"RUN!" Rook roared atop his lungs.
Without hesitation, he and his other two cousins turned into humongous snakes tens of meters long and a few meters high. With their greenish scales reflecting the resplendent light from the colorful sky, the trio turned in the direction of the huge pillars connecting the sky to earth and slithered away. With every breath, their massive bodies crossed tens of meters. In just a few breaths the others were taken by surprise, they had widened the distance to over a hundred meters.
Just when Ella, Arianne, Tina, and Miller were about to act, the ground beneath them suddenly shook greatly, causing their expressions to change.
"We have hope," Rook spoke, not knowing whether he was trying to encourage himself or his cousins.
With her purple eyes blazing in fury, Ella turned into a purple flash, as crackling lightning sounded in the area.
*BZZZT!*
Miller was the second to react. Even though his cultivation was the lowest among the group, together with Rose, as someone who had an affinity to the supreme laws, the space laws, he stood a great chance in catching up to Rook compared to the others.
A mesmerizing voice suddenly stopped Arianne who was also about to give chase.
"Did you encounter two Elves?"
Arianne took a few seconds to appreciate the great beauty in front of her before responding, "Yes."
"Where are they?"
"Dead."
"And their corpses?" Eleanor had somewhat expected it after hearing what Arianne had said to Landon, after all, her team had joined hands with Landon's group, so her voice didn't shake when she asked such a question.
"Gone!"
Finally, there was a change in Eleanor's expression, as her face distorted completely in anger, "What do you mean?"
Feeling a chill down her spine, Arianne had no choice but to recount what they experienced immediately after entering the third zone.
What the others, including Arianne and Eleanor, failed to take note of was another figure who had silently disappeared among them. Rather than saying silently, it was more apt to say that the other party moved so fast that they couldn't even pick up any trace of his movement. All but one.
"Whoaa!" As usual, Rose's runic eyes spun greatly, as her mouth widened in surprise.
"What is it?" Kai who was beside her asked with a cold voice and a stoic look on his face. Even till now, he hadn't loosened his grip on his Katana in the slightest.
Shaking her head, Rose replied, "You wouldn't believe me!"
As they spoke, their dragon medallions flew out without their consent from their spatial rings, space pouch, or pockets before floating above them. A multicolored light fell upon them, as their bodies started disappearing.
.....
Before Ella and the others could react, Rook and his cousins had increased the distance between them to half a kilometer, especially Rook who was even further ahead than his two cousins. With their lives on the line, the trio burst out with all their strength, determined to escape from death's grasp.
Suddenly the sound of crackling lightning drifted into their ears, causing a look of fear to appear on their faces. They didn't need to look back to know the person who was gaining in on them.
Luckily, their medallions flew out at that moment before floating above their slithering figures.
"Yes!" A look of happiness appeared on their faces as they saw this. They just had to hold on for a few breaths for the medallions to teleport them out of the secret realm.
"I will kill you and all your families?" Ella's angry voice exploded from behind them.
Reminded of their fates even after leaving the realm, the trio's face turned pale. Still, they were determined to not die at the hands of the little devil who chasing after them.
Seeing the medallion that was releasing a multicolored light above her, Ella suddenly grew anxious. She wanted to kill these three people with her own hands. She could see Miller's figure a few tens of meters behind her. Even with him being able to teleport almost two hundred meters around him, Miller still found it a bit difficult to close in on Rook and his party. It was rather commendable that he was even able to keep up with Ella, who was incredibly fast because of her laws and was even higher than him with a great realm in cultivation.
With the way things were going, Ella knew she would need at least ten breaths to catch up to Rook's cousins and about twenty breaths to close the distance to Rook himself. Just when Ella thought she had lost all chances of killing Rook, a white light flashed beside her.
Looking ahead, Ella saw Joe who was surrounded by a bright white light, appearing like a deity exuding pure and genuine holiness, flash in front of Rook.
"Size manipulation x 10!"
At the same time his cold voice rang out in the area, Joe's body suddenly underwent a divine transformation.
His body grew in size, and as the approaching Rook was about to slam into him, a massive hand suddenly grabbed him by the head, causing his almost thirty-meter-long body to come to a sudden stop.
