Within a short and yet long while of pure torture, the dark dragon was inside that pitch-black twister. It screamed out in pain for the wounds the deadly gale was inflicting.
The creature cried, and cried, and cried. Until it went completely silent.
The black cyclone then dissolved to thin air and revealed the corpse of the dark dragon. What had replaced the glorious form of the winged creature was a hovering pile of mangled meat.
The creature was hardly recognizable anymore. If it weren't for the extremities that looked like the remains of its wings and the elongated neck and the crushed mass of flesh and skull at its tip which could count as the creature's head, one would be having trouble guessing what this creature used to be.
Despite the dragon's horrible state of remains, the mysterious man looked at the dragon with murderous eyes and spoke to the corpse as if it was still alive.
"Tell your master to stay wherever they are or I'll turn them like you."
The mysterious man waved his hand around and caused a strong wind current to rise from below. The gale clashed into the dragon's corpse and flew the remains back toward the crimson crack in the horizon. What was left of Punjaga was then thrown back into the red void which gave birth to a calamity that Earth had never seen.
Right at that moment, the crimson crack reduced in size. Like a tear on a fabric being stitched up. The crack turned smaller and smaller until it vanished like it had never been there.
Sensing no more threats, the mysterious man breathed a sigh of relief. However, a gaze plagued with ocean-wide of worries still persisted on his face. While holding on to that unsettling feeling, the mysterious man vanished like a blur in a split second.
He reappeared back in the city, specifically inside a secluded alley across a teens-crowded museum.
After making sure no one was there to see him, the mysterious man pulled the right sleeve of his robe and saw twelve black lines each encircling his arm like bands. The one closest to his hand had its color not as prominent as the other bands. It soon faded and reduced the circles into eleven.
"(Because of the dragon's appearance, I had to break my first seal so I can tap into my powers.)"
He closed his pure-white eyes and took a very deep breath. He heightened his senses to feel the environment.
"(All this time I have been sealing my powers so that I can coexist with this world without overwhelming it with the pressure of my energy. But it seems like the appearance of that crimson crack had altered Earth's atmosphere slightly. Now, even with my first seal broken, there won't be any disturbance around me because of the energy I exude.)"
The sound of people bustling on the streets and the museum ahead caught the man's attention.
"(I wonder if the change in atmosphere had affected the people negatively. Though it seems they're just fine for now.)"
The man sighed in frustration.
"(The crimson crack… The dark dragon… Its master… The change on the world's atmosphere… There're so many mysteries I need to solve if I want to keep Earth safe.)"
He raised both of his palms and slapped them on his face. The man immediately shook off his contemplating face and replaced it with a determined one.
"(Let's face this problem one step at a time. In any case, I need to return first before the others starts getting worried.)"
He put his palms together and performed a technique.
[Heavenly Tree Arts, Enlightened State, Disable]
Similar to how the black band on his arm vanished, the mysterious man's long dark hair and eastern robe began to fade into nothingness. His appearance gradually shifted as those features were fading.
The man's tied long dark hair changed into this short neatly-combed and gelled hair. His dark robe was replaced with this brown blazer as well as a white shirt underneath tucked inside a beige pants tied with a black belt.
The man reached for the pocket on his blazer and pulled out thick glasses. He proceeded to wear it on his face, over his normal dark pupils, and obscured his striking handsome countenance with a nerdy-gentleman charm.
With his appearance completely altered from before, he ran out of the alley, across the bustling street of panicking people and into the museum. Inside, he made his way to a group of students escorted by several teachers. The students were lining up in an open space of the museum while the teachers were doing headcounts.
A beautiful woman in white dress immediately went to the man in brown blazer as he approached the group.
"Mister Zane! Where have you been?"
"Sorry, Miss Partridge!" replied the man running to her while pretending to be exhausted. "I thought one of our students ran off when the chaos happened."
"Oh you don't have to worry about that! We've just finished doing headcount. Everyone's here!"
"Thank goodness. Is anybody hurt?"
"No. Everybody's fine." said Miss Partridge while shaking her head. "Shocked, confused, and terrified. But otherwise fine."
"Okay then. Considering what just happened, let's end the field trip and get the students back to school and escort them home from there."
The lady in the white dress nodded to the man's instruction. They and the other teachers then began to escort the students to their busses and departed from the museum, through the panicked streets of Axis.
Looking with great worry at the chaos in the city through the bus's window was the man in brown blazer, John Zane.
He was the mysterious man in eastern robe who defeated the dark dragon and protected Earth from annihilation.
But, in contrast to his heroic and powerful persona, John Zane was also an eighth grade history teacher at Pioneer Public Middle School of Axis City.
Just like the crimson crack which brought upon Earth great calamity from a faraway unknown world, John Zane was an enigmatic someone with many mysteries.