Two days after the training with Marina...
A dimensional portal opened upon the metallic ground, its surface tinted maroon. Enatur stepped out from within, followed by Shadow, Rein, and Po-chan.
He raised both hands high and stretched his body, releasing a long, relieved breath.
"Enatur, I'll remind you once more. We wait for Miss Yunia first. Don't do anything that will make your mother angry!" Shadow warned him.
Enatur chuckled softly. "I know... Rein, Po-chan, welcome to the Vermillion Realm."
Vermillion Realm, a world created by Yunia herself. The air was cool, carrying a faint metallic scent from the ground. The crimson dome of the sky was decorated with massive and tiny clock gears.
The ticking of countless clocks echoed faintly from afar, like the beating of a heart. As far as the eye could see, swords of every size, from medium to colossal, were embedded in the red soil.
In the far distance, thousands of Great Swords stood upright in the ground, stretching for thousands, even hundreds of thousands of kilometers, forming what looked like a dead city made of blades.
He stood on an empty stretch of land, his eyes sweeping across the vast scenery.
"My Mom is terrible at organizing her own Realm."
"Let's be the ones to redesign it!" he said with a burst of excitement.
Shadow frowned and tapped his head.
"Enatur! You're going to cause even more trouble!"
Enatur grinned. "This is for research! I need to test the technology I got from Rein."
With a snap of his fingers, a red ring appeared and expanded rapidly until it became a gigantic storage space hovering above the ground.
From within, two towering buildings began to emerge, shaking the earth as they stood.
Thousands of armored AI robots, aircraft, and drones were neatly lined up. Within minutes, the empty land had transformed into a futuristic station with two main towers.
"Incredible!" Shadow's white fur bristled, his pupils shrinking while his eyes widened in awe at the phenomenon.
"Whoaa... the sci-fi vibe just went through the roof." Enatur laughed lightly.
They all entered the hangar. Inside, countless types of futuristic weapons lined the walls, most small in size, but one thing stood out, rows of nuclear warheads.
Enatur stared at the massive missiles in amazement. "So this is a nuclear bomb, humanity's greatest type-1 weapon of destruction."
"Doesn't the type-3 civilization have nuclear weapons?" Rein asked.
Enatur shook his head. "I didn't even know about them until I visited that world."
"So, there's no uranium in the type-3 human civilization?" Rein replied.
Enatur blinked. "Uranium? What is that?"
Rein displayed a holographic panel explaining the element.
______________________
Uranium: a naturally radioactive chemical element (symbol U, atomic number 92).
It has a density of 18.7 and a melting point of 1,132°C.
Widely used as fuel in nuclear power reactors.
_____________________
"The remaining nuclear bombs are my masterpieces. The data to recreate them is also stored in my memory. Not only nuclear weapons, but every piece of technology I've ever created," Rein said.
"I've seen their power. It's truly beyond imagination."
"The real danger isn't just the explosion," Rein continued. "It's what comes after. The radioactive fallout descends upon the earth, spreading across thousands of kilometers. It causes radiation sickness, slow, agonizing, and always fatal."
"In short, it tortures you to death."
Shadow curled up, covering his ears, trembling violently as he listened to Rein's clinical explanation.
Enatur's eyes quivered, his heartbeat pounding fast in his chest.
"Is that why my Mom kept information about uranium hidden from the type-3 human civilization?"
"That is the most logical answer, Master," Rein replied.
---
A few moment later...
Rows of full-body metal armors stood in formation on the second floor of the hangar. Enatur examined them closely, his gaze catching on one that had a feminine shape.
"Rein, how do you use these armors?" Shadow asked curiously.
"These are the battle suits I use when I need to fight." Rein floated closer to one of them. "Open control room."
The oval-shaped visor of the armor lit up.
System: Access granted. Control room opening.
The chest plate unfolded, revealing a small interior just big enough for her to fit inside. Rein entered. Her spherical ball robot dismantled itself, merging with the armor.
System: Synchronizing configuration.
System: Adjustment complete, synchronization rate 100%.
Her chest glowed purple, a bright circular core shining at its center.
Enatur and Shadow were speechless. Rein moved the armor with fluid precision. She stepped forward gracefully, her motions smooth, almost human. She threw a punch, then a kick, both movements strong and seamless.
"How is it, Master?" she said proudly.
Enatur raised his thumb. "A-amazing. You move like a professional martial artist!"
"Rein, why don't you just use this armor to move around all the time?" Enatur asked in disbelief.
"Am I allowed to, Master?"
Enatur slapped his forehead. "Good grief, Rein... yes, you bow to me, but that doesn't mean I'm enslaving you. You're free to do what you want."
"That's what living means. You're my partner, just like Shadow." Enatur smiled warmly.
"That's right, Rein. You're already part of our team," Shadow added.
The corners of Rein's mouth lifted. "If that is your will, Master, then I'll obey."
"Alright then, let's see what other technology you've created."
---
A few moment later...
The air rippled as another dimensional portal opened. Yunia stepped through, a cup of coffee still in her hand.
Her steps halted abruptly. Her gaze froze. In front of her stood an enormous futuristic station, gleaming over the maroon metallic ground.
The cup slipped from her hand.
Before Yunia could process what she was seeing, heavy hoofbeats echoed nearby. A horse galloped toward her, its maroon fur shimmering, its eyes, mane, hooves, and tail blazing bright red.
It was Pyrros, the Second Seal's horse, one of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
"Miss Yunia, thank goodness you arrived quickly."
