He didn’t really use Mana to travel here. Simply walking across the City until he made a full loop and explored every place he could be to find Diana. Only to realize. "...Did I even get a good look at what she wears and looks like?"

Sighing, it was hopeless now; unless he could find someone who spoke like her, he would have to give up looking for her. Turning back since he was at the entrance again. He didn’t try using any Mana to teleport out, getting a feeling of unease whenever he wanted to try.

Leaving the barrier, Caelus teleported to the other City. He could’ve run again because it was fun, or because it took time, but he wanted convenience now. Right in the Upper District, he looked up to the Castle and watched Tellus walk inside. "Not following into that-"

Behind him, a rift began to form, widening as the ground beneath it shook.

"Oh, for fucks sake." Caelus turned around, looking directly at the Rift... And then tilted his body to the side as he watched Tellus slowly turn around, seeing the Rift inside the Empire.

"...Now. Of course it’s now. Alright, well, time to get rid of this since it’ll be easier that way."

Caelus looked at the Rift and sent out a strand of Mana to gauge how powerful it was, at least assuming it was how this works. As it went into the Rift, it caused it to pulse, releasing a wave of Mana outwards, which knocked out every single person in the upper district.

"...And that is...?"

"It’s Soul Formation, so I’d probably need Sol’s help- GH- What-" As she spoke, the Rift began pulling her in, activating a technique as she began glowing, it pulled as hard as it could, taking her inside the Rift.

"... Could’ve expected that, Aphro really wants me to go after her now?" Jumping into the Rift, Caelus felt his perception warp and change. Closing his eyes for just a moment, he opened them once more as he stood... Still, his human body now as he looked ahead. His vision of humans, as he couldn’t tell if this was fake or if he woke up from the world being a dream.

Touching his own face, Caelus could feel himself, feel it was real, and that it was cold too. Standing on the fourth floor of a hospital building, he looked out, snow falling, the sky pitch black, clear of anything that could make it look wrong... Yet no stars, it was night, yet no one moved inside the Hospital at all. The lights dim yet on.

His eyes drifted ahead, and a calm feeling washed over him, almost comfortable to be here, a place he didn’t want to leave. Where he wished he could stay forever. A smile as he walked ahead, yet the less he saw anyone else, the more the smile vanished. The feeling that something is wrong, in a place where many people would be, even during the depths of the night. It was empty.

"...Maybe it’s just quiet because they have nothing to do."

Yet... He was still on edge, still waiting for something to jump out and try to scream in his face to confirm his suspicion, something to scare or chase him. A minute passed, and nothing happened. Reaching the end of a singular hallway, he turned to the left, walking through that. Expecting something else to come, yet it never did. Ten minutes, twenty minutes. Absolutely nothing came from there.

It was... Eerily comfortable, yet he realized if he kept this Rift for himself, instead of using it to grow stronger, it could just be a place to rest, instead of Tianyun Peak, somewhere he could put all his gold instead of keeping it in his inventory.

"...This is what I want."

Yet even as he spoke, no one replied. No presence or even a sound of someone or something moving, the wind blowing softly against the windows, and snow coming from the sky, yet no clouds. It wasn’t the weirdest thing, but it was illogical.

"Oh."

Yet the place was still silent, although his mind ran.

"I’ve been treating this too logically, huh, going right to that instead of just enjoying the new world. Stopping midway through his walk, the sound of a machine, and another, which helped track the heartbeat, beeping once in a while, still alive somewhere. His old world moved even when he was gone, funny.

"...But here so much changed."

Blinking slowly. "I can think of everything new, Yun Li’s death, Helel keeping her pill and not getting hurt by Astraea and Nemesis... Tellus’s Faith, Elysia’s Cultivation." Pausing once. "Nyx’s Breakthrough, the Church’s introduction of Germs, Killing the Corrupted Wyvern, the Supreme Foundation."

"...And my Existence as the Last Dragon."

All he could think of, yet he... Was happy about it, "... I’m actually changing something, even if it’s small."

He didn’t notice any changes in himself, slowly shifting into his draconic form, the scales on his legs as his talons grew back, becoming taller as his hair grew out, shifting to black, his skin visibly changing from pale white to olive. Adjusting to the world around him, it adjusted to keep him from being harmed by the sun’s rays or the cold.

He didn’t even notice he was crying until he looked down, seeing his scale because he felt the water slowly rolling down his cheek. His eyes, on the other hand, changed even more.

Noticing he was back in his draconic form, Caelus looked to the mirror, seeing how he actually looked, finally, instead of needing others to do so or asking what his face looked like.

His eyes were pitch black, completely, almost wet like a glassy sheen. No Sclera, he didn’t expect anything else, especially since he was an apex predator instead of a human. Shaking his head, the water in his hair flew off.

