Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Space shattered into tiny shards as the path into the vastness of darkness was clear.

"Nice, if I'm not mistaken the next appropriate gate is to the east, it will take us about ten minutes to get to it." Marlis said with a serious look before her feet were covered in green flames.

She glanced at Wain and said, "Run as fast as you can. Even though I said it would only take us ten minutes, we'll have to walk hundreds of miles in that time."

"Huh, don't worry. You watched my last fight, right? So, you should know that I'm pretty fast." Wain grinned as his aura intensified and a golden glint appeared in his eyes.

"Well, I think you'll be surprised that you're not the only one with these abilities." Marlis said in a careless manner, shrugged, and stepped forward.

Whooooooooosh.

At the same time, her silhouette blurred as she turned into a flash of green flame that almost instantly crossed meters of darkness.

"Damn, she's really fast, but I don't think she can compete with us, can she?" Wain said with a slight smile on his face while his hair lengthened.

'Sure, just run after her.' Light Racer said with a confident smirk with his arms crossed, 'However, you shouldn't use too much energy. Maybe you can fight the Dimension Guards, but it's best to delay the moment they show up as far away as possible.'

"Huh, whatever you say." Wain nodded as he rushed forward.

It took the golden ray a little over ten seconds to reach the green one that was already very far away.

Marlis glanced at him but said nothing as she maintained a certain speed as if on purpose.

They moved forward for a while, then Marlis took a sharp turn as Wain followed her.

"We're a third of the way through, but the Dimension Guards haven't shown up yet, which is good. You control your energy pretty well, don't you?" Marlis uttered in a calm voice.

"Nothing much." Wain shrugged.

Whooooooosh.

Marlis turned once more, then another and another. After about ten minutes, she stopped in front of the darkness and held out her hand.

The darkness dispersed, revealing a blue gate from which emanated a calm aura.

"Well, looks like we got lucky. I wouldn't want the Dimension Guards chasing us this time." Wain uttered while examining the gate.historical

"Yeah... But still, it's kind of weird... Though maybe a lot has changed since the last time I tried to sneak into Death Shore." Marlis said as she waved her hand.

Crackling.

The gate slowly opened as in the distance, a thin crack appeared, that was almost invisible, but Marlis' gaze instantly went there.

'Dimension Guard? Just one?' Well, it took too long to find us.' Marlis inwardly muttered as she stepped forward with Wain following her.

Crack.

Suddenly the crack was as big as the gate and a shadow flew out of it.

At the same time, Marlis and Wain's bodies went into creep from the terrifying pressure that they felt. Their hearts literally clenched as dozens of chains appeared next to the shadow.

"Fuck! It's Second Rank!" Marlis exclaimed with wide eyes as she ran into the portal.

Wain stood still for a while as Marlis had to pull him into the portal by force, dragging him by the arm. He hesitated for only a second, and that was enough for the Dimension Guard to reach the portal as well as for Wain to examine his opponent.

The Second Rank Dimension Guard was much different from the First Rank ones as it was more human than a monster. He had dense dark armor as well as brightly glowing gauntlets, boots, and a sword of compressed light energy. When Wain saw this, an image of the Code of Light and Darkness appeared in his mind for a moment, which also combined two opposing elements.

Whooooosh.

A portal opened in the sky and they found themselves in the midst of a massive stone forest among which flowed dozens of rivers as the water was literally everywhere. In the center of the forest was a vast lake at the center of which were three brightly shining spheres, the size of heads.

"No! No! No!" Marlis exclaimed with a panicked look, "There shouldn't be Soul Pearls here!"

"What's the problem?" Wain said as he created a dense wall of darkness above him.

He pressed Marlis against him, then jumped away from the wall and quickly reached the ground as they landed on the rocky shore of the lake.

"It's going to be real chaos out here now!" Marlis exclaimed as she pointed upward.

At the same time, several cracks appeared in the sky from which eerie auras emanated as Second Rank Dimension Guard entered the area.

"Well, now our main problem is this dangerous one, isn't it?" Wain said with a serious look as a Gladius appeared in his hand.

Marlis quickly came to her senses, nodded, and said, "Sure, you're right. Right now, the Second Rank Dimension Guard is the most important threat."

Tremble.

The energy headed toward Wain's sword as it grew denser. Then, Wain raised the sword and with deadly ice-cold eyes swung it upward.

The dark blade with tremendous power headed toward the Dimension Guard as there was no escape, so he did the same in return.

Whooooosh.

The blade of light collided with the dark one as appeared a powerful shockwave that shattered the tops of the stone pillars.

"Hah, he managed to react and counterattack so quickly, but it looks like his light isn't strong enough to get rid of my darkness." Wain said as a smirk appeared on his face.

The dark blade sliced through the light one as it reached Dimension Guar, severing his arm and leaving a massive cut on his chest that gushed with unusual white blood.

Then several intimidating paws appeared from the cracks in the sky, each one heading toward the wounded Dimension Guard as though to an easy target.