"Ahh!!"

For the second time in a row, Darcel and Aniela awoke with a startling fright shrieking from their voice. Their throats quickly became horse as they lost their voice only a couple of seconds in screaming.

Darcel and Aniela's eyes burst wide open as they frantically looked around where they are. Their visions quickly came to them, and they both promptly calmed down in a familiar environment.

This time, Darcel and Aniela weren't in an immense state of panic. A soothing sensation was wrapping behind their bodies, helping them both gain a stable sense of mind.

Their hands had instantly gone to their chests, confirming there wasn't any bloody hole, and their hearts were still beating.

As their senses quickly came to them, Darcel and Aniela realized that weird color mixed space wasn't a dream at all. Once confirming their bodies, they had then turned their sights to the snowy forest maze around them.

They felt the slight shiver of cold snow coiling under their legs, indicating to them their bodies had changed in some way.

While they were coming to their senses, Darcel and Aniela leaned more into the supple sensation behind them. It was incredibly warm and fluffy, like they were leaning against a soft cloud from the skies.

In an instant, Darcel and Aniela recognized this specific texture of fluffiness. And Darcel felt a chaotic wave of emotions burst from his left side.

Before either Darcel and Aniela could turn around, they heard a voice that they truly longed to hear.

"Ahh!! Thank god you two are ok!!"

Masami's voice was loud as it carried a heavy mix of emotions. It was fraught with a combination of distraught and relief as it soothed into Darcel and Aniela's ears.

From behind their backs, Darcel and Aniela felt her two fox tails curl even tighter around them.

Just from the distress of her voice, Darcel and Aniela already felt like a heavy hammer struck their hearts. And when they peered over to Masami's face, their hearts lurched even more.

Masami's beautiful face had streams of dried tears washed up on her face, and her eyes looked slightly puffy. Anybody would feel a tremendous sense of sympathy from Masami's current appearance as she looked akin to a broken-hearted maiden.

But when Masami's eyes saw Darcel and Aniela awake and looking at her, a massively broad smile instantly formed her lips.

There hadn't been a moment in her life where she felt so much relief that someone was ok until today.

Every depressive and destructive thought she had before was slowly going away. Although, there was still some underlying grief buried deep in her mind.

Previously, Masami had awoken a little bit before the duo. She didn't experience any mystical divine dream during her unconsciousness. It only felt like she was drifting between the borders of life and death.

That chilling dream-like state lasted for what seemed like hours for Masami.

And after a seemingly unknown amount of time, Masami didn't know how it happened, but she felt an intense pull to come back to reality. Immediately upon awakening, Masami had taken all three of them to lean against some random tree that wasn't knocked over.

She had then wrapped her fluffy fox tails around Darcel and Aniela's bodies like she was a mother fox protecting her cubs.

Admittedly, Masami did sense Darcel and Aniela's lifeforce slowly recovering before. But with how slow it was going, it didn't help lessen the tremendous worry in her mind.

The only saving grace was how there weren't bloody holes in either of them. Still, Masami had that slight fear that Darcel and Aniela wouldn't wake up again.

If she were to lose them, Masami honestly didn't know what would happen to her mental state. She did think about using the Healing Pills she has inside her spatial ring. But she had feared that the yellow-eyed woman might've done something to render Healing items useless.

Masami wouldn't pass her to do that, considering her power is far beyond their understanding, and she's indifferently cruel.

Thankfully, Masami didn't have to contemplate making that decision as the duo had finally woken up.

And seeing Masami in such a mixed chaotic state, Darcel didn't need any to think on what to do next. He quickly pulled Masami and Aniela into his arms, holding them tight so they wouldn't disappear from his embrace.

"Haaah~....Darcel..." Both girls quietly hum while snuggling tightly in Darcel's chest.

All three of them felt a relaxing warmth soothed through their entire body and souls. No matter what had happened before, all of their hearts were quelling into a calming, tranquil state.

Darcel peered his eyes to the skies as he got even more comfortable in his position. When gazing into the skies now, Darcel noticed there was a slight change.

Now the sickly yellow color permeating the whole sky had turned into a lighter shade.

Darcel didn't need to think hard about the change. He instantly connected it to the yellow-eyed woman presumably leaving this independent realm. Thinking about the yellow-eyed woman, his eyes began to wrinkle a bit.