"Good work contacting me immediately."
Pyrros bowed his head. "Forgive me, Miss Yunia, I couldn't do much to stop him."
A vein pulsed at her temple. "That naughty boy... come with me!"
Yunia strode swiftly toward the entrance.
Even as she admired the building's architecture, it wasn't enough to ease her growing anger.
Enatur and the others had just exited the facility when they met Yunia waiting for them.
His face paled instantly upon seeing his mother standing there with her arms crossed and a furious glare.
"I told you to wait, you naughty boy!" Yunia's sharp eyes pierced through him as she stepped forward.
Cold sweat ran down his back. "I-I can explain... I was only storing these temporarily, Mom!" Enatur stammered.
Her lips curved upward in a smile, but it was a dangerous one. She opened her storage space and drew a sword.
"Rein, Shadow, stay here. I have a bad feeling about this," Enatur muttered grimly.
He opened a portal behind him and immediately leapt inside.
Yunia opened her own dimensional gate and followed him through.
"Ah... they're gone," Shadow said.
"Rein, do you like playing chess?" he asked.
"Hm, I do. Do you have a board?"
Shadow opened his storage space and took out a chessboard.
"Let's play." He turned to Pyrros. "Mister Pyrros, would you like to join?"
"Hahaha... of course!" Pyrros replied eagerly.
---
A portal opened upon a desolate planet filled with cliffs and scattered rocks. Enatur emerged from the rift, not running, but moving at blinding speed. His figure blurred between the rock formations, his velocity creating gusts that scraped the dust from the ground.
Another portal opened. Yunia stepped through, her expression unreadable. With a slight motion, she gave chase, gliding inches above the earth.
Behind her, the air shattered. A dimensional space appeared in a ripple, and from them poured the roar of thousand of swords, swirling into a storm of steel that surged toward Enatur's fading silhouette.
The whir of the blades filled his ears, shrill like a swarm of furious wasps. Enatur's heartbeat thundered in his chest. Reflexively, he spun around, stretching out his hand to form a portal. A massive dimensional portal opened before him.
The sword storm was swallowed into the dimensional portal's void in absolute silence.
Yunia's right beside his ear.
Before Enatur could even turn, a cold sensation grazed his neck. He saw her blade stop just one centimeter from his skin. The swing slowed, and Enatur vanished before her eyes.
"Ah... he stopped the time for a few seconds"
Yunia muttured.
He reappeared in an open field. Raising both hands, he summoned dimensional spaces, hundred of them, encircling Yunia.
From each spaces, dagger chain shot out. While his hands still reached through the portals, Enatur pressed something hidden in his palm. Within the unseen void, away from Yunia's perception, his plan unfolded.
Yunia's lips curled slightly, though her gaze remained cold.
She moved. Her sword blurred into silver, slicing through each dagger chain with minimal, perfect precision. Not a single one reached her.
Then she heard it, a high-pitched frequency, like a digital clock counting down. Her once-calm eyes widened.
She caught sight of it by accident, bombs flashing red, tied to the passing chains. Not one or two, but hundreds.
00:02
00:01
00:00
BOOM!
The shockwave slammed against Enatur's chest. Hundreds of explosions merged into one deafening blast, roaring as a storm of heat that devoured everything in its path.
But Enatur moved like the wind, retreating behind a protective dimensional field, hiding within the wreckage.
"At least I managed to distract her,"
Enatur muttered, crouching behind a massive boulder. His breathing was ragged, sweat dripping down his face.
He stopped moving. For a moment, he felt like the only living being left on the planet, alone amidst a silence so vast and cold it pressed on his soul.
His ears twitched as he heard the distant tremor of footsteps.
His mother was walking in the air. Every step distorted space itself, sending ripples through the air.
Her eyes scanned the field, searching for him.
"Alright, if that's how you want it, my son... then let's play hide and seek."
"I'll test your skill as a survivor."
The ground shook. Tiny cracks spread across the cliffs. Even a planet half the size of Earth struggled to withstand the divine aura of a Goddess.
Ten thousand of dimensional spaces appeared in the air, and from each, hundred of swords poured forth.
With a single clenched fist, thousand of standard-sized blades shot downward. The world grew noisy. The wind created by the rain of swords roared like a colossal storm.
"That old granny... is she actually trying to kill me this time?" he shouted.
"Icy Umbrella!"
Crystalline ice formed above him, creating a dome-shaped shield just in time.
He couldn't stop. He had to keep moving.
The ground behind him exploded as the first wave of swords struck.
The sound of blades hitting ice was endless, like the heaviest hailstorm in history.
His Icy Umbrella began to crack beneath the relentless impact of dozens of blades. He discarded it and created another. His lungs burned. Sweat stung his eyes.
The raining swords shattered cliffs and boulders one after another. Massive stones fell, shaking the ground. Clouds of dust blanketed everything, narrowing his vision.
The sword rain did not cease.
The cliffs crumbled above him. There was no time to evade. The shadow of the falling rocks made his body tremble.
"Icy Axe!"
Enatur formed a massive axe of ice. He swung it hard, hoping to cleave through the collapsing cliff. The axe split one of the falling cliffs cleanly in two, a weapon both powerful and efficient.
But the cliffs kept crashing down around him. His eyes darted across the terrain. The debris seemed to fall deliberately, sealing every path of escape.
One by one, swords struck the ground around him, dozens, then hundred, forming a cage of steel, trapping him in place.
"What should I do?"