Rook watched with widened eyes as Joe completed his transformation. Now standing at the same height as Rook, Joe's right knee smashed into his jaw, causing the former to cry out in pain.
Quickly clutching onto his outstretched mouth, Rook's painful cry slowly died down when he saw Joe's massive head transform into a reptile.
A green light shone within Joe's mouth, and it didn't take Rook a second to realize what was coming.
His body slammed into Joe several times, but his grip on his jaws didn't loosen in the slightest.
Left with no choice, Rook's almost thirty-meter-long body coiled around the now ten-meter-high Joe as he tried to strangle him to death.
"Let me go!" Rook screamed in anger and fear. He couldn't believe that his cousin who he had always looked down on, was the huge figure who was now trying to send him to the netherworld.
The sound of crackling bones rang out in the area, but Joe's determined voice soon overshadowed them.
"Remember, I am the only child of Fiona Des Luminox!"
Rook's reptilian pupils contracted further as he saw the green light gathering within Joe's mouth turn into a poison beam that flew unrestrainedly into his mouth. His insides were soon corroded from the deadly poison that was spreading, but it seemed that that wasn't even needed, as the mere power at which the poison pillar exploded within him caused his body to burst into pieces.
"You..." This was the last word that the highly talented Rook, a genius of the magical beasts and a Royal at that, ever said.
Coincidentally, the light falling from the medallion increased in intensity as it swallowed what remained of Rook's corpses, teleporting it away.
From the moment Joe appeared before Rook, to the latter's death, less than ten seconds had passed.
Quickly looking up, Joe saw Ella who had transformed into her werewolf form flash past Rook's two cousins, with her body crackling with purple lightning.
As she came to a stop before him, her two long sharp claws were completely covered in blood.
Rook's cousins were split in half only to be swallowed by the light from the medallions. Soon after, the duo disappeared from before them.
Joe and Ella slowly reverted to their original forms.
Seeing the blood dripping from Ella's hands, Joe couldn't help but comment in a sincere voice:
"Big sister, you look dangerously enchanting at the moment."
Ella rolled her eyes at him. Now that she had her revenge, her eyes returned to their usual droopy state, and a look of weariness appeared on her face.
Even though she felt disgusted by the cheeky smile on Joe'a's face, she still couldn't help but feel grateful.
"Thank you." she knew that without Joe, she wouldn't have been able to kill Rook in the secret realm. Sure, she could still have her revenge when they went outside, but she wanted to do it with her own hands.
"Then, why don't you give me a chance." Joe flashed a charming smile, as he moved closer to her, but when Ella shot him a death glare, he quickly came to a stop before coughing awkwardly.
"Why are we still here?" Ella suddenly spoke as she looked at the dragon medallion floating above her without releasing any light. After some thought, she looked at Joe, "Let's go and check on the others."
"Sure."
Miller who appeared at that moment had no choice but to return with them. Seeing the disappointed expression on his face, Ella could tell what he was feeling.
"Thank you." a beautiful smile appeared on her face, one that she didn't show Joe.
"Huh!? But I didn't do anything."
"At least, you made an effort." Miller's eyes widened slightly, and seeing the genuine smile on Ella's beautiful face, he felt a bit better.
Together, the trio sped back to where they came from.
.....
Looking back, Arlo noticed that Zara wasn't following him. With no other figure present, Arlo clutched his right heart and spoke with a begging tone;
"Hey Seraphina, I know you need to hibernate for some time, but can you help me delay the teleportation of me and my friends?"
There was no response for several breaths during which Arlo continued moving forward, his body covering hundreds of meters with but a single step.
After a while, the eyes of the dragon image imprinted on Arlo's back suddenly snapped open. At the same time, Arlo heard that soft and beautiful voice he had unconsciously been longing for.
"Okay. You only have five minutes."
"Thank you. That is more than enough!" With a grateful smile on his face, Arlo sped off into the distance.
.....
Joe, Ella, and Miller had returned to the battlefield. However, they only found four figures remaining.
"Did you kill them?" Arianne asked with her eyes shining with a bright ruby glow.
"Yes!" Ella replied.
Hearing that, the dangerous glint flashing within Arianne's eyes disappeared, and instead, an enchanting smile took its place, "I didn't doubt you."
