Her eyes fluttered then slowly opened, she remained in a dazed state for a few seconds as she was trying to remember what happened before she fell unconscious. Her memories were disorderly and the pain assaulting her head was slowly disappearing. Strangely, she felt refreshed, her body as light as a feather and her supposedly crippled arm in a perfect, working state.

Her right eye pulsated with blue light as it focused on the red and ominous sky, contemplating something, unaware of the unwavering gaze directed at her. Half a minute later, she sat up only to see a tall skeletal body sitting next to her, its only eye confirmed the person's identity.

The woman flashed a mesmerizing smile at the undead, stretched her hand and grasped his, unaffected by the coldness coming from the old bones.

Lucy tried to stand up only for Arthur to stop her while saying:

"Rest for a few minutes. Let the Mana circulate inside your body."

"En."

She obediently nodded her head while staring at him. Seeing her fiery gaze, Arthur chuckled and jokingly said:

"Not so pleasant to the eye anymore, huh?"

Her soft smile widened as she pushed back her long silver hair which fell on her eyes then retorted.

"No." She tightly clenched his skeletal hand while continuing: "To me, no matter what body you're using, you'll always be the same. My Arthur."

"Hahahaha, that's good to hear because I'll need to use this body… at least until I find a better alternative."

This host, albeit ugly and inefficient in many ways, is one of the best available host options for him. It greatly boosts his Necromancy and Dark Magic and isn't affected by hunger, thirst, or the brutal weather.

Without going too much into the unnecessary details, Arthur recounted his last trip Riarravar and all that happened after. He spoke of the Twelve, his relationship with Wolfram and Leiu, and about Anatassia's disappearance.

"Weird, she's not the kind of person to disappear so abruptly and without prior notice."

Lucy had a very close relationship with Anastassia. Sonia's big sister, the master of the Ma Clan was never a rush person, though she can be emotional at times, she always makes the wisest decisions. So, her sudden disappearance was a strange occurrence.

"What are Jackob's thoughts?"

Expecting such a question, Arthur let out a sigh and said: "He seemed to have given up. He's meticulously handling the sect and taking care of his son. He seemed to have changed, drastically."

"Of course he has, he lost his wife and can't abandon his son and roam the world, hoping to find her."

"That is why I promised him that I'll find her."-Arthur

"I'm afraid it won't be easy. We have to leave this place first."

The half white specter stood up, scanned her surroundings then raised her hand, emitting chilling white energy which spread toward all directions, decreasing the unbearable heat and cooling the weather, making it much more manageable.

Lissandra and Vyncent, who just came back, took a deep breath and enjoyed the refreshing coldness brought by the beautiful falling snowflakes.

As she was too engrossed in this snow-like 'world', Lissandra failed to notice the graceful figure marching toward her. Only when Lucy stopped before the frail woman did the latter snap out of her daze and unconsciously take a step back.

Lucy's gaze contained no hostility, just the usual coldness, which seemed to have slightly melted as she looked at the woman before her. While stretching her hand, she said:

"The past is the past. You saved my life so I will restrain from expressing my thanks with words and, instead, protect you until we leave this world."

Though a bit hesitant at first, Lissandra still shook Lucy's hands. The two women shook hands for a good ten seconds before they separated, their gazes also shifting to something else.

"With the two of you conscious and healthy, I reckon our trip to the East will be much easier."

Vyncent nodded back to Lucy, who glanced at him, and uttered those words.

"The terrain is constantly changing, how are we to head East?"-Arthur

Arthur knew that Riarravar's terrain was continuously and randomly changing. One second they're heading East, the other they're going the opposite way, there's no way of telling they're on the right track.

The System's map was non-functioning ever since he entered Oblivion, making any kind of navigation almost impossible, especially with this environment, which looked the same everywhere you go.

"I can lead the way but we have to go in a straight line."

"Which means we'll encounter enemy camps and armies."-Lucy

"Exactly." Vyncent nodded his head and retrieved an old yellow-ish paper from his pocket. He straightened it then put it on the chair while explaining: "Ever since I arrived here, I've tried reaching the East resistance camp but due to the shifting mountains and treacherous roads, all my attempts were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, I noticed that the enemy camps were always the same, which means that I've been running in a circle. There are a few Cthulhu patrols roaming the land but they're of no threat to us. What worries me are this and this."

He pointed at two black circle surrounding a large area of the map.

"The nearest one is a large Cthulhu camp, the same one Lissandra appeared in. A big army is stationed there with dozens of generals and a commander, which is the real problem. The small fries are manageable but the commander uses a special bow and fires arrows from miles away. Believe me, Arthur, one arrow from that monstrosity can even injure someone like you, heavily, too."

