Chapter 404: Evolve Or Fade

When Luke threw the knife, Jonathan leaped into the portal and vanished. The blade followed, but didn’t pass through. It simply clattered on the other side, rejected.

Luke didn’t waste a second. He lifted Allison’s body from the ground. She was a perfect statue.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “I know you can hear me. I’m going to save you.”

He moved closer to the portal. Lightning crackled from within.

[Warning: Only one person may pass at a time]

Luke set her upright, still frozen in stone, right beside the threshold.

“I don’t have any mana left to widen the portal. When I remove this mask, you’ll have to take a step on your own. You need to do that, Allison. If I carry you across, the portal might take me and leave you behind.”

His hand hovered near her face. “I need to be sure you go back alive. Then I’ll follow you. I promise.”

He touched her cheek. Slowly, the gray color receded. The stone skin softened, drawing inward as if melting into liquid. It slid toward her face, then peeled away entirely, dripping off and shaping itself into a mask.

Luke grabbed it and threw it into the snow.

Allison’s body shuddered back to life. She gasped, sharp and pained. Her eyes were wide, her chest bleeding.

“I need to pull the bolt out. I can’t risk it interfering with the healing,” Luke murmured, easing it out. Even so, the pain twisted her expression.

“Hurry. Go,” he urged.

Allison stumbled forward and vanished through the portal.

He didn’t know if she had died, or if she had simply used the very last of her strength for that single step.

“She went back. She has to be back on Earth,” he whispered, again and again.

[Estimated Time Until End: 01 minute and 33 seconds]

Luke sprinted toward Franky. The little snake lay in a puddle of its own blood.

“Franky,” Luke said, kneeling. The creature opened just one eye.

“You came to laugh at me… human?” the snake muttered. “Because I’m weak… and useless…”

“Shut up,” Luke said, scooping him up carefully.

Franky’s body was torn with deep gashes. A wound split the top of his head.

“Leave me here, human,” Franky rasped.

“Yeah, no. You’re not doing that,” Luke replied.

He reached into his pocket-space and pulled out the mana core of the Midnight Lord, holding it close.

“Come on. Take it. We don’t have time.”

“I don’t want your help,” Franky murmured.

“Take the damn thing, you pathetic coward!” Artemis snapped. “Or are you scared? Is that it?”

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“I’m not a coward…” Franky hissed.

“Then take the damn core so we can go home, or this idiot is going to feel guilty forever if you die!” Artemis shot back.

Franky coughed and clicked his tongue. “You two… are unbearable… and annoyingly loud.”

[Warning: Upon accepting this special evolution, the familiar will enter a long hibernation state.]

“We’re even now, human,” Franky said. “In the end… I helped you.”

Luke walked toward the portal. “Just accept the evolution already. When we’re back on Earth, you go your way and I go mine.”

The moment Franky touched the core, the serpent dissolved into drifting shards of light.

[Jormungandr is undergoing a special evolution and will remain in hibernation.]

The wyvern core turned pitch black, cold as nothing. Luke lifted it toward his pocket dimension and, to his shock, it slipped inside and vanished.

“Stop stalling, Luke. Get in the damn portal!” Artemis shouted.

[Estimated Time Until End: 01 minute and 20 seconds]

Right then, the portal flickered. Sparks cracked through its frame and the blue glow bled into a violent red.