"But this... You have to stop him." The shadow beneath the throne begged, "I don't know how he got so strong so fast, but only you have enough power to defeat him."
"You're wrong, Miklos. He's as strong as me, at the moment." The shadow in the throne shook his head, "If I fought him, there would be no certainty of who would win. And even if I win, the aftermath would most likely be the complete destruction of our dimension."
"If he grows stronger, he will attack you nonetheless!!!" The shadow, Miklos, appeared to have lost his cool and stood up, "You know how much he hates you. If he gets even slightly stronger than you, I fear... If he comes to know he can kill you, he will do it, regardless of the cost."
"So, you want me to attack first and destroy our dimension?" The Cultivator in the throne remained calm and casually asked.
"We have found another dimension, right?" The other shadow suddenly spoke, "We could just take our people out of here and put them there. That dimension only has some primitive races, we can easily dominate and rule them."
"I won't allow it." The shadow spoke with a heavier tone.
"Why?" The shadow asked.
"Are you asking me, Rurik?" The Cultivator stood up from his throne and slowly climbed down, "Do you think I don't know that you have been building Dimensional Gateways connecting our dimension and the other dimension? Do you think I don't know how you went there and built your... Dragon Keep Forge?"
The shadow, Rurik, trembled as he felt the pressure coming from the Cultivator.
"It doesn't matter what I do, the results are worst in every scenario I predicted." The Cultivator spoke, "Why do you think I allowed him to grow stronger despite having the ability to see the future?"
"Ah...uh..." Rurik was in lost of words.
"I have predicted the future. If I had killed him back then, it wouldn't have ended just like that. From the moment I became the Cultivator, I have seen this crisis rise. Since I couldn't stop it, I can minimize the harm. I already have a plan to stop my brother and that...thing... inside him."
"..." Both Rurik and Miklos kept silent and calmly listened to the Cultivator.
"I'm going to die...by the hands of my own brother, this is the best-case scenario. With my death, I can use the remnants of my power to seal the weakened brother of mine."
"Sealing? This is not going to deal with the trouble." Miklos said, "He won't stay weak forever. Once he gets stronger, he'll free himself."
"Who said I would allow this to happen?" The Cultivator turned to Miklos, "It isn't me that is going to kill him once for all. My heir is going to do it in my place."
"Your heir?"
"Yes... thousands of years in the future. Since I can't see that far in the future, I can't be sure of the results, but I have this feeling...my heir is the one destined to destroy my brother once for all."
...
"Lenny!"
Lenny woke up when he heard a shout by his ears.
He looked around and saw that he was right at the metallic surface on top of John's spaceship.
"What was that!?" Lenny confusedly looked around.
When he turned his head, he saw the person that woke him from that dream-like experience.
A pair of black eyes stared at him from such a small distance.
"Peri?" Lenny recognized the one by his side, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to take you back inside." Peri said as she scanned Lenny up and down, looking for injuries.
"I'm fine." Lenny spoke up after seeing Peri's eyes scanning his body, "I was just too focused on my task and forgot about everything else."
Lenny decided to keep what happened in secret and just outright lied through his teeth without a single change in his expression.
"We have to go back in. The spaceship is about to perform a Warp Jump." Peri said as she cut the chains Lenny used to tie himself with the antenna of the ship, "John took us out of their FTL Jammer's reach. But we can perform the jump with you outside, or else you will die."
Lenny nodded and helped Peri untie himself.
Once they were done, they climbed back towards the side hatch of the spaceship and entered.
"All good." Peri spoke in her PIPS, "You can activate it now."
"FTL Engine has been activated." Soon after Peri spoke, SAIL's voice echoed throughout the metallic hall, "Please, fasten your seatbelts, Warp Jump starting in 5..."
Lenny stood up and directly entered in the Crew's Quarters.
"4..."
There he saw that Forge and Saito were still knocked out.
"3..."
He went by their side and hastily tied them to their beds.
"2..."
After done with the two of them, Lenny walked by the other table and tied himself.
"1... Starting..."
...
"Warp Jump in process." SAIL's voice could be heard once again after a few seconds, "You are now free to roam around the spaceship for...3 minutes."
Lenny loudly sighed as he released his grip over the rope he used to tie himself.
After untying himself, he went by the bed and untied the Forge and Saito.
He left the Crew's Quarters and went towards the cockpit.
On his way there, he saw John and Peri walking towards him.
"What happened to you?" John looked relieved after seeing Lenny safe and sound and started to angrily question him, "Do you know how worried I was when you went silent all of a sudden?"
Lenny smiled when he saw John all worked up for his sake, "Sorry about that. It wasn't intentional. I just happened to focus too much on my task and forgot about everything else."
"Luckily, we met with people that saved us."
"Uh?" Lenny confusedly looked at John.
"While we were running away, we met with a fleet of ships that had just performed a Warp Jump." John explained after seeing Lenny's criticism confusion, "They were ships belonging to Nova Rebellion. They didn't even care about us and immediately started to fire at the Miniknog fleet. I didn't expect their enmity to be this strong..."
"Well...good that we managed to survive." Lenny said with a small smile, "You should rest, John. Your complexion doesn't look good."
"Yeah, I'm exhausted. I'm going to my room to sleep for a few hours." John was about to walk away when he stopped and spoke again, "You should also rest, Lenny. After we are rested, you can tell me what the hell happened and who are those two you brought."
"Thanks, I'm going to take a nap as well," Lenny assured John with a smile.
Lenny watched as John walked deeper into the hallway.
"What really happened up there?" Peri narrowed her eyes at Lenny.
Of course, she didn't buy the lie he previously told. Still, she didn't question him there because she was in a hurry to get him inside, and neither questioned him earlier because she didn't want John to hear about it.
"..." Lenny took a quick glance at Peri before walking away, "Nothing much."
*Whoosh*
Lenny stared at Peri that appeared right in front of him.
"Lenny, there's something I wish to know." Peri said with a serious face, "You seem to remember how you got your mark, your full experience in the Challenge Dimension. I want to know what it was like in that place."
"Why do you want to know? Haven't you experienced the Challenge Dimension as well?"
"You probably know about my situation, the reason why I don't remember with details my experience there. The fact that I also have a mark is the reason you avoid me and also has some enmity against me, right?"
Lenny stared at her and spoke without a change in his expression, "You really want to know?"
Peri was surprised that Lenny was willing to talk with her, "Yes."
"Let's find a better place to chat." Lenny motioned for Peri to follow him.