CHAPTER 409: I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS

After the longest kiss of their lives, Idan and Arabel, realizing that it was too early to relax, barely broke away from each other.

Both of them shuddered as the strange sensation of their contact disappeared. With his departure, both felt as if they had lost something important. It was just a brief moment of intimacy, but it left a deep mark in their hearts.

It took them some more time to come to their senses and finally pay attention to what was happening around them.

"How strange, the barrier still hasn’t disappeared, and I can’t sense the System," Idan said, looking up at the dark barrier that showed no signs of weakening. "Last time, our connection to the System was instantly restored as soon as we killed the outsider leader. But now, even after Erza’s death, the connection has not been restored."

"I also don’t feel connected to Esma and Bera, although both Stars are intact and indicate that everything is fine with them," Arabel said.

"Let’s go and check if there are any survivors," Idan suggested, looking towards the portal.

"All right," Arabel agreed.

They quickly covered the distance and hovered in the air not far from the portal.

The first thing that caught Idan and Arabel’s eye was that the portal was located exactly in the center of the barrier. Around him, within a radius of a hundred meters, there was an area untouched by either flames or ice. It was a clear area that was formed after the dark energy consumed everything around it.

And there, in this clear area, there were more than a hundred bodies lying on the ground.

After carefully examining them, Idan and Arabel did not find a single one alive. Everyone was dead, and from the location of the corpses, it was clear that some kind of ritual had taken place here.

"Dan is among them..." Arabel said anxiously, turning to Idan.

"Yes, I see it, Belle. Not all of them are from the world of Darkness. Most of them are human," Idan said with a gloomy expression on his face.

It was difficult for Idan to understand exactly what had happened when he looked at it from above.

"Were these people here of their own free will, or were they forced?" he wondered.

However, apart from him and Arabel, there was no one alive around who could answer his question.

Then his gaze fell on the portal, which was still actively rotating.

"What is this?" asked Idan, noticing the spatial cracks. He couldn’t say for sure if they had been there from the beginning or if they had appeared recently. But the longer he looked at these cracks, the more they bothered him.

"How do we close the portal?" Arabel asked, distracting him from his thoughts.

"I do not know, — Idan replied, without taking his eyes off the portal.

He could have ignored these cracks if he hadn’t known that the Queen herself, a Rank 6 creature, was chasing them on the other side of the portal.

"Let’s get out of here, — Idan suggested.

"Is something wrong?" — Arabel asked, noticing the concern in his voice.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s wait until the barrier disappears and the connection to the System is restored," Idan suggested.

"Okay," Arabel said, and they both left the portal behind and hurried to the edge of the barrier, where the presence of living people could be felt.

No sooner had they moved away from the portal than Arabel felt that the concentration of energy of ice and darkness was slowly beginning to fade.

"Dan, have you noticed? The energy concentration is falling," she asked with some regret.

"Yes, I also feel that the energy density of fire and light is decreasing," Idan agreed.

Despite the decrease in energy density, it was still enough for both of them to keep their Spirit Form active.

"All this time, I’ve been wanting to ask you, Dan, what do you think it is? Where did it come from and how did it appear?" asked Arabel.

"I don’t know myself, Belle, but during the battle with Erza, she said the following," Idan reproduced exactly the words of Erza, which she uttered at the moment when Idan was able to take on his Spirit Form and disappeared from her senses, believing that he was already dead.

"What? The World?" exclaimed Arabel, greatly surprised.

"Yes, that’s exactly what Erza said—it’s all the work of the World itself," Idan confirmed.

"But... but..." Arabel didn’t know what to say. On the one hand, she couldn’t believe it, but on the other hand, a part of her believed it when she recalled what had happened and what she had learned while in Limbo.

They rode the rest of the way in complete silence, each immersed in his own thoughts.

It was only when they approached and saw a group of people at the very edge of the barrier, where the influence of the elements of fire and ice was minimal, that Idan realized that he was left almost without clothes — everything he was wearing had been destroyed during the battle.

He stopped suddenly, which surprised Arabel. Then, having created a sphere of the element of light around himself, he disappeared inside.

Seeing this, Arabel quickly realized his intentions and, looking at herself, decided to follow Idan.

Now, when nothing foreshadowed danger, she also created a sphere of darkness around herself, canceled her Spirit Form, returning to the form of an Ice Valkyrie, and found herself naked. She quickly took out her spare clothes from the spatial storage, got dressed, and finally put on the dark cloak she had purchased from the System.

When Arabel dispelled the sphere, she immediately met Idan’s gaze in his form of the Alpha of Fire. He had fiery hair, was wearing a white sleeveless shirt and long cargo-style shorts, and had fiery wings on his back.

"You look good," Arabel remarked with a smile, studying Idan closely.

"And you, as always, are beautiful," he replied to her, still never tired of admiring Arabel in her guise as an Ice Valkyrie — with long white hair and four snow—white wings on her back.

Esma, Irene, and the others noticed two figures approaching: one was bright and the other was dark. Their first thought was that it was the Keeper of the Light and that woman in black. Their hearts clenched in fear, but then they saw that two figures had stopped not far from them.

After waiting a bit, these two figures changed dramatically. Esma’s eyes shone with joy, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized them.

"You can breathe a sigh of relief," Esma said, drawing everyone’s attention. "It’s them, my little sister and Irene’s little brother."

After covering the remaining distance, Idan and Arabel descended in front of the group.