Reaper's Resurgence: A System Reset

Until she finally wakes up.

This should be the third time doing it, but I still can\'t help but feel a little anxious about whether she\'s alright or not.

I get where Gramps is coming from though.

After all, I\'ve already fallen behind in level. So I can\'t fall behind even more just because I\'m worried.

Doesn\'t change the fact that I worry about her.

I continue teleporting in silence, crossing the massive expanse between the dungeon and the magma island. But out of nowhere, as I\'m only a bit past halfway there, a System Message echoes in my head that sends a chill down my spine for some reason.

{The Dimensional Champion and Leader of Dimensional Block #1 has entered Dimensional Block #108. Should your Dimensional Council declare war on Dimensional Block #1 you may challenge the Dimensional Champion to a duel so long as you are still within the same Dimensional Block. The winner of the duel will therefore claim control of the Dimensional Block for their own Block and the Dimensional Wall between the Blocks will no longer require Authority to pass through for citizens of the Blocks. Furthermore, should your Dimensional Council declare war on Dimensional Block #1, if you capture or kill the Dimensional Leader of Dimensional Block #1, you will be given one hundred votes on the Dimensional Block #1 Council for a single vote. One only usable for declaring Dimensional Block #1\'s surrender towards Dimensional Block #108.}

For some reason I feel real fear at the sight of the System Message.

Is this… instinct?

And it\'s not just fear, but something else as well… something… familiar? Like something connected to me that I\'ve never been near before?

Strange.

But regardless of what it is, I immediately speed up my teleportation across the Dimensional Block. Because it\'ll already take me three hours at my previous speed to teleport across the Dimensional Block that\'s the width of two damned giant planets\' circumferences.

Please just let this bad feeling turn out to be nothing…

The Magma Island

One Hour Later

Lysandre smiles wryly when he senses a familiar presence moving through the air towards the magma island from the opposite direction of where Lexi is likely heading from. A presence that he hasn\'t sensed in a long time.

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He glances at Astrid, who seems to be lingering on the end of her transformation, before turning to look at the horizon. Right when the source of that presence begins to enter his sight, lowering down from the clouds several dozen kilometers away through the air.

The Knight of the Crimson Score can\'t help but feel the pure irony when he sees his new appearance.

A man who slaughtered an entire continent\'s worth of angels, almost making them go extinct… is now a fallen angel himself. The natural enemy of angels.

Lysandre simply watches in silence as the Hound of the Apocalypse slows down, the man\'s gaze constantly shifting back and forth from his old best friend and the large egg.

If he came over here so quickly, he must\'ve figured it out.

His assumption is proven when the Hound looks around in confusion, as if searching for another person.

"She\'ll be here soon," Lysandre says, at least trusting that the Hound would never hurt his family. Even if he went on a rampage before for unknown reasons.

The Hound locks his gaze on Lysandre\'s own as he slowly floats down to land on the hardened magma beneath their feet. Then silence fills the area as the two stare at each other, just taking the other in.

Eventually the Hound breaks out into an awkward but also relieved smile as he says, "I\'m glad you\'re okay."

Lysandre feels surprise at that, but he doesn\'t show it outwardly. Instead he just asks, "Are you ready to answer why you did it?"

Unsurprisingly to Lysandre, the Hound shakes his head and answers, "I still don\'t remember."

So a tense silence envelops the two. One that\'s only broken when the egg begins growing hotter, making both men turn to look at it.

"She\'s almost ready," Lysandre mutters, a faint smile stretching across his face in the process.

Out of the corner of his eye, he finds the Hound looking at him with a conflicted expression before the man turns to look at the egg as well.

Then silence once again fills the area, the only noise being that of the occasional sizzling sound of the egg\'s heat evaporating the air around it.

Both Lysandre and Lucas continue watching the egg for several minutes before the Hound finally asks, "Do you know where she is?"

Lysandre glances at him, only to focus on the egg again.

"No," he eventually answers, clearly understanding exactly who Lucas is talking about. And right when Lucas\'s head swivels around to look at him in shock, Lysandre adds, "Until just a week ago, I believed her to be dead. But not anymore."

The Hound\'s eyes widen in both fear and surprise at the mention of his ex-wife possibly being dead. Or, Lysandre supposes, technically still his wife. Since they never actually had a divorce. But the fear vanishes, quickly being replaced by confusion when he hears about Lysandre\'s change of mind.

"What happened? Did you find some sign of her survival? And why did you think she was dead in the first place?" Lucas asks, bombarding questions just like the doting husband Lysandre remembers him to be. Which only makes what he did to those angels hurt even more in Lysandre\'s eyes.

"You can thank your daughter for that," Lysandre answers despite his thoughts. "Alexia was told by the Quantum Architect about Crystal\'s survival." He turns to look at his old best friend. "She should be somewhere in the Dimensional Blocks, the same as us."

Lucas lets out a relieved sigh, likely at knowing that his wife is still alive. Then he narrows his eyes at the Knight of the Crimson Score and asks, "Were you two ever planning on telling me that I had two daughters?"

Lysandre meets his eyes for several seconds before slowly shaking his head in the negative. "No, we weren\'t."

The Hound grimaces at that and the silence returns. Only for it to be broken again within a second by a warping sound that Lysandre recognizes as his adopted daughter\'s teleportation, along with a powerful presence appearing behind the two.

So both he and the Hound turn around to find The Reaper standing there with a shocked look on her face at the sight of the Hound.

The man that Lysandre never actually explained was her father.

This could get awkward.