*CREAK...*
A magnificent mansion in a certain country on the western continent, far from civilization, was shaking violently. Turbulent energy currents affecting the weather made this place look gloomier than usual. The residents inside all rushed to gather at the center of the house.
The place where a young woman was staring at a black-covered book that sent chills down one's spine.
"My lady..."
An old man spoke up with trepidation. He tried to stop his lady from overexerting herself.
"A reaction of magic power from that world appeared..."
The young woman spoke while narrowing her eyes. Her senses connected to the black book were trying to find the source.
"...It's gone?"
But before she could find it, those feelings vanished as if cut off by an invisible wall again. This made her collapse onto the luxurious sofa in exhaustion, while the old man brought refreshments to serve.
"Was it a demon beast?" Bael asked uncertainly.
Recently there had been quite a few magical demon beasts appearing in this world.
"...No."
The young woman denied firmly after pondering a while. She continued,
"The pattern resembles opening a dimensional gateway from this world..."
"Or could it be... Bathin?"
Bael's eyes flashed coldly. Power flared from the old man before he could stop it — the grudge too deep to contain.
"That traitor..."
It wasn't just Bael. Another young man who was a flame magic user was also angry enough that fire blazed all over his body.
"After disappearing for years, he's finally willing to show his tail?" He sneered contemptuously. It seemed their group had quite a bad history with the name "Bathin."
"...Who's that?"
Vepar, still wearing a hooded robe so concealing one couldn't tell if they were male or female, whispered to ask Berith beside them curiously.
"You don't know him... if I had to say, he's someone who 'used to be' one of us."
Berith, still with his sweet clear voice, spoke in such a calm tone the listener could still sense considerable displeasure hidden within.
"He has powers related to opening dimensional gates... but he betrayed my lady's trust and vanished without a trace for years."
The young man answered while turning to fix his gaze on Vepar in the hooded robe.
"Let me warn you as a senior. After receiving power from my lady... don't you dare have such thoughts. Understand?"
In that last sentence, Berith also released tremendous pressure.
"I'll go check on Barbatos for a bit... when he's recovered and you've gotten used to your new power, we should be able to move again."
When he finished speaking, the young man walked out of the room. So did the others. They all dispersed irritably, seeing there was nothing more.
"Oh! And there's no one else here. So you don't need to conceal your identity so thoroughly."
Berith, who thought of something, turned back to speak again with a smile.
"...Because that completely concealing robe of yours sometimes reminds us of that traitor."
"..."
.
.
.
"..."
Never expected it would end up like this in the end.
On the other side of the world, Bai Fanxian, who had prepared herself to bear uncertain risks, furrowed her beautiful brow. She asked the anxious black cat on the floor,
"Can't you expand the size of this gap any more?"
"N...no meow. The size of the dimensional gap depends on Kuro's power level meow..."
The little cat's ears drooped dejectedly. How could it forget to think about the most important thing?
Even if someone was willing to help, if it couldn't bring that person back, it was useless.
"...Is that hole getting smaller?"
While they were looking for a solution, Hui'er, who stood watching the dimensional gap, spoke up in surprise.
Because that hole over 15 centimeters wide was gradually shrinking until the speed could be seen with the naked eye!
"Meow!?"
Kuro rushed straight to the rift between dimensions and leaped in at maximum speed. But that was still one step too slow. The merging dimension closed tightly until the little cat's small body grasped only air.
"This is bad! This is bad meow!"
It was both shocked and dejected. It looked utterly hopeless, as if the worst thing had already happened.
"What's wrong?"
Liu Yianfei asked, not understanding. Just a dimensional rift vanishing made the little thing act like it was dying? Couldn't it just open it again?
When he asked that, the answer he received was,
"Can't anymore meow... no power left meow."
Kuro leaped into the air and swiped its claws like before. But this time, the tearing of dimensional space that used to happen didn't occur. Only thin lines that natural mechanisms repaired in a few seconds appeared.
"What do you mean?"
Bai Fanxian grabbed the black cat up to ask.
"...Dimension-Rending Cats are strongest during the full moon meow."
Kuro's ears drooped while trying to explain.
"During that time our dimensional abilities are super strong meow!"
This little thing raised its head proudly when speaking of this part, as if forgetting what mood it was in before.
"But the moon is still full, isn't it?"
Bai Fanxian held it with both hands and lifted it toward the sky. Above, the pale golden moon remained the most prominent thing as always.
"Kuro's power is only enough to open dimensions to cross over and back once each meow... because most of the power was used to leave black shadows behind to ask for help after Kuro goes back meow."
This little cat's answer made Bai Fanxian's eye twitch.
Didn't you use most of your power on the most useless thing?
She almost accidentally squeezed it tight again without realizing.
.
.
.
In the end, the night passed like that.
Because no matter how much Bai Fanxian tried to cram many power-restoring elixirs into this cat's mouth, it spat them out every time until even she herself gritted her teeth. How many people in the world would feel eating her elixirs was like being tortured? Even if it were real torture, a hundred percent of them would scramble to receive it willingly.
But what mattered was the longer it went, the more Kuro's power level decreased. Finally after several hours passed with no progress, Bai Fanxian could only give up and let everyone rest properly as they should.
The black cat was dragged unwillingly by Hui'er and Tang Yeye, whose eyes were barely open, into the bedroom along with the Dragon Queen. In its current low-power state, even the children could handle it easily — getting to use it as a body pillow and stuffed toy for one whole night.
"Even if I wait until next full moon, I still won't be able to enter that tiny dimensional gap anyway..."
Bai Fanxian sighed deeply. She was now sipping tea served by the elderly butler while viewing the beautiful beach scenery in the morning.
Even not sleeping for several days straight was still fine. That made these adults with high cultivation power choose to come out and chat quietly like this instead.
"My lady... are you alright?"
Huang Zihuan refilled tea for his lady while asking with concern. The General himself, who was sipping coffee while checking the situation through his own communication device, also turned to look with the same feeling.
They had rarely seen their lady's emotions this intense. Huang Zihuan had witnessed something like it once — the night of the village celebration, when Bai Fanxian had let the same feeling show, just for a moment. But he had kept it to himself.
"...You've all been with me for quite a while now, haven't you?"
Bai Fanxian answered the question with a question. She closed her eyes and sighed faintly.
"Yes... because my lady made us into what we are today."
Both Huang Zihuan and Liu Yianfei thought the same way. They still remembered the first day they met Bai Fanxian.
Back then, Huang Zihuan was just a powerless Tang Clan butler. His cultivation power was only at Martial Master fifth level. He had even done something like using Heaven Sense to examine Bai Fanxian without permission before.
As for Liu Yianfei, at first he was just interested in the identity of a young woman who had no record in the military's database. That meeting was just to go as a representative to apologize for subordinates in his unit who had been rude.
They never dreamed that in such a short time, so many things would happen.
One became a personal butler and received tremendous power that in the past he could only dream of. The other was cured of a terrible illness and painful memories from the past, and developed into a being superior to anyone in the same era. Not just them — each of Bai Fanxian's followers had received help at a "life-changing" level.
Both knew well they would never have reached this point without Bai Fanxian. And wanted to repay this kindness somehow, some way.
So when they saw their lady keeping suffering to herself alone, it made them very uncomfortable.
Bai Fanxian stared into the clear eyes of both before closing her eyes and leaning back to rest against the chair comfortably.
"It's probably time you all learned something about my story..."
Bai Fanxian spoke as if it wasn't anything important.
But it was the beginning of everything.