Chapter 122: Don’t Mistake Our Patience for Weakness

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Don’t Mistake Our Patience for Weakness

Six hours had passed since the battle, and the battlefield was almost unrecognizable. Where the two corrupted beasts had fallen, enormous craters scarred the ground, and broken trees lay scattered in every direction.

The earth had been torn apart, burned, frozen, electrified, and shattered by spatial attacks. The monsters’ bodies had already begun to deteriorate, but their cores remained, and the team hadn’t wasted the opportunity.

They’d searched every monster they’d killed and recovered every usable mana core: C- rank, B-rank, A-rank, S-rank. Even the remains of the corrupted beasts had been carefully examined.

The black, foreign residue had mostly dissolved by now, but they’d salvaged several fragments of the cores for the Association’s researchers.

After hours of salvaging every usable scrap, the squad finally sat down to catch their breath. They couldn’t afford a full recovery, but six hours of quiet rest was enough to bring everyone’s mana reserves back to around twenty or thirty percent.

It wouldn’t carry them through another drawn-out fight, but it gave them just enough juice to stand tall and walk out of that ruined world on their own two feet.

Felix slung the last backpack over his shoulder and pulled the strap tight. "That’s everything."

Aria looked around. "Everyone ready?"

One by one, the team checked their gear. Darius adjusted his pack with one hand, his other arm still bound from treatment. Felix had restored the damaged tissue and stabilized the wound, but the hand itself hadn’t been fully rebuilt yet.

Darius flexed what he had and grimaced. "Still feels strange."

"I’ll finish it once we’re back," Felix said.

"Good."

Kael hefted his backpack and groaned. "This thing weighs a ton."

Lena rolled her eyes. "You volunteered to carry the extra cores."

"I didn’t know there’d be this many."

Ryan laughed. "You’re the one who said you’d carry them because you were the strongest."

Kael pointed at him. "I said emotionally stronger."

For the first time in hours, the team managed a few real laughs, and even Aria smiled. Then Mira turned toward the portal in the distance, and her expression changed.

"Five hours." Everyone looked at her. The portal’s edges were flickering violently, unstable. "Maybe six, but I wouldn’t risk waiting."

Aria nodded. "Then we’re leaving."

They started walking, the ruined battlefield sinking slowly behind them. Their packs were heavy with mana cores and their bodies were running on fumes, but they were alive, and they were going home.

They hadn’t gone more than twenty minutes when Orion stopped. "Movement."

Everyone froze. Aria raised a hand. "How many?"

His eyes narrowed. "A lot."

The sound grew clearer: footsteps, hundreds of them, then thousands and then military vehicles crested the horizon. Armored trucks, heavy weapons, and row upon row of armed soldiers spread across the path, blocking the way to the portal.

Kael frowned. "You’ve got to be kidding me."

Ryan tightened his grip on his shield. Darius sighed. "Apparently we’re not allowed to leave peacefully."

Aria stepped forward, her voice calm. "Hold formation."

The army came to a halt, a large group of soldiers raising their weapons, though none of them fired. A man in a decorated uniform stepped out of the ranks: older, broad-shouldered, stern-faced, a heavy row of medals across his chest.

He looked over the team, then at their backpacks, then toward the distant portal.

"You are not leaving."

Aria’s eyebrows lowered. "Excuse me?"

"I’m Chief Marshal Henderson." He gestured at the packs. "You came into our world, killed our monsters, and now you’re walking out with what looks like valuable resources."

"We don’t have time for this."

"We have time."

"No, we don’t." Aria pointed toward the portal.

"That portal is collapsing. We have five hours, maybe six, and if we aren’t through it when it closes, we never get home."

The chief crossed his arms. "Then perhaps you should explain what you’re taking before you go."

"We can’t explain everything." Her expression stayed controlled.

His face darkened. "You expect us to simply let you walk away?"

"What exactly do you want?"

He jabbed a finger at the backpacks. "You can’t walk into our world, kill those creatures, pull those shiny parts out of their bodies, and leave. We have a right to know what they are." His voice carried across the formation. "And what you’re taking."

Aria’s patience was wearing thin. "We’ve already explained most of this."

"To whom?"

She looked toward the vehicles. "General Davis."

A man several rows back stepped forward, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Aria nodded toward him. "Your general knows the situation."

Davis sighed. "She’s telling the truth."

The chief turned. "Davis."

"I’ve already told you all of this." The general looked at the team, then back at his commander. "They came through the smaller gate three days ago. They warned us about the larger one. They evacuated our civilians and fought the monsters themselves." He gestured at the ruined battlefield behind them. "They saved this world."

"And you decided to take their side?"

Davis’s jaw tightened. "I’m taking the side of what actually happened."

"Watch yourself."

"No. You watch yourself." He stepped forward, and a few of the soldiers looked away. "These people are the reason we’re standing here at all. If they hadn’t come, that gate would’ve opened and those things would’ve poured into our cities. We wouldn’t be arguing about mana cores right now, we’d be burying our dead." His voice rose. "You should be thanking them."

The chief’s face reddened. "Shut your mouth, General."

"Enough." He turned back to Aria, his tone colder now. "You will hand over the resources you’ve taken."

"And, one of you stays here."

The silence that fell across the battlefield was complete.

Aria stared at him. "What?"

"One of your people remains. They’ll explain how these resources work, how to use them, and how to deal with these gates if they open again." His voice took on the weight of command. "The rest of you may return."

For several seconds, no one spoke. Then Aria’s fists clenched. Kael’s expression went dark, Lena looked furious, and Ryan’s knuckles whitened around his shield. Orion’s eyes turned cold. Mira took a step forward.

Davis stared at the chief like he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. "Chief..."

The chief raised a hand. "That’s my decision."

