The next morning passes,
Shiebe wakes up to see Purono asleep on his lap
"Hey Purono wake up"
He nudges Purono and shortly after he wakes up. Shiebe stands up and removes the boulder blocking the way it was big but not heavy which he found strange. Shiebe walks outside to see the morning sun shining bright and the rift which had grown slightly bigger since yesterday.
"Time's running out. I don't know how much time had passed between me being knocked out and waking up in the forest" he thought to himself
"Hey Shiebe"
Purono had finally walked out of the cave. He still looked half awake.
"You should head for the Kingdom Of Reina since its the nearest city."
The mention of the Kingdom had brought Shiebe some unpleasant memories of the events that had happened before his journey to the Land Of Vertex. He wasn't too fond of going to the Reina continent and wasn't even sure if they would allow him.
"Is that really my only option?"
"Well there is a small village south of the continent"
"Yeah, lets head there."
Purono looked at Shiebe with a confused expression trying to figure out why Shiebe was avoiding the Kingdom Of Reina but he choose not to ask any questions about the topic. They followed the same dirt path they followed before. However Shiebe could tell that the forest had a different feeling from yesterday.
"Hey Purono, you feel that. It's like were being watched."
"Yeah now that you mention it I was picking up strange movement in the forest while you were asleep but I couldn't identify who it was."
Footsteps could be heard from behind.
*CRACK*
"You hear that, It sounds like a broken tree branch."
They turned around to see no one. The only thing that remained was a broken branch on the ground.
The footsteps got louder. The two looked around to see if there was anyone there.
"Purono! Let's move quickly"
Purono nodded his head and the two ran as fast as they could. They knew that they were being perused by someone but did not know of their location or what exactly was chasing them. The forest seemed to keep on going forever. Tree's after Tree's. Slowly Shiebe began to realise that it was losing it's colour.
"We are almost out. The less colourful the forest the closer we are to the outside world"
Then flames of purple blocked their path. Slowly a figure emerged from these flames
A slender woman came out. Black hair and yellow tips. Her face was pale. The women wore a bra and pants. Her arms had a sign marked onto it. Her eye colour was light blue.
Her aura was strong and powerful. It was heavy and dangerous. The two could barley stand.
"A Z-Mon" Purono had broken the silence
"T-That's a Z-Mon. No way she looks way to human!"
"It has already Began. The second phase. Z-Mon's have increased in power. She's above an S tier but below a World Class. It should be impossible. It's abnormal!"
The Z-Mon had started to move towards them. The both of them took a slight step back before hearing the Z-Mon ask a question.
"Are you weak?"
Her voice sounded deceiving. Not knowing what her motives were Shiebe had chosen to remain silent. However Purono wanted to try and deescalate the situation.
"I'm afraid we are. The kid over here can barely even use a syreum and I'm totally powerless it's a shame really"
The Z-Mon smirked when she heard that answer.
"Alright then."
She lifted up her hand and immediately the flames went back into her hand clearing a path for them.
"You can leave. I have no need for weak prey."
Slowly the two of them went pass her. Purono kept his head forward and soon as he had passed her but Shiebe swiftly turned around and just like he expected he blocked the Z-Mon's attack.
"So you really are strong huh"
"Bastard!"
With no hesitation Shiebe lifted his arm towards the Z-Mon preparing for a blast but something was wrong. The flow of energy in Shiebe's arm was much more powerful than normal. He couldn't control it. It felt as if his arm was going to explode at any moment. Then a huge ball of energy emerged from his hand. It grew and grew until it covered the area between him and the Z-Mon. Then he let go.
There was no sound for a moment then.
*KABOOM!*
Half of the forest was destroyed. Leaving nothing but smoke.
Shiebe had felt an intense pain in his arm. He felt the urge to cut it off. It felt like a worm was moving through his bones trying to bite its way out.
He was so focused on the pain that he didn't realise that the rift was getting bigger and bigger by minute until the same black fog that had appeared before was spreading throughout the forest. He quickly screamed out to Purono whilst having his eyes closed
"CLOSE YOUR EYES! THAT'S HOW THE GET YOU"
Purono had quickly closed his eyes.
They both had kept their eye closed for 12 minutes. The only thing they could hear was the wind blowing at their backs. Then slowly Shiebe opened one of his eye making sure that it was safe.
He saw that the fog was gone, however the atmosphere had dramatically changed. The pain in his arm was mostly gone but he still felt a slight sharp pain.
"Purono open your eyes now."
Purono opened his eyes. He looked around the area.
"W-What the hell is this!"
There were 3 things that were different from before the fog that Shiebe and Purono realised.
The first was the red sky and red moon. It was dark red. The clouds were also red. The rain that was falling were also red.
The second was the rift. It was more like a large black hole. It lights up the forest with its purple aura.
The third was the increased amount of Z-Mon's and their spike in power in the forest
"Purono we've got to go now!"
The two of them continued their path to escape the forest and enter the village. They found a way out without running into anyone.
"Up this cliff and we are out."
Purono grabbed onto Shiebe's back as they climbed up the cliff. It wasn't difficult for Shiebe since it was not extremely high up.
After climbing up they could see a view of the entire forest.
The once majestic and beautiful forest that gave off life was being burnt with black flames.
In the far distance a giant was seen walking around.
"Looks like it's begun."
They two of them headed towards the village which was about 20 minutes away