Catalina, Domino, and I lied on the bed with each other as company. Hugging the two closer to my body, Domino and Catalina both uttered a contented sigh as they snuggled in deeper.

Rolling my eyes at the scene, I grabbed my phone and connected to Earth’s internet. This was a new phone, completely different from my old one, but most of the files were copied to my new phone.

Especially the cultured images and videos. There was no way I was going to delete those.

Scrolling through some of the forums, I saw a discussion about my appearance and my so-called warning.

Reading some of the comments, I sighed and shook my head. Of course, there would be humans stupid enough to dismiss my claims as total garbage and link them to a political strategy the current president was currently pursuing.

Those people infuriated me from the moment they made comments about political ideologies and how they wanted to protect society by threatening to kill me and the president.

‘Welp, welcome to the 21st century, I guess?’

Scrolling down even further, I caught a comment that made me raise an eyebrow.

*Oi! You guys check this out!*

A link to a video was posted right below the sentence. My curiosity piqued, I opened the link and was taken to MyTube, where a scene right out of a goddamn apocalypse was currently happening. Turns out, it was also live.

“I warned them.” That was all that came out of my mouth as I observed the chaos. Buildings were toppling, humans were dying, and monsters roamed the streets. Looking at the humans, I can tell that the city was somewhere in Asia, specifically, Eastern Asia. “Well, not like my words would immediately spread like fire. It’s been what? A few hours?”

Watching the video as Catalina and Domino snuzzled against my chest, I saw a familiar silhouette cackling madly in the video. Squinting my eyes, my heart leaped, and I quickly rose from my position.

This had the unintended side effect of waking Catalina and Domino from their slumber in a rough manner.

“Wha!? Jionni!” Catalina glared at me with a pout, with Domino copying her expression and failing. “What was that for!?”

“No time. You know Oshurkova’s sister?” Catalina tilted her head, but otherwise nodded at my question. “She’s causing huge trouble in one of the countries on Earth.”

“… Shit. If her previous actions are to go by…” Catalina shuddered. “Things won’t end well. We need to contact Lady Oshurkova now.”

Rising from the bed, I quickly maneuvered through the Dungeon Menu so I could call Oshurkova. It took a few seconds before the woman could pick up, but once she did, I could tell she was having the time of her life.

And by that, I mean her having a date with her fated partner for eternity, paperwork.

“… I said this before, and I’ll say it again. You look like shit.” I snarked at Oshurkova, who responded with a dry chuckle.

“I know. Damned papers won’t leave me alone.” Oshurkova sighed as she eyed another stack of papers on her table. “Anyway, why did you call me?”

“Kova, I assume you’ve been transported as well?”

“Yes, I’ve been doing my best to lay low, and my Dungeon hasn’t been discovered as of now.” Oshurkova tapped her fingers on the table as she spoke. “That said, I doubt it will last that long. Just earlier, my scouts outside had given me the status report. I’m lucky my Dungeon is inside a dilapidated storage building with low traffic.”

“That’s not what I want to talk about right now.” My voice held something of a deep foreboding. Raising an eyebrow, Oshurkova stopped tapping her table and focused all of her attention on me. “It’s about your sister.”

“What about my sister?” Oshurkova instantly sat straight and stared straight at me.

“She’s causing trouble… In one of the cities of a large country.” Oshurkova scowled and bit her fingernails.

“How large is the death toll?” I grimaced, and Oshurkova only needed that much to gleam the information out of me. “Shit… The sun’s still up, so I can’t go out… Jionni, I’m cashing in that favor.”

“Yep, I saw that coming.” I shrugged and got ready to move. “However, I’m going alone.”

“Why?”

“Because I know this world. This is my homeworld before being sent to Praeccathae, and the weapons here are no joke.” I thought about the nuclear warheads hidden within the leading countries. “All it takes is just a single push of a button, and you can say goodbye to a city or a country.”

“… Well, fuck me.” Oshurkova sighed and leaned into her chair. “My Dungeon is connected to my sister’s. I’ll give you permission to go through, and I’ll contact the Residents on her side to let them know that someone will be coming through the portal.”

