Chapter 17 - A New Start

-A Few Hours Later-

-Reinard's POV-

Liz had already gone to sleep a few hours ago, her mind having been exhausted from recalling all the memories. I gave her a last look as she slept on the bed. Her face was the same as it was that day. All that crying and recalling memories had exhausted her.

I got out of the bedroom to find Vorgrim making dinner for us all in the kitchen. He was cooking meat, with a few side dishes here and there.

"Vorgrim, take care of her while I'm gone. I have some things to deal with." I told him and he gave me a nod and a reassuring look. Although I knew no one could hurt my girl, still there was this feeling in my heart. Like something would happen if I left her alone for too long.

"I will, and I am sorry about those things I said to you yesterday. I didn't know about your relationship, so I thought I had a chance. But seeing her like that, I give up. Please take care of her and don't make her cry again like that. I know this might sound odd, coming from someone who didn't even know her for even a few days, maybe it's because of this soul pact or maybe something else." I heard Vorgrim give a long speech and I knew he only meant well for Lizandra, so I just gave him a nod and vanished from the kitchen.

-Somewhere in New York-

Sitting inside a room filled with darkness. A lone figure was working on the desk, flipping through papers. A knock was heard on the door. “Come in.”

"Did it work?" asked the lone figure while looking up from the paperwork, to the person who had just entered through the door.

"Yes Boss, Miss Scarlet's guild was surrounded by the media today. There’s a lot of gossip going around about you both. I have also prepared a new set of photos." answered Erick, carrying a file in his hands.

"Good, release those photos tomorrow morning. I'll also be visiting her Guild. The show needs to be good. I want her reputation to soar for a while before it will hit rock bottom. Make sure that she doesn't leave this city...." As Leo was about to speak more, a figure entered his senses, it was not someone he knew. Despite the sudden appearance, he looked at the figure of a man, his face filled with calmness but, his body radiating pure power.

"Who might you be?" Leo asked.

"You could've lived your life peacefully but you had to poke your nose in my business, Mr. Leo." The man spoke as he moved forward from where he was standing and went straight towards Erick.

He took the file from Erick's hand and the next moment, Erick's arms fell to the floor, with blood gushing out of the armless man's wounds and the next thing Erick's brain registered was blackness.

-A Few Minutes Ago-

-Reinard’s POV-

After using a teleportation spell, I was back at the Base. Looking at my secretary Elana, who was working on the desk right beside mine. She was looking through the deals, too busy to notice me. “Elana.” I called out, and immediately without thinking much she took a knife from her waist and threw it at me.

Swish!

I looked at the knife as I caught it between my fingers, shocking her. She took a defensive stand and was about to alert everyone in the Base. But I was faster than her, so I cast a binding spell on her. A magic circle around her body, a rope filled with lightning bound her movements.

“Stop it’s me Reinard.” I said while casting another spell to transform my look to that of an Old Man. This calmed her down, as fear settled in her mind. I could see her body shivering at the sight of me. I released her body from the binding spell and immediately she kneeled in front of me, without saying anything. She knew that her apology meant nothing to me.

I was elated to see her swiftness though, attacking before asking questions. Any ordinary person would be lying dead right now.

“I need the information on Leo.” These words were enough for her to move and come back a minute later, holding a file, documenting everything Leo had done. From his heroics to the smuggling of goods, stealing, his address, how much property he owned and his current whereabouts.

“Good.” I said to the kneeling Elana, before placing the file down and using the teleportation spell to appear right where Leo was.

-Back to Present-

-Leo's POV-

I looked on as the man killed my secretary, his arms were cut off and his head was sliced clean, rolling on the ground before stopping near my feet.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked the man, who looked at me and didn't say a word. He just stood there looking at me.

I had known these kinds of guys all throughout my life, thinking they're strong and whatever, killing openly and the government won't even do anything to them. The only concern I had was if the person in front of me was stronger than me. I couldn’t see his level, he was probably hiding it through some skill.

"I am here to thank you and also to make your life miserable from now on, Mr Leo. From now on your life will take a huge turn. I can end this here and now but you made me realize something very important to me so for that I won't be just killing you, I'll be taking everything from you bit by bit. Mr. Leo the Guild Master of Holy Paladins." And just like that the man vanished from his room.

