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--- Fort Alnus, Army Hospital ---

Date: August 9th, 2026

Malena hurriedly made her way down the hospital hallways, following the directions given to her by the lady at the front desk near the entrance. All the white and artificial lights confused her, and she lost a few times before being pointed in the right direction again. Although she enjoyed many advancements, these trinkets always had her on edge as the unnatural lights somewhat confused her senses.

But she pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind as she pressed forward. Her mind was more anxious about finally meeting with the solution to her dilemma but witnessing the state he was in made her second guess. Hopefully, the advanced medicines of the Terrans could get him back on his feet and back to some strength.

Once she calmed her nerves, she was set on the hope and excitement of finally getting a chance to meet the General. She knew she had to meet him if his feats were enough to impress her former master so much that he'd take a liking to him. Her late leader, Atilius, had met with Krysist at Sadera some time ago and talked about that experience, leaving an impression on her.

She went to the Ticaret and helped the Terrans with a military mission into a foreign land to get this opportunity to meet this man. Something Malena normally wouldn't do; assisting these types of strangers on such a risky mission, but she had one question that needed to be answered. She finally reached the door before being stopped by a familiar voice.

"Excuse me, what business might you have here?"

Turning around, she noticed a prominent Dark Elf, Frayen. "Just need to speak with him."

Frayen raised a brow before recognizing the Warrior Bunny. "Ahh, yes, I remember you. You are that Bunny that was tasked with rescuing my master. You seemed very eager to go; I meant to ask why."

"That's personal."

"Ahh, even more so why I need to know."

"I do not mean any harm to him if that's what you are concerned about," Malena replied defensively.

"I do not doubt that. If you wanted to, you would've had many opportunities out in the field. But still, mind if I join? I was heading there anyway."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really," Frayen replied with a smirk.

Remembering the horrific screams from the Ticaret chamber, Malena realized it was best not to challenge this, Apostle. The screams still echoing through her head days after saving Krysist. She has killed hundreds, if not more, men, in combat. It came with the job. The ones that could scream, begging for their lives as fear took over.

However, this was different—these screams. The sounds were so horrific that she couldn't think of a single example to compare it to. Those Gummus men sounded more like men slowly being eaten alive by a monster. Slowly, intentionally, painfully until the last moment.

"You are spending too much time with Rory," Malena said with a slight smile, admitting defeat. Frayen merely smiled as he gestured to her to go in first.

Malena took in a deep breath as she reached for the door. She opened it slowly just in case Krysist remained asleep. To her surprise, he sat up facing the door, no doubt from their conversation. There was a stand near him with a couple of tubes connected to his arm. His other arm was wrapped in bands as well as his head, and his eyes.

"You are looking far better than I had imagined," Malena commented.

"Is that a joke?" Krysist responded.

"Well, considering, you could have been in an even worse state, my master," Frayen chimed in.

"Sto-" Krysist started before a dry cough interrupted him.

"Here," Malena said as she lifted the cup of water near his bed. "Take a drink."

After a sip, he addressed her, "I remember you, Bunny. You said your name was Malena, right? Thank you for dragging me out of there."

Malena's ears twitched before responding. She was surprised and glad to get the recognition. "It was my mission, so there is no need, but it is appreciated. I did not think you would even remember."

She turned her head to face Frayen, who seemed to pick up on the gesture and walked up too.

"How are you feeling today, my master?"

"Not as bad as I look, I hope," Krysist answered with a chuckle. He then looked at his missing hand and showed a slightly depressed look.

"Well, you've certainly had better days."

"Very much so. You certainly do not match the man my former master, Atilius, described."

"Atilius? I remember him(1), and former?"

"He has passed since you last saw him," Malena responded, slightly drooping her ears.

"I see," Krysist replied. "Now, tell me more about that later. Right now, I'm more interested in what happened to my rescue. I remember you, Malena, and us moving, but the details are blurry. I blacked in and out a few times, and everything seemed hazy at the end of it."

"I can shed some light on that," Frayen said. "Allow me to shed some light."

--- Three days ago, Back at the Gummus Mansion dungeon ---

The relationship between master and servant was complex. However, there were many variables to such a dynamic.

It was always someone superior, commanding over those who were weak. It could be an enslaver and enslaved person, someone looking for employment, or an apprenticeship.

However, Frayen found long ago that one type of variable triumphs over them all. It is submitting to a man whom you deeply respect.

Believing that his master was killed, Frayen dedicated himself to following Krysist's dream. Now, realizing that his plan worked and that his master lived through the slaughter at the arena, he was ready to fall back into a subservient role.

As Frayen moved through the Gummus’ massive mansion, he is impressed by the size and scale. Normally, if he had to search this place alone it could take hours to find his objective. Even with his phasing ability that would allow him to go through walls and floors, the sheer size of this place almost made that ability useless.

