Arslan couldn't accept what was happening to him. He had a lot to lose, and he didn't want to accept the fate of being abducted and transported to another world.
Looking at the portal, he thought about Irene and his little son, who remained in the capital of the Federation. He still had so much to do, and he didn't want to leave them alone. Remembering these people dear to him, Arslan also thought of his older sister, who disappeared into another world with Irene's younger brother and was still considered missing.
Arslan denied all thoughts that his sister could have died in another world. He never lost hope and for some reason he was sure that everything was fine with his sister.
Meanwhile, taking everyone outside, the strange women began to drive them towards the portal.
Arslan raised his head to take one last look at the sky of their homeworld before they were transported. But instead, his attention was attracted by a mysterious sphere rotating on top of a strange tower.
Even though his powers were sealed and he couldn't use the System, out of the corner of his eye he noticed a tiny creature rapidly approaching the sphere. No one paid any attention to this little creature until it almost reached its destination.
Suddenly, the creature exploded with force, attracting everyone's attention, and turned into something completely different — a larger and snake-like creature with wings.
This creepy creature opened its mouth wide, swallowed the mysterious sphere in one gulp and soared into the sky at great speed.
All the awakened ones and some of the women were surprised by the unexpected appearance of a strange creature that swallowed the sphere.
However, the outsider leader, who had also emerged from her hiding place by this time, and the other five women did not show the slightest concern. They watched with a smile as the creature soared upward, taking the sphere with it. Despite this, even after it was swallowed, the sphere continued to emit a strange energy, enveloping the village.
There was a faint hope in the hearts of the awakened ones who were in despair. All of them, including Arslan, were closely watching the creature's flight.
Suddenly, their attention was attracted by the appearance of a second creature with two pairs of huge snow—white wings on its back and long white hair.
When Arabel appeared over the village, the Leader and his female entourage frowned. However, they didn't take any action, as if they were waiting for something. This slight neglect was a big mistake for them.
The creature that had swallowed the sphere was rushing towards Arabel. In the eyes of the Awakened, she looked like a real Goddess who had come to save them.
As soon as the creature approached Arabel, she waved her right hand, and to everyone's surprise, the creature disappeared.
The leader of all the outsiders, who had been calmly watching what was happening, froze. Her face contorted in pain, and then she exploded in anger.
The artifact with which she had a deep connection was gone, causing her unbearable mental pain.
Her eyes darkened, and her beautiful face twisted into a terrible grimace.
"Die!" she screamed, and her floor—length hair suddenly began to move and rushed towards Arabel, lengthening at an incredible speed.
The leader's sudden anger immediately attracted the attention of the other women, and their faces contorted in surprise and then fear. They all glared at Arabel, who was upstairs.
With the disappearance of the sphere, all the village's disguise disappeared, revealing its existence to the outside world.
Arabel, who by that time was looking at the snow-covered forest from a height, finally saw the village. She did not see the creature that stole the sphere, but she felt its presence next to her. After his disappearance, she was finally able to see her enemies and, of course, the first thing she did was find her younger brother.
"Thank God he's okay, — Arabel said in her mind, then she noticed the numerous black threads approaching her.
"Ned, spit out the sphere!" commanded Arabel, releasing a huge wave of ice—based cold towards this attack.
Of course, the creature that swallowed the sphere was Ned.
As Idan had asked, Arabel's first thought was how to get rid of the restriction and disguise. When Coco found out the source of the interference after scouting, she came up with an idea based on their experience of stealing the Hero's sacred staff in the first city of Limbo.
When, by simply moving the staff to their storage, Arabel and Idan were able to seal the connection between it and its master, the Hero.
Arabel knew that this sphere could not be an ordinary ownerless artifact. She suspected that it was a very important item, and it might have an owner.
So she decided to simply steal the sphere and send it to her storage. However, then she ran into a problem. To steal and send the sphere to the vault, it was necessary to touch it, which meant that she needed to get inside and touch the sphere, but it was difficult to do this unnoticed. But then she remembered the uniqueness of their storage.
Currently, the vaults of Idan and Arabel are not suitable for storing living beings, but there are exceptions. Idan and Arabel can safely keep in their vaults only those creatures with whom they have a contract.
Ned, who was already inside the village by then, was the creature Idan had contracted with. Thanks to this, Ned had the opportunity to easily enter their vault.
It was this feature that Ned and Arabel used to steal a valuable artifact. This, in turn, provoked the anger of the outsider leader.
After receiving the order, Ned, while inside the vault, spat out the sphere that he had swallowed earlier. Once the sphere was inside, it was automatically suppressed and sealed by the system.
Arabel, realizing this, immediately dragged Ned outside and focused her efforts on the approaching attack of the outsider leader.
Ned, appearing as a flying creature, froze for a moment, and then was filled with joy. His lost connection with his master was restored, and what had been empty all this time regained its meaning.
With the restoration of this connection, Ned immediately felt the response of his master. As soon as he realized what was required of him, a smile appeared on his face, and with a loud giggle he soared skyward at great speed.
Everyone noticed the unusual behavior of the creature, which first disappeared, and then reappeared and, making strange noises, soared into the sky.
Arabel, ignoring Ned's strange behavior, concentrated all her strength on repelling the Leader's attack. Her cold spell started to freeze the rising threads, but it couldn't stop them.
The outsider leader's strength greatly exceeded Arabel's abilities, so no matter how much the terrain enhanced her spells, she couldn't withstand this attack, only weakening it significantly.
However, before the attack reached her, a huge ball of pinkish-purple fire fell from above. He faced the weakened attack and eventually stopped it.
Arabel breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this. Her gaze shot up, and she saw a handsome guy she knew very well. He had fiery red hair with streaks of pinkish-purple and eyes of different colors.
He had his usual smile on his face as he looked at Arabel.
"It seems like I'm on time, isn't it, Belle?" he said.
Dan?" — Arabel asked to make sure it was really him.
"Ahahaha. Yes, Belle, it's me," he confirmed. "You know, it's so unusual to be in two places at the same time. It looks like it's going to take me a while to get used to it."
After hearing this, Arabel finally realized that in front of her stood none other than her partner, fiance and future husband Idan, but not the real him, but his avatar.