As the lights of Arlen and Wang vanished into the sky, Raymous returned inside, pulling the door shut to lock the cold outside, but he couldn't lock out the muffled sobbing that began to slip from beneath the blanket. Lena had woken up, but she didn't open her eyes; instead, she cried in bitter silence, thinking she was all alone.
Raymous stood behind the partition wall, leaning his back against it, closing his eyes as he whispered in a warm voice carrying an unshakable certainty: "Don't worry, Lena... I will always be with you. Trust me, you will never have to face this darkness alone." Then he walked slowly into the lounge, sat on the floor near her head, and began to gently stroke her hair in a quiet movement where he didn't try to say any more, leaving his silence and presence to comfort her.
On the other side of existence, in the First World, the atmosphere was boiling with tension. Clarice entered Nahira's palace with steps that struck the marble forcefully, her sullen face telling the story of a defeat she hadn't expected. Nahira welcomed her, sitting arrogantly amidst her servants, a yellow smirk spreading across her face as she asked: "So, you returned very quickly? Where is that climber? I don't see him following you like a shadow as usual."
Clarice stopped, looking at her sister with eyes shooting sparks, and said in a low voice charged with anger: "Sister... I am not in the mood to endure your provoking jokes. Leave me alone now before I lose my temper."
Nahira laughed mockingly, standing up from her seat to approach her, saying: "What happened? Did he finally abandon you? Did he manage to get his chance to escape our golden cage and gain his freedom... just like stray dogs when they break free from their leashes?"
In the blink of an eye, Clarice's hand moved, slicing through the air to land a resounding slap on Nahira's face, a slap that made the entire hall fall silent. Nahira stepped back in astonishment, while Clarice approached her and whispered in a tone as cold as ice: "Don't you dare... Don't you ever describe him by that disgraceful title again. That title suits you much more, sister, do you understand?"
Clarice emphasized her words as she continued with terrifying features: "Arius will return to me, and when that happens, I will make him forget all those trivial thoughts of freedom you speak of. He will be as I love, he will do what I love, and he will never look at anything other than me. So be polite when you speak of 'Clarice's husband'... Understood?"
Nahira shrank in her place, feeling real terror of her sister for the first time; possessiveness in Clarice's eyes had crossed the boundaries of reason. Nahira said in a trembling voice: "Have you gone mad? Are you doing this to me, your sister, for a strange man you only met a short while ago?"
Clarice replied as she turned to leave with her head held high: "I know Arius better than you and everyone else. Arius is my whole life, and if he asked for my soul, I would give it to him without hesitation. So... watch your words in the future."
Clarice left the hall with pride, leaving Nahira touching a cheek burning from the slap and a soul trembling with fear. Nahira looked in her wake and muttered with malice: "Yes... she has returned to that hysterical state. Damn you, you fool, you don't love him, you worship an illusion that will burn us all."
Nahira screamed at her servants who stood stunned by the sight of her insult: "Leave! All of you! Don't you understand?! Get out of my sight right now!" The servants scattered in terror across the corners of the palace, while Nahira clenched her teeth, the slap still leaving a red mark on her cheek, and whispered with malice: "You will pay the price for this insult, Clarice... I swear you will pay dearly."
In her luxurious bedroom, Clarice sat in the corner of the bed, her body shrinking as she hugged a pillow tightly, squeezing it as if trying to extract the soul from it. Her eyes were wide, rigid, unblinking as they stared at only one object: a picture of her and Arius placed in front of her.
A deep external silence enveloped the room, but inside Clarice's mind, there was a hurricane of sick questions: "Where are you now? What are you doing? Who are you talking to? Is someone touching your hand? What are you wearing? How do you feel? Does my name cross your mind, or have you replaced me?" These thoughts gnawed at her like worms, and the volcano of her jealousy boiled beneath her skin.
The door knocked lightly, and a maid entered carrying a luxurious food tray, saying in a trembling voice: "Pardon me, madam... I brought your meal." Clarice did not move, did not turn, and did not utter a single letter, remaining fixated on the picture.
The maid approached with fatal curiosity, saying as she bent down to look at what was paralyzing her mistress: "Is this Mr. Arius?" And with a spontaneous movement, the maid reached out her hand to touch the edge of the picture and straighten it.
At that moment, the thin thread connecting Clarice to reality snapped. She turned slowly, her eyes as cold as death, and her features paled to a terrifying degree. She screamed a horrifying scream that tore through the palace's stillness: "You! How dare you try to take him from me?!"
