FAMILY ABOVE ALL: BATTLING AGAINST GODS

Within a cloud of thick darkness covering an area of a hundred meters and from which the cries of ghosts and the wails of specters could be heard, Arlo felt the evil energy actively trying to corrupt his very essence.

Suddenly, the two saber marks on the back of his hands glowed brightly and before he knew it, the invading evil energy was forcefully expelled, a sort of barrier now surrounding him and stopping the evil energy from drawing near.

However, it seemed Old Bro's action was unnecessary as barely a second later it acted, an explosion of purple snakes burst out from within before incinerating all the evil energy. Those within were not hurt in the slightest while the suffocating darkness was completely eradicated.

Rebecca quickly closed the distance to the unmoving- Scarlett who had a torn arm in her hand.

"Scarlett, don't tell me..."

"Yes, he escaped!" Scarlett had a grave look on her face.

"But how? How is it possible for someone so high up the ladder to be corrupted? And that so without our knowledge? I fear the majority if not all the magical beasts are already..." Her words trailed off, afraid her greatest fear might turn true. These were billions of lives at risk. Unlike the small attack from before where a few relatively small cities, such as Tibu's, were targeted, the scale this time was simply on a whole new level.

Scarlett didn't reply and instead closed her eyes, as she tried to use her advantage as a Will Bearer to locate Emperor Razor. As the Worlds will bearer she was no different from a god here and accomplishing a task as simple as finding someone could be done in a few breaths for her. However, even after a full minute, Scarlett didn't open her eyes and Rebecca could notice how her face was becoming increasingly pale, despite her very fair skin.

"Scarlett?!"

Releasing a deep breath, Scarlett opened her eyes, two red beams shooting out into the distance. "I can't find him!"

"What?!" Rebecca exclaimed in surprise, her shock slowly turning into horror.

"He must have teleported out of this world or must be in some form of high-level formation that could even mask his presence from the world. Either way, we need to go sister. This is getting out of hand!"

Rebecca nodded seriously. She knew how grave the situation was. Turning back, Scarlett spoke with a deep voice, her eyes landing on King Jake last, "You must absolutely not speak of what just happened to anybody! At least for the moment. The last thing I want on my plate right now is a widespread panic."

Nodding his head with a serious expression on his face, King Jake replied, "I understand!"

"Good! Evangeline, take Arlo, Arianne, and Ella with you." continued Scarlett before she grabbed Rebecca on her shoulder, "Let's go!"

Using space laws, they both disappeared from the spot. This was the major advantage mages had over warriors.

Will!

Once a mage breaks into the Red-core stage, they develop an arcane power called 'Will' which could be cultivated and grown the further they advance in their level. As could be inferred from the name, Mages were able to influence their immediate surroundings to their will. Together with their innate talent that could similarly grow with them, they become a force to be reckoned with.

This was one of the reasons why despite warriors being far and few between, the mages didn't count themselves to be inferior in the slightest. In this worldview, mages were simply stronger.

Of course, the Asura race broke this view, as they were the absolute strongest in the whole galaxy. But still, the fact remained that they were the only Ki cultivators who were able to make it to the top. Every other top race was a mage.

For example, if a mage's innate talent was the ability to summon fireball with the number increasing the more he grew, once said person reaches the Red-core stage, such a limitation wouldn't count any longer. Using their will, they could influence their respective laws in a kilometer radius around them, which is the bare minimum, and cover this field of theirs with as much fireball as they could conjure. No matter how powerful the summon a warrior has, or the true form they develop making them twice as hard to kill, or their out-of-the-world regeneration, as long as they couldn't bridge the distance of one kilometer to their opponent, then there was no reason to fear them.

It wasn't for no reason that Zara had told Arlo that it was hard for even a top-tier genius still in the preliminary stages of cultivation to jump level and defeat a red-core mage. Furthermore, Mages had the opportunity to become a world-will's bearer. In other words, they could become the guardians of the world. As a will bearer, they have free access to all the laws of that world, becoming no different from an actual god.

.....

"Let's go!" Evangeline used her mana to bring Arlo, Arianne, Joe, and Ella beside her.

"Arlo, I want to go to the central continent." The quiet Joe suddenly said from the side.

"Why?"

"My sister is in danger!"

Arlo looked at Joe intently. The resemblance between him and Emperor Razor was clear to see.

Seeing the anxious look on his face as he clenched his fists, Arlo made his decision.

"Okay, but..."