"Psycho, who does he think he is, making my life miserable, me, the leader of Holy Paladins, just bullshit." I laughed as he vanished from my office. I didn’t give two shits about his threat, having faced a lot of these threats already.

-Reinard's POV-

After vanishing from Leo's office, I took out my phone to make a call.

"Elana, I need you to do something for me. Be sure to be discreet about your identity but make sure he suffers a fate much worse than death."

-Liz's POV-

The sun had already set itself and the moonlight was shining bright in the sky. I was looking at the moon from the balcony of my penthouse. Reinard had gone to do something, I was sure that it was related to Leo.

I'm not sure how we are gonna move on from the past, but we were making some progress at least with my memories returning to me.

Vorgrim was out in the living room watching T.V. He had already finished making dinner for the three of us.

I suddenly felt a presence behind me, and I looked back to find Reinard, standing there with a bouquet of roses in his hands. I took it from him and smelled them, they were fresh, like they had been recently picked up even though it was night-time.

We didn't say anything, deciding to remain silent while gazing at the moonlight, as Reinard held me in his arms.

This would be the beginning of our new start and I was not going to let anything happen to Reinard and the family we'll create.

-The Next Day-

-Liz's POV-

I had woken up to find that Reinard had gone to take care of business. He had left a note saying that he would be returning soon. After reading that note I went on to get ready for work.

‘Wish he stayed more with me.’ I think to myself while eating the breakfast prepared by Vorgrim.

“Master?” Vorgrim asks as I stared at him dazedly, thinking about Reinard.

“Nothing. Just finish up, we're already late.” I say while stuffing myself with a sandwich.

-Ten Minutes Later-

I was on my way to the office with Vorgrim when something unexpected happened. A dungeon portal opened right in front of my fucking car !! Swallowing us whole. Usually dungeons only opened in places where mana density was high, unlike the cities with low mana density.

It would've not been that much of a problem if it was a normal dungeon but, once we were inside the dungeon, the whole scenario changed. It was not your usual small or even a 100 floor dungeon that I used to destroy half of L.A. The place inside this dungeon was like a huge Realm, a world of its own.

Realms were like pocket dimensions with limited space and a limited Universe of their own. Although Realms were generally smaller in size, there were a few which were more than enough to fit a whole solar system inside them. Like Elanoir, where I was living after Reinard had locked my memories. Realms were created by God like beings, a special inner world of their body. I also had a Realm inside me, which Reinard had entered before coming to Earth.

Because I had been constantly spreading my mana sense all around me, the moment I entered this Realm, I got all the information on it, like the places, the people, the monsters. The only problem was that the portal which we entered from had already closed and there was no way back until and unless I used one of my teleportation spells I had set up on Earth. I had been studying the World Teleportation Spell from the moment I came back to Earth and I had only deciphered eighty percent of it. The rest was a bit difficult to comprehend but it shouldn't take less than a few months to decipher it.

Sensing that I was gone from Earth, Reinard immediately teleported beside me. He must've been panicking because I could see the relief in his eyes when he saw me.

"What the hell happened? Why are you inside a dungeon?" Reinard asked while walking towards me.

"We were heading towards the Guild when a portal opened in the middle of the road. Now here we are and the portal is gone now." I told him as he hugged me.

"I see...then let's get out of here" Reinard says, tightening his hold on me, reluctant to leave me alone.

"Hmm, we should but I think that there is something here that we may find helpful in the near future because this type of dungeon has never been opened as far as I have read from the records on Earth." I said as he looked around and also spread his mana sense to look at the place, he also realised that we were inside a Realm, which for some reason had become a dungeon to us through the portal that had opened up. Dungeons were different from Realms, being limited in size and containing only monsters, not people.

"Sure, we've still got that teleportation spell on Earth, so we can go back anytime." Reinard says, indirectly declaring his point to stay with me.

-Somewhere in the Realm-

"My lord, we have spotted a few of those outsiders in our Realm. What should we do with them."

"Stop them from entering the city. I'll get my army ready, to fight them and kill them if needed."

"Yes my lord."

-Liz's POV-

The three of us had been walking through the forest for a few minutes until we spotted a town. It had a 10 meter wall built around it with lots of guards along the wall.