That was why Frayen had always been fascinated by the Terrans radios. Not just the ability to communicate from long distances but be able to track them with radio waves.

Holding a tracking device that Frayen 'borrowed' from the Rangers, he searched for the signal. He saw the frequency point toward the southern end of the mansion, many floors down.

Following the signal, Frayen found himself at the center where the signal was the strongest. He looked down and phased himself out of this Realm and passed through the floor, heading to Malena's position.

After passing three floors, Frayen phased back into this Realm and landed on the floor. Around him were three dozen Gummus warriors, surrounding Malena, Aldon, and Tyuuwal. The two Clanless was barely holding them off due to sheer number.

Frayen phased in at the center of them, surrounding himself with the enemy warriors, all confused by his sudden appearance.

"Surrender now, or we will make your death extremely dreadful," Uuagra Gummus explained. "This will be your last chance-."

The room stopped as one of the warriors informed the leader of his presence. Frayen noticed everyone turning toward him. Malena expressed relief to see him, while the enemy leader showed annoyance.

"Who might you be?" Uuagra demanded.

Taking a careful look around the crowd, Frayen noticed a mixed group: humans, Draconians, dwarves, and elves.

"I am here to guarantee the release of those people there," Frayen said.

Everyone laughed, clearly no one saw him as a threat. One of the warriors to his left jokingly said how he was carrying no weapons and even with magic, he is outnumbered by the elven soldiers surrounding him.

"Kill him," Uuagra ordered.

Noticing a guard on the proper striking, Frayen quickly grabbed the man's throat with such speed that it stunned everyone.

The man struggled, shocked that he couldn't break free or that Frayen had barely moved.

While keeping his eyes focused on Uuagra Gummus, Frayen only listened as the man panicked.

With ease, Frayen raised the man until his feet no longer were touching the ground, freaking everyone in the room out.

Feeling the man pounding on his arm, trying everything to break free, Frayen's right hand glowed brightly with a massive amount of heat coming out of it. The man screamed, flailing around wildly as he kicked and screamed at the apostle while the heat was painfully transferred throughout his body. The heat was so intense that it melted his body from his head.

A moment later, the headless body dropped to the ground. Frayen moved the head to where he was facing it, watching the eyes look around as the last glimpse of life faded.

Once all life passed, he tossed the head to the side as if it was nothing.

Everyone froze and stared straight at him, even the Clanless and consorts were shocked by what they just saw. All frozen like time suddenly stood still.

Hearing movement from behind, Frayen allowed a spear to pierce through his body, seeing it come through the other end. All he did was slowly look down at it and grab it.

Pulling it forward, he reached behind and grabbed the Spearman's face with his left hand. His right hand glowed bright again, and he grabbed at the guard’s head and the entire body of the guard burst into flame until it turned into ashes.

"What are you, a demon?" Someone yelled.

"Wait…," Uuagra said. "They say that Krysist always had this Dark Elf slave by his side. One with magical powers beyond natural limits. Could it be?"

"Correct young one. I am Frayen, the Apostle of Elange. Guardian of the Library of Elaish. Servant of General Krysist of the Northern Legions."

Allowing his words to spread throughout the chamber, the fear spreads as they realize they are not fighting a powerful elf but an Apostle. "As I said, let them go."

Out of fear, Uuagra pointed his sword to the group and yelled, "If you try anything, I… I will order their death now. Even you cannot move fast enough to stop them all. Somebody call Martimus Onur or Mors Effeet here! We need them here!"

“Don’t bother,” Frayen replied. “Rory and I defeated him and the Djinn already.”

Frayen held his hand toward one of the warriors closest to Malena. That is when he saw the condition of his master: handless, beaten, humiliated, disgraced. An emotion he had not felt in years, anger boiled deep inside. At that moment, he has decided what to do with them all.

Frayen’s hand radiated once more, forming an energy bubble around that man next to Malena. The trapped man’s head then exploded when the energy bubble imploded as his body collapsed, spilling its contents everywhere. "I was not asking."

Malena looked at all the warriors and realized none were moving. She gathered everyone, and they started heading to the sewer exit.

Frayen watched as they escaped and followed them just in case anyone tried anything.

Once at the exit, Malena turned and yelled, "Frayen, they get the point. Let's go."

He did not look nor reply. All Frayen did was stare directly at Uuagra. Once Malena realized that he was not coming and what he was about to do with the Uuagra and his goons, she left with the rest.

"Frayen…," Uuagra calmly said. "We can talk through this. See, I let them go."

Ignoring the pleading by the warriors, Frayen pushed aside all emotion until everything became clear. The sounds of the warrior voices tuned out, fading into the background sounds.

"You, young man," Frayen said in a cold and calm voice. "You commented that I had no weapon. You are right. I am the only Apostle that has never forged a weapon.”