"It was all because of Joe that we were able to kill them."
"Oh!" Surprised, Arianne shifted her ruby eyes to Joe, "It seems I would need to spoil you later." she flashed a seductive smile.
Joe shivered. While Arianne looked like a little enchanting succubus to the others, only he knew that she was actually a terrifying monster that would send chills down the devil's spine.
"What is going on?" Tina asked from the side. Now that they had shared a life-and-death experience, she wasn't afraid of them anymore but instead felt a sense of friendship.
As if by prior agreement, they all shifted their eyes to Rose. Even though she was currently the weakest among them, no one dared to underestimate her, as they knew fully well what her eyes were capable of.
Flashing a smile, Rose replied, "Don't worry, the answer will soon appear."
"What do you mean..." Before Tina could finish her words, Arlo flashed before them, raising a cloud of dust.
Knowing that he had less than three minutes remaining, Arlo spoke hurriedly:
"I am the reason why we are still in the secret realm."
Suddenly, the shadow below him widened, before he dipped his hands inside it. Expertly using his control over Ki, several fruits floated before him.
"Here!"
Ten blue fruits flew towards each of the eight figures present. Together, Arlo handed out eighty among the less than hundred fruits with him, without any hesitation.
"These..." Instead, it was his teammates who hesitated. They knew how important these fruits were, and Arlo handing these many to them left them stunned.
Smiling brightly, Arlo spoke:
"You are all my friends, and I hope you will all accept this little gesture of mine." Arianne, Tina, and the others could feel the sincerity with which Arlo spoke.
They didn't know that Arlo had been feeling guilty since they entered the second zone. After all, he was the one who had suggested doing such a dangerous thing. Yet they all followed him without any hesitation even though he only just met some of them. This was just a little way of showing his appreciation. Now that he considered them his friends, he wouldn't mind giving up his life for them. In fact, if it wasn't because he was the only Ki cultivator, and the only one with spiritual energy except Arianne, he would have shared the other two fruits with them too.
Arianne, Tina, Ella, Joe, Miller, Rose, and Kai finally took the fruits. No one said thank you, but the smile on their faces said enough of how they felt. Even the usual indifferent Kai had a light smile on his face.
Nodding his head, Arlo looked at the medallion floating above him, "It should be soon."
Suddenly Ella spoke with a serious expression on her face.
"Everyone..."
They all looked as she pierced two fingers into her heart, before removing it. Eight drops of purplish blood floated above her palms.
With a trickle of blood falling down the side of her mouth, Ella continued with a small smile, "I would like to make you all part of my pack."
The surroundings suddenly became silent.
"Ella!" Arianne was the first to break the silence, but she was stopped by Ella who raised her hand towards her.
"I know what I am doing. Unlike other wolves, not only can I have a pack of up to ten, but my pack members do not need to be humans."
"We survived in our encounter against the red ants, successfully passed through many mind trials, and even overcame death when we met the magical beasts. In the end, we grew stronger and took revenge with our own hands. If I don't share my fate with you, then I don't know who else would be qualified."
Finishing her words, the eight drops of purplish blood flew toward Arlo and the others. At the same time, the medallions above each of them started glowing brightly.
"Will you join my pack?" Ella stretched out her hands towards them.
Without any hesitation and without any knowledge of what would happen, Arlo suddenly swallowed the drop of blood before him.
Seeing this, the others soon followed after him. Arianne who had a complicated expression on her face as she alone knew what this truly meant to Ella, was the last to swallow the blood before her.
Suddenly, they all felt some sort of connection established among themselves.
"No matter the distance between us, we would always feel our presence, and be able to tell when any one of us is in danger," Ella revealed one of the implications of being in her pack, without any intention of exposing the others.
Seeing that they were about to be teleported, Arlo quickly stretched his fist forward.
"Always and forever!"
Slowly, eight fists surrounded his one, as they knocked onto one another.
"ALWAYS AND FOREVER!" the loud voice of nine kids shook the area before silence returned to the secret realm.
With the disappearance of all the humans, only two presences remained on the battlefield.
Tron stood with his axe in his hand as he looked at the presence below it.
It was a pitch-black snake.
*****
AN: End of the secret realm arc! Thanks to all those who are following the novel.