incredible speed before, suddenly stopped when this huge rift and dark palace appeared in front of him.
Looking at the palace, Idan frowned.
"Too weird..." he muttered, looking at him. "Why is there no one in sight?"
By rushing here, Idan was prepared for an ambush and a meeting with numerous enemies, including Erza herself.
But all Idan saw was a silent, Dark Palace.
As he stood and stared at it, Arabel appeared next to him, coming out of the spatial storage.
"Dan, — Arabel called, distracting him from his depressing thoughts.
"Belle, — Idan replied, turning to her. He froze for a moment, admiring her beauty in the form of an Ice Valkyrie. Then a smile appeared on his face when he realized that she was fine.
After that, his attention turned back to the castle, as did Arabel’s.
"Are we here yet?" asked Arabel.
"Yes," Idan replied, "The palace is on the edge of the rift, and the portal is inside the rift. That’s what Tamisra said."
Arabel, upon hearing Idan’s confirmation, frowned at the palace. She also noticed that there was not a soul around or inside the building.
"Is this an illusion?" Arabel asked with some doubt.
Idan said nothing. He wasn’t sure himself.
Tamisra made it clear that Erza was preparing an ambush for them, and Idan and Arabel were convinced of this. However, seeing the empty palace in front of them, they began to doubt their assumptions.
Realizing that they had already spent enough time in inactivity, Idan took Arabel by the hands and flew towards the palace. Arabel did not resist, on the contrary, feeling the warmth of Idan’s hands, she intertwined her fingers with his and squeezed them tightly.
Fearing traps that could be inside the palace, Idan and Arabel decided to bypass it and head for the rift where, according to Tamisra, the portal was located.
Idan, with fiery wings on his back, and Arabel, with four snow-white wings that left a cold trail behind them, quickly descended.
At this moment, after they had absorbed enough fire and ice sources, their energy was at its limit. They were ready to take on their spirit form at any moment.
Finally, when they reached the edge of the rift, they finally saw what they were looking for - a huge portal that rotated some distance away in the depths of the rift.
"The portal is open!" exclaimed Arabel when she saw the portal.
"Yes," Idan nodded and sighed.
"It seems that instead of setting up an ambush here, Erza decided to do it on the other side," he suggested.
Arabel nodded, agreeing with his conclusions. "Erza doesn’t know that we have limited time and that we have to act quickly. Otherwise, she would have set up an ambush here in her home world, not in our world."
After saying that, Arabel smiled and turned to Idan.
"Isn’t this playing into our hands?"
Idan nodded, agreeing with Arabel. It was to their advantage that Erza had set up an ambush in their own world. As a diamond-ranked being, Erza’s power must be suppressed by the world itself.
"Although this gives us an advantage, we must not underestimate her," Idan said, so that Arabel would not relax and always remain on her guard.
Just as they made their decision and were about to jump down to the portal, a huge pressure descended on them, causing them to fall to their knees. Following that, they felt the gaze of a powerful being looking at them from afar.
That gaze seemed to be focused on Idan to a greater extent.
"Damn!" Idan cursed, trying to resist the pressure and force that held him in place.
Arabel was also struggling to resist the pressure.
Instead of easing, the pressure increased rapidly, and realizing that if they delayed any longer, they would be caught, both made a decision at the same time.
Boom! Boom!
Two powerful explosions thundered, from the release of two opposing elements.
The elements, which instead of suppressing each other, began to merge and strengthen, pushing away the powerful pressure.
After gaining some freedom, two figures — one fiery and the other snow—white - wasted no time jumping down to the rift and swiftly flew towards the portal.
Behind them, a tsunami-like wave of dark energy surged from all directions, destroying the palace and everything in its path.
This was the first time Idan and Arabel had seen such a thing, and they were gripped by real fear.
At the very last moment, when this dark energy almost overtook them, they managed to fly into the portal, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Idan and Arabel, flying out of the portal on the other side, did not stop for a second.
Once in a dark place, they rushed towards the source of the light, cutting their way through, and soon finally found themselves in the open air.
But even here, Idan and Arabel did not allow themselves to relax. They felt something coming at them from behind and flew up. A dark wave of energy followed them, destroying structures and everything in its path.
Rising high into the sky, Idan and Arabel watched in horror as the dark energy engulfed everything in a radius of over a hundred meters. Only due to the fact that only a small part of this energy penetrated through the portal, it was possible to avoid complete destruction.
When the dark energy receded, Idan and Arabel were surprised to find that the portal had not been destroyed and continued to rotate. However, now, due to the dark energy, there was nothing left in a radius of more than a hundred meters around him. Everything was destroyed and consumed.
As they stood watching the destruction, a lone dark figure appeared in front of them. When Idan saw her face, he broke into a mocking smile.
It was Erza Twilight, her face contorted with rage. At that moment, Idan was ready to express his gratitude to the Queen for the service rendered.
Idan clearly saw how not all the creatures ran out of the range of the dark energy, but only some of them. Most of them were absorbed by this dark energy.
As Idan noticed during the flight, all the dead creatures were from the world of darkness. Among them, he did not notice a single awakened or mortal person.
While Idan was looking at Erza, Arabel looked away with some confusion. Immediately after passing through the portal, she felt her two contracts being restored. When she stopped, she discovered that one of the people she had signed a contract with was right next to her.
Concentrating, she recognized her and, using the connection between them, immediately asked a question.:
"Hey, Esma, what the hell are you doing here?"