We all moved towards the wall but, just before we could reach the wall a figure jumped from the wall and landed right in front of us.

"Stop right there! Outsiders ! One more step and your heads will fly !" a burly looking man said while pointing his giant axe at us.

The three of us stood there while looking at the short but burly man. 'Should we try to talk it out or just go back.' Vorgrim asked me through the telepathic spell. 'Just wait a few minutes, there's a whole army coming here.' I replied through the connection.

"We are not here to threaten your town, we just want to explore a bit." Reinard says while taking a step forward and just as soon as he takes the step. The burly man swung, throwing his axe right towards Reinard and only dust could be seen because the force behind it was like a train had hit something.

"I told you to stay back. Now if both of you don't want to die, go back to wherever you came from and don't get near our town again." The burly man says while looking at me and Vorgrim while completely ignoring the possibility of someone surviving his attack.

"You know, for a man of your size, you sure pack a lot more of a punch but this is not gonna work on me." a voice comes out of the dust filled area and Reinard could be seen dusting off the dirt from his clothes.

"What the- " his question is cut short as Reinard just grabs his face and crushes it with so much force that it pops like a watermelon being crushed, with blood and brain matter coming out of it instead of juice.

"Honey, please don't go around popping people's heads like that. Their disgusting blood will spill on you." I reprimand Reinard while using a cleaning spell to clean him.

"Sorry, next time I'll stay back and crush them." Reinard says while looking like a child who had been scolded by his mom but I just hugged him and said "That will be a lot better."

The moment I released Reinard from my hug, a large army of humans and beast-kin could be spotted along the wall and a human standing in front of that army while looking at the scene beneath him, of his dead subordinate's body. He then looks back at his army, gives them some commands and heads towards us while floating in the air.

"What is it that you people want from my town?" he stays in the air, looking down at us with rage filled eyes. The man's appearance is that of an old looking guy with a gray beard, a scar across his eye and his aura making him look like an old sword but still sharp even at this age.

"We are just passing through and want to explore the town as well as this realm." I tell him while stepping forward and floating up right in front of him.

"Then you should just leave because this Realm is already Dead, you all are just outsiders who think of our Realm as a Dungeon that is meant to conquer. I have known your kind for a long time and there are people who at first want to explore and then come back with their full force to conquer us." He says while looking at me, like this is just another tedious work for him.

"Fine we'll leave but you'll have to tell me all about this Realm."

"That is not something you can demand in your current predicament. I have an army and you are just three people."

"What army?" I ask him innocently, tilting my head sideways while looking him in the eyes.

"Can't you see the army? Are you blind or what?" He says while pointing and looking back at his army, which is already gone.

"What happened? What trick did you use on me!!!" He says while agitatedly looking around to find his missing people.

"They are already dead. Just answer my questions and we'll leave." I say to him but he just ignores me and runs off in search of his people on the wall and I follow him.

What he sees is just a bloody mess, with guts, blood and flesh spread on the wall with Reinard and Vorgrim standing at the core of the scene, the voice had already been cut off and the old looking man did not have time to understand what was happening until he saw his army lying on the ground in the form of flesh, guts and blood.

"No no no.....nooooo you bastards!!!!!" He screams while launching all sorts of spells at Reinard and Vorgrim, who just ignore it and come back to my side. We look on as the old man starts crying on the wall while looking at the scene around him solemnly.

This wouldn't have happened if he had just given us the information we needed. Sometimes only extreme pain, either psychology or physically can make a man spill all of the secrets. This show was just a speck of what Reinard and Vorgrim could do if the old man did not speak.

"So you want to talk?" I fly down towards him and land in a clean area.

"I'll.....ta...lk." he says while crying and holding the head of a woman close to his chest. 'Hmm...it might be his daughter or lover.' I think to myself and take my eyes off the head of the woman and look at the old man.

"Good. Let's change the scene first" I clap my hands and the scene of misery changes to normal with the old man's army just sleeping on the wall.

The old man is shocked to see that his people were still alive and were just sleeping. "What the hell did you do?" I don't reply to his question and just teleport all of us to a mountain top near the town.

"Tell me, how did your Realm become a Dungeon and why are you saying that it's dead.”