You see, young one, Elange is the God of Knowledge. For generations, all of civilization had waged an arms race. To do this, known weapons, tactics, and ideas were forged and passed down to future generations. So, you see… throughout the time; knowledge is the only weapon that has really mattered.”

As Frayen finished speaking, he brought both of hands together as a light flicker could be seen between them until a flame formed between them. Then, he unleashed a mighty inferno into a group of three, incinerating them.

Before anyone could react, Frayen aimed his hand at another three Elven warriors to the right who were about to unleash their magic on him. Closing his fist, three monstrous stone hands emerged from the ground. The fingers wrapped around the Elven warriors and squeezed them until the blood squirted from the body like a sponge.

Dodging a combined strike from the surrounding warriors, he raised his hand toward the remaining group. Taking a lesson from Earth science, he created an orb above them. Unlike most magical balls, this one emanated a strong magnetic field.

The group watched in awe as the ball of light pulsed, twisted, and turned. It was unlike anything they’d ever seen before when a sudden pull brought them back into reality. Their weapons were suddenly ripped away from them and pulled into that light. Some of the unluckier ones in closer proximity with heavier metal armor were lifted off the ground while everyone else pulled away toward the center of the chamber.

A sudden energy field appeared around the orb. While ineffective, one of the Gummus mages tried to cancel the spell. Noticing this, Frayen quickly merely gazed at the mage and instantly nullified his spell.

With his other hand, Frayen causes the magnetic magic sphere to repulse the weapons and the armored soldiers that suck into it in all directions with high velocity, causing multiple troops to be pierced by their own weapons and the armored soldiers being flung hard at the wall, killing them.

One of the surviving elves cast a fire burst aimed at Frayen while another of them joined him, the two joined their spirit magic against him. The other mages followed them, casting a continuous lightning strike against the Dark Elf.

Seeing the joint strike, Frayen held up both hands and formed a mana deflection field, holding the two attacks back. Usually, he would have phased out in this situation, allowing the attack to bypass him, but the magical enemy used lightning. The electric current was one of the few natural elements affecting the phased Realm.

Once both strikes dissipated from lack of mana, Frayen focused on the two elves first. Forming a strong wing burst from behind, he pulled both elves toward him. Once they got close, he grabbed both by the heads and incinerated them immediately, denying them the opportunity to scream out in pain.

Seeing the middle group recovering from the magnetism spell, Frayen found where Uuagra Gummus laid among them. He then brought the ceiling down around him, creating a protected dome with the debris. Until he finished with the rest, he wanted to guarantee that nothing would happen to him until then.

Bracing his footing, Frayen held out both hands wide. Channeling as much mana as possible, both hands glowed bright white. A long barrage of energy blasts exploded from the staff of the enemy mage which nearly destroyed his debris barrier.

Believing that Frayen was weakened as his debris barrier broke, all the remaining warriors charged at him, a total of eleven. As they got closer, their movements slowed, and they were all dragged to the ground, violently.

Frayen watched from their confusion. During his time with Lelei, he had learned many concepts discovered by the Terrans. The one that intrigued him was the concept of gravity; how every movement across the cosmos was affected by it, from the giant flares that provided life to Uros to the most minor grain of sand on a beach. And at this moment, he intended to master this power by generating a powerful gravity well around him.

For Frayen, being at the center of the gravity well, he felt the force of gravity pressure against him from all directions. If it was not for his Apostle regeneration and superhuman strength, he knew he would have been crushed by the pressure.

The gravitational spell brutally crushed the surrounding troops. The ones wearing heavy armor died gruesomely as their own weight crushed them into paste while the rest had their blood leaking out of their eyes and ears as the gravity ruptured their blood veins and organs.

Once finished, Frayen took a deep breath and looked around and saw what remained of the corpses. The crimson liquid painted the room, drenching every inch in its warm embrace. Not a single soul remained, but for one.

Walking to the small dome he created to protect Uuagra Gummus, he reached inside with his phasing ability and pulled out the bastard son.

"Let me go, you monster…!" Uuagra screamed until he saw everyone around him. His eyes were in shock from the unbelievable sight. "You… killed them all."

Frayen grabbed the man's chin without replying and forced his mouth open. Forming a small green ball of mana, he forcibly shoved it down Uuagra Gummus throat and then pushed him away.

"What did you do to me?" Uuagra said, patting himself down. "What… what is this feeling!?"

Taking a step back, Frayen watched as Uuagra fell to his knees. As the painful screaming began, he managed a root burst out from the man's side. Then another, and another until he burst as a small tree grew out.

"Through your death, may a new life sprout," Frayen said.

He turned and prepared to leave the way he came. That is when he noticed that his uniform was soaked with blood. He heated his hand and moved it around his body, steaming out the blood from the heat.

Once he decided he was clean, he left the chamber.