Aria drew a slow breath. "You’re asking us to leave one of our people behind."

"Yes."

"For experiments."

"For cooperation."

"No." Her voice was dangerously calm. "We’re not leaving anyone behind."

The chief scoffed. "Then perhaps you’re not as cooperative as you claim."

Felix hadn’t uttered a single word throughout the entire exchange. Standing a step behind Aria with his travel pack slung lazily over one shoulder, his head remained slightly tilted downward.

To the shouting crowd, he looked like an idle bystander. None of them caught the faint upward tug at the corner of his lips, imperceptible at first, before stretching into a slow, razor-thin smile.

Beneath his dark lashes, his azure eyes had gone unnervingly still.

Seraphina noticed. So did Liora.

Their eyes flicked toward him almost in unison, neither carrying a shred of panic. They simply watched.

Seraphina’s pale gaze traced the quiet shift in his jaw, while a knowing, predatory smirk played at the edge of Liora’s mouth. Across the room, the furious argument raged on, but neither woman was listening anymore.

It wasn’t a violent smile, nor a boastful one. It was the calm, bone-chilling amusement of a man whose patience had cleanly, quietly run out.

"He’s cute," Liora murmured, her voice barely louder than a breath.

Seraphina didn’t look away from him. "Very."

Meanwhile Aria stepped forward, her voice cold. "Listen to me."

The chief turned to her.

"I’ll give you some mana cores."

His eyebrows rose. "Aria..." Darius began.

She raised a hand. "I’ve decided."

She reached into her pack and pulled out two large A-rank cores and three smaller B-rank ones, holding them up in her palm. "Five cores."

The chief stared. "You want something to study? Take them." She threw them onto the ground between the two groups, and they landed with a sharp clatter that pulled several soldiers’ eyes down to the dirt.

Her gaze went icy. "You and your people didn’t kill a single beast. Not one. And we’re still giving you these." The chief opened his mouth, and she cut him off. "But don’t say it again."

He frowned. "Say what?"

"That one of our people stays behind." Her mana began to rise. "That isn’t cooperation. That’s a declaration of war."

Several soldiers shifted nervously. She looked out across the enormous force. "And believe me, it would be a very losing war for you."

His face darkened. "You dare threaten—"

Aria turned her back on him. "Team. We’re leaving."

The team moved at once. The chief stepped forward. "You can’t just..."

"Sera."

The voice was soft, almost casual, and it silenced the entire battlefield. Felix hadn’t raised it. He hadn’t even looked at the soldiers.

Seraphina smiled and lifted one hand.

*WHOOOOOM.*

The air above the military force shifted. Thousands of compressed water spears materialized and hung over the soldiers, each one densely pressurized, thin violet lightning crawling across its surface, every point aimed straight down. The soldiers froze beneath them.

The chief’s face went pale. Felix finally looked at him, his smile still in place. "Move."

His smile widened slightly. "Or don’t."

Seraphina’s fingers flicked, and the spears tilted downward by a fraction and every soldier’s hands went up at once.

"Stand down!" someone shouted. "Weapons down!" "Lower everything!" The formation dissolved into nervous, scrambling movement.

Felix had already turned away, and he didn’t bother watching. Liora fell into step beside him, glanced back at the soldiers, then at him. "That was fun."

He shrugged. "They were annoying."

"I liked your smile."

He blinked. "My smile?"

"Yeah." She looked genuinely delighted. "It was scary."

Seraphina nodded.

Felix sighed. "You two are weird."

Neither of them disagreed.

Behind them, Kael scooped the five cores out of the dirt, looked at the soldiers and tossed them casually back toward the military. "A deal’s a deal."

The chief barely caught one. Kael pointed at him. "Don’t lose them." Then he turned and walked off.

The team continued toward the portal in silence. The military stayed quiet behind them, and the only sound was their own footsteps.

As they neared the portal, its unstable surface flickered violently, and Mira checked the timer. "Four hours and twelve minutes."

Aria nodded. "Plenty."

They stepped through. For one brief moment there was only darkness, and then light, and the familiar mana-rich air of their own world.

---

The portal began collapsing behind them the instant the last of them cleared it.

A rapid shrinking, and then nothing.

For a moment, they just stood there. Then Darius looked back, his expression twisting.?"Those fking bastards."

Kael nodded. "Yeah."

"Unbelievable," Lena said, arms crossed.

Ryan shook his head. "After everything we did."

"They really tried to hold one of us hostage," Mira said.

Orion clicked his tongue. "Idiots."

Even Aria looked worn out. "At least they got their cores."

Darius snorted. "They didn’t deserve those either."

Kael jabbed a finger at the vacant space. "Next time, I’m not holding back. I’ll incinerate them."

Lena glanced at him. "There better not be a next time."

"...True."

Felix stayed quiet, Seraphina on one side of him and Liora on the other, neither of them particularly bothered anymore. They were watching him.

The terrifying smile was gone, his usual relaxed expression back in its place. Liora tilted her head. "Felix. Are we going home?"

"Yeah."

Seraphina looked at him. "Finally."

The team slowly dispersed: some home, some to the Association, some straight to medical facilities for further treatment.

Darius stayed with Felix long enough to have his missing hand fully restored. Kael and Lena left together, Ryan headed for the Association, and Mira and Orion followed.

Aria lingered a moment longer, staring at the empty space where the portal had been.

"One hell of a mission." She turned. "Let’s go home."

The team melted into the night. Behind them, the world they’d saved lay quiet. They would remember the thousands of weapons raised against them, and that world would remember the spears that had hung over its soldiers in answer.

They had been patient. They had been cooperative. They had even handed over resources they owed no one. But patience had limits, and that world had come dangerously close to learning exactly where those limits were.

---