Arthur remembered a giant that wielded a terrifying Arrow the last time he was here. Though the giant was dangerous, it isn't really a threat to the current him, who can pulverize everything with one 'simple' Rizaki. As for Makaze, he decided to not use it here. Ever since it reached his side, the dark blade has been behaving strangely, very strangely, in fact. It would constantly vibrate and sometimes became uncontrollable. It wasn't due to devouring the orb but because of this world, it was doing something to it. For that reason, Arthur stored it in Zodiak's storage, only to be used in extreme emergency situations.

"What about the second obstacle?"-Arthur

Lissandra snorted and Vyncent clicked his tongue, visibly angry.

"Parasites." He replied, frowning and gritting his teeth. "A troublesome bunch. Very resilient and way smarter than the barbaric Cthulhu. They're more coordinates and we have no concrete or detailed information about their base, much less they."

"Alright… so we have to get past these two and we'll arrive East?"

Vyncent shook his head and corrected him: "No, that's not a certainty. What I can tell you, however, is that the two enemy bases will chase us down like dogs and we won't be able to get past them, stealthily, I mean."

Curious about what she had previously seen, Lucy asked: "What about that massive monster?"

Lissandra knew who Lucy was talking about. She looked at the shadowed sky and answered

"Timos won't interfere. The Cthulhu may be his creation but he's not interested in them."

The woman stopped, then, as if she remembered something, added: "If he telepathically talks to you, ignore him."

..

Half an hour later, after everyone readied themselves, they finally departed. To make sure Lissandra is absolutely safe, Arthur conjured a Dark Barrier around her and hid three Death Knights in her shadow. Furthermore, he built a simple, offensive formation that can deal with the weaklings.

The formation uses thirty-six swords which follow his will. The swords do not have any attributes and are fed with Sword Essence, it is an efficient killing formation, something used back in the old days, when the Buria Empire was still prosperous.

****

"What is this place?"

As he heard her expected question, the old man chuckled and said

"See for yourself."

They elevated in the air, having a much clearer view of the land before their eyes. There was a vast, lush forest, clean rivers and snowy mountains.

Anastassia, confused, kept scanning the area but this peaceful place was unfamiliar. Her spiritual body followed the calm old man, who took her to various places of this world.

Just when they were about to head West, a small, pinkish figure blocked their path. With an angry expression, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at them, she loudly yelled.

"What are you doing here? Scram! It's not a place for stinky people!"

The Lolitta coldly snorted and waved her hand, signaling for them to immediately leave this place. Her face telling them that she didn't even want to hear an explanation. It's either she truly didn't stomach them or wanted to vent some accumulated anger at the first people she ran into.

Seeing this she-devil rage at him and his disciple, Death frowned and inspected her. Unfortunately, he found nothing suspicious, she was an office AI hired by the System to manage this world. However, her strange and eccentric attitude was definitely abnormal.

"Little day, we're just sightseeing, we won't bother anyone." He kindly smiled and mouthed his sentence quite well to not incense the Lolitta.

"What sightseeing! This isn't a park! You better leave before I make yo-"

She halted mid-sentence, her gaze focusing on Anastassia.

"Wait." With a hand on her chin, she stared at the black-haired woman from head to toe before adding: "I know you! You're one of the parasite's friends!"

Just as she said that, the old man's eye narrowed. His countenance became much more serious as a cold gleam flashed across his eyes. He lifted his hand, which magically reached the Lolitta and grabbed her by the throat.

With a chilling voice and a piercing glare, he said

"Who are you?"

He knew all of Arthur's entourage yet this girl, who's also an AI, seemed to be awfully familiar with Arthur, to the point of recognizing Anastassia.

As she was suffocating under his deathly grip, the little girl's face reddened. She helplessly moved her hand and legs, trying to free herself.

After a lot of effort and a bitter struggle, she managed to squeeze out a few words

"P-perverted freak! I'll s-show you!"

A simple red card fell from under her dress, falling a few meters before it froze mid-air then started emitting a red light.

Before the old man could react, a monstrous force hit him from above, sending his flying like a kite while at the same time releasing his grip, finally setting the little girl free, unwillingly, of course.

"Jeeeeeez! Never thought I'll be called so soon."

The Joker stared at the haggard old man, who swiftly got up and glared at him.

"Don't try to frighten me with your old eyes!"

The Joker's hand flashed and grabbed the startled Anastassia. He held her from the back of her neck while mockingly saying

"What? You hold one of my people yet I can't do the same?"

He paused, glanced at the distressed and angry Lolitta then said

"Now, you're going to be a good old man and sincerely, I repeat, SINCERELY, apologize to her. Hmmm, and give her a gift too, she's still young so a present would certainly please her."