He couldn't be happier seeing Aniela and Masami again. But staring up into the yellow sky was a hard smack of reality. Even without using his Spirit Sense to inspect his body, Darcel just felt far weaker than before.

The fact that the cold from the snow could affect his body to a considerable degree spoke a bit of volume to him.

Still, Darcel tried to push down any ominous feelings and began speaking to the girls,

"I'm glad we came through this alive. But..."

As Darcel trailed off, his expression started to gradually darken. Aniela and Masami clutched tighter on Darcel's chest as they felt the exact same sensation of looming dread creep into their minds.

"But we can't stay here for long. That yellow-eyed woman, whatever she did to us, was a disaster in more ways than one." Darcel had continued on as he tightened his hold around Aniela and Masami's waist.

Aniela and Masami didn't move nor respond for a moment.

In Aniela's eyes, a dark glow loomed. She was sensing her current body state and wasn't all too pleased with what she was inspecting.

"Yea...that yellow-eyed woman, she made all of us just significantly weaker. I can just sense it in my bloodstreams; it's nowhere near as potent."

Aniela's usual chipper tone was having trouble making it into her voice now. She would always be brimming with some sort of optimism for any given situation.

But now?

After feeling like she had something so vital to her be massively weakened, it put a huge damper in her whole mind.

Moreover, there were also the deep scars of getting so savagely torn in by the yellow-eyed woman and being put in a state of death. It was especially shocking to Aniela, considering she was the one that continued advocating for the yellow-eyed woman.

And now, she had so coldly thrown all three of them into a disastrous position.

Masami had the same crushing pressure in her mind as she began to say, "I...I knew she was a bad omen. With only just a quick sense, I can already tell my prowess isn't shit compared to what it was before. We...we truly got weaker."

There was great despair filling Masmai's voice. The hand she held on to Darcel's shirt was slightly quivering as dread couldn't stop from filling her mind.

Aniela as well couldn't stop her dread from increasing.

Up to this point of their journey Darcel, Aniela and Masami pretty much always relied on their overwhelming prowess to blast through any situation. None of them ever even considered for a second what it would be like were they to suddenly lose all of that overwhelming prowess.

It was the basis of what gave them so much utmost assurance. Admittedly, they really didn't have to take things that seriously since their powers let them cruise through their journey.

But with all of that savagely stipped away from them, what should they do now?

It was an immense worrying thought plaguing Aniela and Masmai's minds. Now, there was a massive genuine sense of death from just being in this independent realm.

Everything was shaping up to be depressingly bleak from here on out. However, for Darcel, a faint twinkle started to spark in his eyes.

Even if they're weaker, Darcel didn't give up hope. He knows all of their plans will have to significantly change to accommodate their current situation.

But as long as they stick together, Darcel at least had the assurance they can pull through alive.

Feeling his small swirl of hope inspire him, Darcel began telling the girls, "No matter what happens to us, this won't stop our movement. Don't forget girls; this place is supposedly filled with great treasure. Our prowess may behave rupture, but we will just focus holey on our cultivation."

Darcel put on the best inspiring, hopeful tone he could muster up at this point. Although deep inside his mind, there were plenty of seeds of doubts. However, he couldn't let that show to the girls.

If even he was wracked with despair, how can they ever expect to pull through this sudden situation?

And Darcel's efforts were slightly rewarded. Aniela and Masami stared into Darcel's determined face and at least felt security from confining with him.

"Right...at least we have the treasures..." Masami's tone sounded a bit more hopeful than before, but her doubts couldn't wash away completely.

"Mnh...can we at least rest here for a bit before continuing on?" Aniela asked in a slight pleading tone to Darcel.

She at least wanted a few more moments for her mind to fully process everything that happened. And she wanted to gain back her energetic chipperness rather than being slumped with depression.

Darcel slowly nodded his head and began slowly stroking the girl's head. Aniela and Masami's eyes turned half-lidded as they felt calmer to comprehend their next moves from Darcel's intimate strokes.

"We can stay here for a bit longer. But it will be very short. Our vigilance has to be on a whole other level we didn't have before." Darcel carefully explained, and the girls slowly nodded their heads without responding.

A dreading silence hung over between the three of them.

Darcel trailed his eyes back to the yellow sky, and all he could feel was that their lives will get exponentially more complicated from here on out.