In the blink of an eye, a dagger charged with electric lightning that buzzed crazily formed from her purple energy. Clarice lunged at the maid, stabbing her with wild hysteria. It wasn't just one stab, but a waterfall of exploding anger.
The news reached Nahira, who was still sitting on her throne trying to calm herself, so she said with extreme coldness: "So... she really did it." Nahira headed towards the room, and when she opened the door, the sight shocked her; Clarice was drenched in blood that stained her dress and face, while the maid lay dead, pierced by more than 60 stabs all over her body, with blood surrounding her from every side.
Nahira looked at her sister's state and said to herself in sorrow mixed with fear: "As I expected... she has returned to her old psychological state. Her madness over Arius has crossed the stage of love to become a fatal disease."
Clarice was hugging the blood-stained picture tightly, whispering to herself: "No one will take you from me, my dear... Don't worry at all, I will kill them all before they touch the tip of your shadow."
Then she stood up suddenly, looking at Nahira in a commanding tone devoid of any remorse: "Order your servants to clean up this mess... I want a new room now, this room has been polluted by her touches."
Nahira could not find a word to reply with except: "Ready." She raised her hand as a sign for her terrified servants to begin cleaning. Clarice left the room, walking down the long corridors slowly while hugging the picture, humming a strange and incomprehensible tune, and disappearing into the darkness of the palace, leaving behind the smell of death and madness.
Nahira says: It seems this will not end well as long as that rat is still outside this world, damn it.
In the Sixth World, a few days pass, and we see that Lena's condition has started to become better than before. Raymous noticed her sudden activity and began watching her from afar as she worked hard on what she left of her previous work. Raymous says, sitting on the roof of the house: "This is wonderful, it's good to see her with this vitality. I hope she stays like this always and that I never see tears falling from her eyes again." Then Lena looks up, gestures to Raymous, and says: "Come here, what are you doing alone up there?" Raymous smiles, raises his hand, and says: "Admiring the beautiful scenery." Lena laughs and says: "Come down here, what do you say we hold a barbecue party?" Raymous jumps down directly towards her and says: "This is wonderful, and also so you can take a break from tiring work." Lena says: "I have a lot of accumulated work and I have to finish it. The workers at the company were confused due to my long absence."
Raymous looks at her and says: "Ahhhhh well, I don't know those strange work matters, but I am confident that you are the best one to do it." Lena looks at him and says with intense teasing: "Oh yes, because you are only good at training, fighting, and cooking too." The two laugh, and Raymous says: "Yes, you're right about that. Well, how about we invite Mrs. Arlen and Wang to eat meat?" Lena says: "Yes, that's a good idea, and this way we will enjoy it more." Raymous says: "Great, I'll call them, give me a minute and I'll be back." Raymous leaves the place and calls Wang, who answers immediately. Raymous says: "Hello Wang." Wang replies: "Hello Raymous, is there something wrong?" Raymous says: "Nothing important, but come to Earth right now because we are going to hold a barbecue party to celebrate Lena's recovery." Wang says: "That's wonderful, well we will come, and a guest will come with us if possible." Raymous says: "Alright, but don't be too late." Wang says: "Don't worry, we will prepare ourselves and arrive in just a few hours." Raymous says: "Okay, I'm going to prepare the barbecue gear," and hangs up the line, beginning to prepare for that. On planet Arlen, after Wang finished the conversation, he headed towards the large square and found that Arlen was training Mythos severely. Wang headed towards them and says: "I see your level has become much better, Mythos." Mythos bows and says: "All thanks to you, my teacher, and thanks to Mrs. Arlen of course." Arlen says: "Did something happen, Wang?" Wang says: "Yes, actually we are invited. Raymous invited us to a barbecue party to celebrate Lena's recovery." Arlen says: "Good news, she recovered quickly as I expected, she is a strong girl." Wang says: "Yes, and I told them we won't be late so we can help out a bit." Arlen says: "Alright, let's get ready to go." Wang says: "You too, Mythos, you will come with us." Mythos looks at them in astonishment and says: "Me?" Arlen says: "Yes, and it might be a good opportunity for you to get to know Raymous better, because your previous meeting was fast and with an event that wasn't good for getting acquainted." Mythos says: "As you wish, my lady." And indeed, the three set off piercing through space heading to Earth at a speed the eyes cannot see. On the way, Mythos wonders to himself, saying: "I wonder if I will see that fighter again? He was amazing back then. True, I didn't see much of him, but he was very extraordinary, he was on a different level than me and that Raymous, and his energetic servant was very strong back then, maybe he surpassed me by a lot back then."