"Let's return first. Then I will send someone to escort you to your people." Evangeline cut in as she looked at Joe coldly. She just reunited with Arlo yet Joe was trying to separate them. Not to mention that among the trio, Joe was the least she favored.

She didn't wait for his reply and was about to bring them away when a commotion broke out from beside them.

"Rose!" King Jake shrieked in horror.

Turning around, Arlo saw Rose looking at him fixedly. However, he soon noticed her unusual state.

Her body shook uncontrollably as blood leaked down the sides of her eyes. Most importantly, her eyes were spinning so fast that seemed to have become two golden whirlpools.

"Arlo..." Rose choked out, blood streaming down her mouth, "You....die... be careful..." She fainted before she could finish her words, but Arlo saw the urgency and anxiousness within her eyes before she collapsed.

"Rose!" Arlo moved forward but was soon stopped by King Jake's shout.

"Enough!" he glared at Arlo, his eyes bloodshot. Now the impression he had of Arlo couldn't fall any lower. Not only did he have something to do with the secret realm's disappearance, but he had now placed his daughter in a life-and-death situation.

How could he not know what happened to his daughter? Once, Rose had had a vision of one of his general's future, saving him from certain death. But in the end, she had to pay the price of influencing the world's natural order. She had lost her eyesight for a full month, becoming no different from a blind girl. Such were the mysteries of the future eyes. However, her condition this time seemed far more grave as she couldn't even say what she saw before she collapsed. No matter how they tried to pry her eyes open, they refused to budge in the slightest. Yet King Jake became more anxious as he saw the blood leaking out of her eyes not reducing at all. Turning back, he glared at Arlo and felt the volcano raging within him about to erupt. But, the anger threatening to burst out suddenly calmed a bit when he saw the increasingly deepening look of displeasure on Evangeline's face. This reminded him once again that no matter how beautiful and kind a vampire was, they only cared about themselves. He took a deep breath and gave his unconscious daughter to Kai, who for the first time let go of his katana and placed it in his space pouch. His usual stoic look was long gone, the worry on his face almost palpable as he carried Rose in a princess carry. Raised by King Jake, Kai had always considered Rose his half-sister, and even took the role of staying by her side at all, acting no different from a guardian. Rose's loose mouth was just that troublesome.

Using his mana, King Jake brought Kai, Theodore, the unconscious Rose, and the others away, the aura around them gloomy. He didn't even bother greeting Evangeline before taking his leave, something he wouldn't do but now didn't care about. Not only was a storm brewing within the Lunar World, but even their princess was now in a half-death state, as her body slowly lost its warmth. They quickly hurried back home to find a solution to her condition.

"My little girl....why?" King Jake whispered, his eyes turning bloodshot. He had lost his wife, and now only had his daughter. He didn't know why she suddenly had a vision about the golden-haired brat, and most importantly was confused about what she saw that left her in such a bad state.

.....

Arlo lowered his raised hand as he gazed at the now-disappearing human group.

'Rose...' He felt so anxious and stifled to the point that it was starting to get difficult to breathe.

Luckily, Evangeline patted him at that moment as she whispered in the gentlest voice she could muster, "I am sure she will be okay. But for now, we need to return."

Taking a deep breath, Arlo nodded his head and allowed himself to be controlled by Evangeline's mana. Slowly, the group of five sped across the sky.

Throughout the entire journey, Arlo was lost in his thoughts.

'I hope she is okay!' He could tell from the connection established between them by being in Ella's pack, that while she seemed to be in great danger, her life essence wasn't actually decreasing. This meant the others in their group could also feel her condition, but he didn't care about such things.

'But what was she trying to tell me?!' he could still vividly remember the urgent look on Rose's face and could tell what she saw must have been very serious not to mention the words she said.

"You...die be careful..." he trailed off as he continued contemplating, 'Did she see my death?'

Ever since he received his dragon sense, Arlo could sense an impending doom drawing ever closer to him. He had thought it had something to do with his eighth birthday which was in two days, but now he wasn't so sure anymore.

They traveled in this silence...

'I hope the situation in the central continent can still be salvaged.' Evangeline thought.

'Sis, you must remain safe!' Joe prayed.

None of them could have imagined that the end of the secret realm which should have been a reason for celebration would be a prelude to a disaster.

Soon a dark veil connecting the sky to the earth entered their vision. Without any hesitation, Evangeline accelerated and flew into the veil, marking their return to the northern continent.