Second World

'Should I just try solving the rune diagrams as fast as I can?' Jack thought. He did hear that when someone was pushed, that person could perform better than he actually could. He never believed that crap, but perhaps he should give it a try?

No. He couldn't take the risk. If Mammon arrived first, they were all f*cked. If he stopped midway, Luna and himself were also similarly f*cked.

Luna had been observing everything ever since Jack came into the hall. She was the same as Pandora, she understood spoken language. She was very happy when she saw her sister, Pandora, came to her rescue. Pandora had been consoling her that everything would be okay. She would be freed soon. But she understood from what she heard just now, things were not so encouraging.

She forced herself to stand. Her legs were trembling. The tendrils of light around her continued to sap her strength. Pandora neighed beside her, telling her to not do anything. She should be saving her strength so she could flee once the binding was removed.

Jack, who was still thinking hard about what to do, was annoyed when the two nightmares behind him started neighing back and forth.

'Damn it, can't you see I'm trying my best here?' Jack thought as he looked back at the two nightmares. He thought Pandora and Luna were dissatisfied with his indecision.

But after seeing them, the two nightmares looked more like they were arguing about something.

"Hey, what the hell are they fussing about?" Jack asked Peniel.

"She… She asked Pandora to take care of her two kids." Peniel answered.

"Her two kids…? What does she mean by that?"

"Stop! No, don't do it!" A hasty voice was heard and Jack saw Tenka and Yrin running into the hall followed by Jonathan behind the two.

"What the… Hey, didn't I ask you two to hide?!" Jack yelled at the two satyrs, who ignored him and ran to where the two nightmares were still arguing using their weird horse language.

"Why the hell do the three of you come up here?" Jack asked Jonathan.

"They insisted on it. They said they just have to make sure for themselves that the nightmare is saved," Jonathan answered. "The duke and the others are still out there fighting the demon soldiers. I was told to accompany this two inside."

"Hmph! Satyrs…? How dare you, lowly creatures, collude with this outworlder," Hraghshu said.

Arlcard tightened his grip. "Shut up!" He demanded.

"Where is the nearest satyr's settlement?" Algerad asked Xelvorath.

"The nearest one is Pilenus village. A bit over one day of travel from here," Xelvorath answered.

"They must be from that village. We will punish them once this is over," Algerad said.

The thing that Jack and Yvok feared had happened. If he wanted to save the village, he would have to kill all three demons here and make sure that no one outside of this room knew of the satyrs' involvement. He saw no problem with Hraghshu, the two mythical demons were another matter.

"Ah, shit…! Everything is a mess…," Jack cursed.

"No, please. You cannot do that…" Jack heard Yrin's pleading voice. She was crying as she talked with Luna.

"What the hell are they all talking about, anyway," Jack asked Peniel again.

"She knows that she can't be freed before the king of hell arrives. She wants to sacrifice herself but she knows that her two kids need her essence to grow. So, she asked Pandora, Tenka, and Yrin to make sure that her kids got her essence."

Jack frowned. Sacrificing herself? Which meant they failed this rescue mission. He gripped his sword tightly. He wanted to do something to stop Luna from sacrificing herself. But what could he do? He had run out of options. He cursed his powerlessness.

The power orb that Saakir had been using had somehow come to Luna's side. Despite looking weak, the resolve on Luna's expression was clear for everyone to see.

Pandora, Tenka, and Yrin continued persuading Luna to stop, but there was nothing they could do as well. The light tendrils prevent them from touching Luna.

Luna's body, which was devoid of flames a moment ago, suddenly blazed with one that was even more intense than Pandora's. The flame burned fiercely. Traces of the flames slipped past the gaps between the light tendrils and then entered the floating orb.

The orb which was dark red slowly turned a brighter red. It also grew larger as more and more of Luna's flame flowed into it. After a while, the orb was blazing with fire. Jack had to shade his eyes a bit, it was like looking at a miniature sun.

The flames finally stopped going into the orb. Luna was very weak already. Pandora had continuously neighing all the time. She even banged on the light tendrils, trying to get to Luna, and stopped what she was doing.

Luna was now looking at Pandora with gentle eyes. She neighed one last time, before bursting into tongues of flames.

Peniel was crying. She told Jack what Luna said in her last moment, "She… She said, goodbye sister. I'm glad that I can still see you one last time. I give my last essence to you."

While hearing it, Jack saw these last flames from Luna flowed to Pandora, who had been neighing and stomping madly. The flames became a part of her. They converged on her back and slowly sprouted, forming into a pair of fiery wings.

As the last of Luna's essence fused with Pandora, Luna's existence ended. Pandora lifted her head and neighed loudly. The neigh this time was as if a beast's roar.

Everyone felt their ears hurting. At the same time, everyone's mind was assaulted by a torrent of horrifying visions. Even the four mythical-grade beings in the room felt their minds slightly shaking. The one affected the most was Hraghshu since he had the lowest grade.

When everyone's mind recovered, Pandora had somehow moved in front of Hraghshu who was still being held by Arlcard. Her eyes were burning. She was staring directly into Hraghshu's eyes.

Hraghshu wanted to look away, but he was unable to. The two burning orbs of Pandora were like a magnet pulling at him. Then, he saw the most horrifying things that ever existed.

No one knew what he saw. They only heard his frantic screaming.

Then, the small remaining HP he had left was drained completely.