“Thanks. Just give me a few moments and I’ll be in your Dungeon soon.” Cutting the communication, the final scene I saw of Oshurkova was a tired, but hopeful smile.

“I’m coming with.”

“No.” I immediately shut down Catalina’s help, which caused her to growl. “Look, as much as I want back-up in this… mission… I can’t.” 

Materializing Drakhan’s shadow, I let the cloak shroud my body in its figure, a mask set firmly in place over my face.

“I can shrug off bullets, but I don’t think you can. That is reason enough to not let you follow me.”

“… I want to deny that statement, but I know I can’t.” Catalina sighed before hugging me. “Promise me you’ll be safe. Please?”

“I will.” I hugged the catwoman, and included Domino who was looking at me with worried eyes. “I’m off.”

Separating from the two, I exit the house and quickly make my way to the two portal arches.

[]

[]

[]

“Well… I didn’t think you would want to follow me.”

“And miss the opportunity to go to Japan? Hell no.” Drake playfully punched my shoulder. “Plus, Catalina asked me to keep an eye on you, so here I am.”

“Of course…” Facepalming, the two of us chuckled before it became full-blown laughter.

We were currently inside the portal heading towards Oshurkova’s Dungeon.

“So, what is the favor Oshurkova wants you to do?” Drake asked while playing with his feet as we hovered in this tunnel of space.

“Stop her sister from doing anything more than what she is already doing.” I showed him the video of Odette chuckling manically as soldiers all garbed in green fatigues shot at her with no positive result.

“Wait… Is that Kaintotsukawa?” Drake looked at the video with growing horror. “No! My extended family lives there!”

“… Shit. More reason for us to hurry.”

A few more seconds and we were vomited out of the portal. In front of us stood Wulfstan and his two mute proteges.

“Lady Oshurkova told me you were arriving.” Wulfstan stood up from his position, his two proteges doing so as well. “I take it something has happened?”

“She didn’t tell you?” Wulfstan shook his head, and I hummed. “Well, I guess it is a personal thing for her. Anyway, could you lead us to the portal leading towards Lady Oshurkova’s sister’s Dungeon?”

“Ah… Now I see why this needs to be kept hush-hush.” Wulfstan nodded sagely as the two mute Hunters tilted their heads. “Alright, you two, follow me. Constantin, Cecilia, you take the rear.”

Following Wulfstan in silence, both Drake and I admired the bustling city that is, for all intents and purposes, a metropolis.

“What floor are we on, by the way?” Wulfstan looked back at me with a snicker.

“Seventh floor, out of 32 floors.” I closed my mouth shut the moment I heard the number of floors Oshurkova had.

“No wonder she was always swamped with paperwork.” I muttered inadvertently, and Wulfstan caught my voice with a laugh of his own.

“Right you are on that, Jionni.” Wulfstan grinned as we continued our trek through the bustling roads, a bunch of intelligent species living in complete harmony.

Well, maybe not completely, but at least they are maintaining the peace.

“It won’t be long now, and I think Lady Osrhukova’ll be waiting for you there.” Wulfstan said as we passed underneath a sky bridge with more people going above it. “Until then, feel free to take in the sights.”

Drake cupped his chin as he observed the place.

“Not gonna lie, this place is fucking awesome. If this Dungeon is heaven, then Jionni’s place is a turd on the roadside in the middle of nowhere.”

“One, ouch… Two, I completely agree with you.” Feigning hurt, I patted Drake’s back before we both burst into laughter. A few seconds later, our laughter died down and we continued the trek in silence.

There were a few times where my eyes would be drawn to something, but I ignored all of them to focus at the task at hand.

“We’re here.” Wulfstan stopped right in front of me. Stopping as well, Drake and I looked at our destination with raised eyebrows.

“This looks like a rundown warehouse.” I commented off-handedly, and Wulfstan chuckled.

“That’s the point. Lady Oshurkova should be waiting for you inside… Probably.” Wulfstan turned heel and began to walk away. “Until next time.”

I nodded at him, and Constantin and Cecilia bowed at me for a second before following their master.

Turning back to the rundown building, I grabbed the door knob.

‘Time to put my game face on.’