Second World

"You know where we can find the one who has the divine heritage?" Master asked.

"I know," Jack replied.

"I can't say I'm not surprised," Master said. "Isn't the point of you coming here to prevent me from getting the divine heritage?"

"Don't misunderstand. I still won't hand that divine heritage to you, but I also can't leave this place as it is," Jack said. "This place has taken too many victims. I can't just leave the others trapped in this place even if by doing so, ensuring that you will never get the divine heritage. There is also someone in this faction I need to save and I can only do so by bringing down the one controlling this place."

Master sneered. "Your do-gooder's attitude truly disgusts me, but I guess I must thank that sentiment for once since it allows me to get the divine heritage."

"Your ears must have malfunctioned. I said I won't hand you the divine heritage."

"We will see," Master sneered.

"By the way, when did you learn mana sense?" Jack asked.

Master didn't answer.

"I can understand now how you know about the hidden rune diagram in the sacrificial rounds. I might not be able to understand the rune diagram because I only sensed a part of it. I just considered them random flows of energy. But for you who know a rune diagram's mechanism, you can recognize it if you have mana sense. Even if you only sense a part of the diagram, you can identify it as what it is. Just like a friend of mine who can recognize a spell even if he only sees its partially-formed spell formation."

Master did not comment.

"Well, since you are in silent mode, let's just move on," Jack said. "I can get us to the nexus world. That is the base of this faction and also the most likely place that contains the exit of this dimension. You just need to show me the location of the node you mentioned earlier. I will wait for you down there with the others."

Jack flapped his draconic wings and flew down.

Master activated his bloodline power and used the demonic wings. He flew behind Jack.

The others were still waiting down there. When they found that they could now access their equipment and skills, they knew Jack and Master had succeeded.

Jack landed and deactivated his beast form.

"Holy… So, you are truly the king of Themisphere?" Stefan said. Jack was now fully wearing his regal outfit.

"I'm hurt by your skepticism," Jack said.

"You even have a cute familiar," Naomi said.

With the restrictions lifted, Peniel was now able to come out of her hidden dimension.

"You are right. She is cute," Stefan said. He came to Jack and tried to nudge Peniel.

"Hey, no touching!" Peniel slapped Stefan's finger away.

"She talks!" Naomi exclaimed in surprise.

"You bet I talk, miss!" Peniel talked back.

Master landed then. He was also wearing a regal outfit. It was different from Jack's but everyone could identify it as something that was only worn by a monarch.

Stefan remembered then that Jack once told them that Master was the ruler of Liguritudum.

"What should we do now?" Grace asked.

"We are going to search for the exit," Jack said. He then turned to Master and asked, "Which way?"

"Let's head out first," Master said.

They walked out through the hole in the debris wall. Out there, Master took out a whistle and summoned his Qilin.

Everyone oohed and aahed over Master's distinctively-looking steed. Jack let them marvel at Master's steed for a while before he took out his red whistle. With a smug face, he blew the whistle.

Pandora burst out of the ground accompanied by a twisting flame. The heat from the flame forced everyone to move away. They then involuntarily moved another step back when an intensely fearsome aura hit them. They gazed at the fiery horse with wary eyes.

Was that a steed? It looked more like a monster. A boss-type monster!

"Ma'am, they are friends. There is no need to scare them," Jack said as he climbed up the Nightmare. A smug smile was still decorating his face.

"Hmph," Master scoffed.

Grace summoned her unicorn, which drew another gasp. Spring Crown's steed was also unusual. It was a giant fox-like horse with three thick tails.

"I can't just let you three steal all the spotlights," Spring Crown said with a grin.

"That's a Foxmare," Peniel told Jack. "It is a unique-grade steed."

Seeing these summons, Jack took out his companion token and tried summoning Arlcard. He failed.

"This is a separate dimension that blocked unwarranted passage," Peniel explained. "Therras, Pandora, and I were a part of you, while Arlcard was still an entity who roamed the world. That's why you can call us and not him."

Jack figured it would be the same case as his royal agents. He won't be able to summon them.

After seeing the four unusual steeds, the others were unsure about their feelings when they took out their whistles. They just stood there looking at one another until Master scolded them for wasting their time. They then summoned their steeds. Their mounts were only uncommon horses.

Two people were not summoning any steeds, Kramer and Windy. They were natives. They didn't have an inventory system. When they were trapped in this place, all their belongings were seized, including their steed whistles. They were until now still wearing the ragged clothes they wore before the restrictions were lifted. The difference for them was simply they could now use skills.

Jack offered Kramer a lift, while Grace offered to take Windy.

Kramer was a bit uneasy to accept Jack's offer because he felt extremely uneasy around Pandora, but Jack's outstretched hand gave him the courage to overcome the fear. He grabbed Jack's hand and climbed onto Pandora.

"Follow me!" Master commanded after everyone was ready.

Pandora's fear aura was causing the lower-grade steeds to move too slowly, so Jack took to the sky and followed from above.

While flying, Jack asked Peniel, "You said before that Pandora can pierce most barriers between dimensions, right? This means she should be able to help me escape this place?"

"I think she can. Do you want to give it a try?" Peniel asked. "But I don't think you can come back here safely. The entrance to this dimension, the mist, is enchanted. If you enter the mist again, even while riding Pandora, you will most likely find yourself chained inside the prison dungeon with all your abilities stripped again. So, once you leave, don't think about returning. If you truly want to leave with this method, you can only take one person with you."

Jack looked at the group that was galloping below.

"No. Let's leave with everyone," Jack said.