"I got very distracted, didn’t I..." Blinking slowly, he laughed to himself. "But, I should have more self-worth; it wouldn’t be good if I saw myself as worthless when doing this."

[Mission Complete!]

[Stage Two - Help Tellus :3]

[Reward - Cultivation moves like it does in other seasons, winter no longer will affect your cultivation!]

"No questions asked. I’m going. But where?"

[I would tell you if you let me finish >:( Aheum, just break out the window and you’ll escape the part of the Rift you’re in and go into hers]

"Sorry, Aphro." Caelus stepped back, running at his full speed, as he jumped with the momentum of moving forward. Though his cultivation was suppressed here right now, he still reached at least twenty-five miles per hour, reaching his normal top speed. He crashed into the glass as his talons made contact first; the sheer force of his talons broke the glass as he fell into the snow. Going through it, he began falling from the sky.

"Woah that’s trippy as hell."

Landing on top of a building, he looked around. It was the Holy Tianyun Empire. "So this is Tellus’s world, makes sense."

He didn’t see any other people, and neither did he see Tellus, until his Mana finally released as it went wild, flying across the entire City, covering it. Using this, he sensed the entire area and found the exact place she was in at the Castle.

Launching himself from the building he was on, perched like it was some sort of gargoyle. He began falling from the gravity after a few seconds of airtime. Landing at the end of the upper district, he stepped back a little and went into the Castle. The ground beneath him remained unaffected, as did the place he came from, probably because she didn’t want it damaged. Or that she hadn’t broken out of its grasp yet.

"...Where is everything-"

The sound of a clock ticking, she looked up at a calendar.

’In the 45th Myriade of the 3rd Millennium. The Third day of our Lord. The world has fallen into the grasp of demonic forces. The Betrayal of the Last Dragon has led to the Empire splitting in two, with many siding with the Dragon, for he had tempted the Princess and the Strongest of the World.’

"...So this rift is a nightmare scenario, no wonder I was in an empty hospital." Caelus sighed, jumping up to a tree nearby. On the highest branch, he watched from the top window, looking down as she read it. Her hands were shaking as she absolutely rejected it. "No, No way he did that..."

She looked to the side, noticing blood falling from the chandelier, with bodies hanging from there, that of two people he didn’t know, but he’d assumed it was someone from the Church. Looking annoyed, he wanted to intervene. But he knew it was too early. Watching her explore the halls looked angry and rejecting everything that was going on right now. "...Aphro, could you tell me why she seems to believe this?"

[This place tries to suppress your memory of how you got in and anything in relation to it. It’s why she believes this is real. Of course, it can’t match everything, so if it uses a technique she knows you don’t use or if it shows you acting a certain way, she’ll find out. Or if something is wrong in how the place looks.]

"...You know how hard that’d be to escape? Well, that’s probably the point, it’s acting like a soul mirror, but it’s trying to trap you."

[Only the two of you have gone inside because the royal guards are blocking it off as they’re planning to go inside in a few days.]

"I would’ve expected that!" Moving his head back, a sword flew right past him through the glass. Jumping back, Caelus jumped up to the top of the roof.

Hearing her Footsteps, he could tell her cultivation was suppressed because her soul was visible and mostly vulnerable. While she could hit it, there wasn’t a way to protect it until the next realm. "...I only escaped because my Core protects the soul. Which also means my cultivation isn’t as suppressed."

[Mission Update!]

[Help Tellus escape by herself, without revealing yourself as the real one. So you have to be the opposite of what she knows about you :3]

"...Inefficient... Oh my god, okay, I need to train that-"

Caelus groaned, jumping back using Horizon Step, and he reached far away from the Empire. Looking away, Caelus worried it might take too much time for him to be able to do it.

"How long would she be able to handle being here?"

[Probably two hours before she passes out]

"Welp, no time to train it, I have to go back."

Turning back, he saw Tellus approaching, though still far away; he knew she was going to confront him. Knowing this was but a dream, he began forming a ball of flame, with no concern for how much Mana it would use or for its efficiency. Wincing at everything he avoids doing, still wasting little he hated that he had to.

"...I have to be theatrical and name my abilities like they’re something like that, this may be the end of me." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He finally spoke, feeling Tellus’s Presence. "Ultimate Star Annihilator Flame!"

The ball flew towards the nearby City, though more into the inner area of the Empire; it wasn’t where all the nobles lived, nor where Elysia lived. But it was another city.

The flame engulfed the City’s interior, exploding as it reached the walls that protected it and passed beyond them. After a moment, it became nothing but dust.

"Oh, it seems you are here, Little Tellus. Say, why don’t you join me and help take over the world?" Still technically a question to him, so it didn’t annoy him as much, but having to treat her worse or belittle her made his tail swing in annoyance, though once it realized even he didn’t like it, but was doing it on purpose, it stopped, becoming still as it sprawled across the ground.