I was still running with Girishika on my back.
Her eyes opened slightly.
[Girishika]: Hmm… have we lost? I think… I should hav—
[Pratik]: No need for that. We didn't lose. We won. Our objective was to evacuate Mala from the prison—and we did it. It was a success.
[Girishika]: A… ah… but I… I…
Her voice was weak. She was barely conscious.
Her willpower is insane.
[Pratik]: No more talking. You can sleep for now. I'll take you to my friends. They'll be glad to meet our savior—Great Girishika.
She giggled softly before falling asleep again.
Soon, we reached our hideout, located near the border of Gem Society and Kankaar Society.
I entered and carefully placed her on a large stone carved into a bed.
My teammates arrived shortly after.
Our team is complete again.
With a new member, of course.
I couldn't be more thankful.
[Lila]: Pratik, you're still bleeding. Let me heal you.
She began healing me immediately.
Yes… I was quite wounded too.
I had forgotten about it while carrying Girishika all the way here.
Thankfully, none of the wounds were too deep.
From what I learned, Mala—despite being imprisoned—once tried to escape on her own.
She thought we wouldn't care about her.
She's rude as always.
I wanted to give her a chop.
I controlled myself.
What's more, she passed through the deeper prison regions and even gathered information about Kankaar moles working inside Gem Society.
Not many, but enough to matter.
She avoided clashing with Wedgermio, since he's highly sensitive to energy signals.
Honestly… I can only praise her right now.
She actually escaped that man?
That shocked me more than anything.
But her escape failed because of a powerful enemy she couldn't even properly see.
According to her, that enemy far surpasses Wedgermio in energy output.
And that enemy could be a double-digit XIGON Scale scorer.
That fact scared the hell out of me.
Double-digit XIGON Scale scorers are beasts.
My own score is around 0.5 on the XIGON Scale—though that was measured a year ago. It must have increased by now.
According to Kel, Wedgermio is around 3 on the XIGON Scale.
So someone in double digits?
That's terrifying.
The XIGON Scale is strange.
Speed increases linearly—but strength and durability increase exponentially.
Meaning the gap isn't small.
It's ridiculous.
Back to the topic—
Mala made it clear that even that enemy wasn't close to Master Krishna's energy emission.
Maybe I should call him Sir Krishna.
No one in my team knows he's my master. They only recognize him as the Leader of Immortalus Society and the President of Dendadarlands.
Yes… that's obvious.
No enemy in the Dragon Empire can come close to Sir Krishna.
But what worries me is this—
How many double-digit XIGON Scale scorers are present in that faction?
I can't even defeat Wedgermio alone.
Fighting even one of those monsters, even with my teammates, would be clean suicide.
This is bad.
This isn't even an Apprentice Class A Grade mission anymore.
Not even Class A Special tier.
It has reached Sorcerer Class Spy/Cop Branch level.
At least.
Maybe higher.
Mala was avoiding eye contact.
Her cheeks were slightly red.
Embarrassment, probably.
Sigh…
This isn't the time to dive into her feelings.
[Pratik]: What about negotiations? How did it go?
Kel and Grimori looked at me seriously.
[Kel]: Far worse than I expected.
[Grimori]: Kankaar Society is likely to receive help from an external party. Someone outside the Dragon Empire. Their army may have at least one million aliens.
[Pratik]: This sounds depressing.
Right when we were sinking into that mood—
A girl jumped onto the table and started laughing.
Of course.
Girishika.
[Girishika]: Hahahaha! I've already recovered! Great Girishika is back! Now be—
Before I could give her a chop, Mala stood up and gave her a perfect one.
Perfect execution.
[Mala]: Who is this brat?
[Girishika]: How dare you touch greatness! You filthy brat! Only Pratik can hit me!
Here we go again.
Everyone stared at me suspiciously.
Mala's eyes were extremely serious.
And slightly scary.
We settled everything properly after I introduced Girishika to the team.
Then came the most important part.
[Girishika]: Germio-chan isn't a bad boy. He's just lost. He's being used.
What?
[Pratik]: Can you explain what actually happened to him? And is he behind the war?
After hearing me, Girishika began telling the story.
Things started clearing up.
One hour passed.
Kel and Grimori stared at the ground, saddened.
Lila looked heartbroken.
Mala was literally crying along with Girishika.
Sometimes I wonder if they share the same brain cells.
Whatever.
From what we learned—or more precisely, what I deduced—
The enemy isn't just a person.
It's the culture itself.
A culture that leads to destruction.
Someone else is pulling the strings.
But who?
I changed my mission.
We will try to talk things out with Germio.
If worse comes to worst, war will happen.
And if war happens…
We'll make sure civilians don't get hurt.
That's nearly impossible, to be honest.
But trying isn't wrong.
My team looked tense, so to lighten the mood, I suggested we play "Imposter Imposter."
They all rejected the idea immediately.
Rude.
*
Planet Devoid.
A young boy—human-looking—with green hair and sharp features wandered through a massive labyrinth.
He stopped.
Turned around.
A man stood there, smiling calmly.
Kae.
[Boy]: So you were the one who lured me here using a fake mission alert through Immortalus Society Authority.
[Kae]: Oh my… that's not a polite way to greet your elders, Time Traveller.
This boy was the same time traveler K-3 told Kae about.
[Kae, thinking]: This boy is powerful. Now that I'm closer, I can sense his aura clearly. He truly is a hybrid species.
[Boy]: My name is Yash Chandrika Putra. I traveled back in time accidentally. It would be appreciated if you forget about this.
Yash drew his sword.
An invisible shield deployed around him instantly.
He was tall, looked around eighteen—but carried himself like someone much older.
[Kae]: How about we resolve this without violence?
[Yash]: I wasn't planning to kill you. I was about to erase your memories. But it seems the body in front of me is just a clone.
That was true.
Kae's real body remained in the Monster Realm.
This one was merely a clone housing his consciousness.
[Kae]: Quite sharp for your age, aren't you, kid?
Suddenly, footsteps echoed through the labyrinth.
Both Kae and Yash turned.
A new figure approached.
Krishna.
This was his real body.
His clone was attending the meeting on Earth.
[Krishna]: So Arun's hunch was correct. A time traveler?
Yash was surprised.
Kae was surprised too.
But Kae's smile remained.
[Kae]: You are…
[Krishna]: Krishna. And you must be the Seventh Asura Community Ruler… Kae.
-------
EXTRAS:-
HEIGHTS:
1) Pratik:- 180 cms
2) Mala:- 182 cms
3) Lila:- 175 cms
4) Kel:- 160 cms
5) Grimori :- 189 cms
6) Girishika:- 150 cms
7) Wedgermio:- 180 cms
8) Tai :- 210 cms
9) Shang Sho: 185 cms
10) Yash :- 185 cms
11) Arun :- 192 cms
12) Krishna:- 191 cms
13) Kae :- 190 cms