Sun sank lower in the sky. The light of day slowly drained away and entered the velvety darkness of night. The air became cooler in the evening landscape. The faintest of light barely made it through the sky and soon it grew dark. A close silence followed the evening light. The Alpha base was the only source of light for kilometres in the wastelands. Arnold was staring at a tiny dot which slowly faded away. 

He sat on a tall steel platform. It gave him a panoramic view of the wastelands. As the helicopter carrying Nicole finally disappeared, his gaze fell on the cruel wastelands. Originally this was a scout post, but now it had been converted into a place where Arnold went to gather his thoughts. Something he did quite a lot these days. Soon Talos came to visit him there, Alice closely followed him.

"How is she?" Arnold asked, his gaze still fixated on the wastelands as if he was looking at a mine filled with diamonds. 

"She's recovering well." Alice replied, "Though it'll take a few hours before she's recovered completely."

"Hmm..." Arnold sighed at finally got up, turning towards them, "Talos, station the automatons around the workshop or whatever that remains of it now."

"It's already done, master." Talos replied, bowing his head down, "Master, I apologise for my-"

"No need to apologise for anything." Arnold patted him on his shoulder, "It was all a big misunderstanding that evolved into something else."

"Master, you should rest too..." Alice chipped in, "I know it must be tough for you... And I can't even imagine what you're going through right now. But regardless of that, you should rest. At least it'll clear your head for a while."

"It's not like I have much to do either way." Arnold smiled, turning towards her, "With the workshop destroyed, I can't make anything even if I wanted to and that means I'll have to put the plan of making a relic on hold as well."

On the surface, Arnold tried to remain calm and act like everything was fine, but it wasn't. He was shattered on the inside. Nina's blood was still on his hands and shirt, it was enough to break his heart but Nichole's reaction to the situation made it a lot worse. He had never even dreamed of raising his voice in front of her let alone raising his hands. But there he was. The moment he slapped her, something broke inside of him. What made it worse was Nicole's wish for him to die along with their parents. 

He wanted to throw himself to work. All he wanted was to distract his mind but it wasn't possible anymore. The only alternative he could think of was to hunt the monsters but even Arnold knew he didn't have the mental strength to do so. In his current state of mind, he would only put himself in unnecessary danger.

"You're right. I should sleep it off." Arnold said and walked into the elevator, "In the meantime, Talos you carry-on with the experiments and inform me about everything. And Alice, you stay by Nina's side and focus on her recovery. Inform me as soon as she gets up. I'll be sleeping in the domain for now."

"Will do," Talos replied as the elevator doors closed. 

****

A few hours later...

Arnold's gaze was transfixed by the scene of a battlefield. If someone wanted to know what true devastation looked like, then this was it. It was a hilly region alongside which was flowing a bloodied river. Everywhere he looked he could only see bloated carcasses of humans, horses, and elephants along with broken carts and weaponry. Crows and vultures were viciously fighting over the corpses of the dead even though there were enough to satisfy their bowels for their lifetime. The gawking scene of the scavengers made the entire scenario even more macabre. 

"Here we go again. Another stupid nightmare... *sigh* I'm not even surprised about it anymore." Arnold mumbled absent-mindedly, "I'm not time travelling now am I?"

Indeed it looked like a battlefield from medieval times. Maybe even hundreds of thousands of years before 'his' time. But before he could pry deeper into the matter he heard a voice. 

"Lord Neelkanth!" A white Minotaur even bigger than Asterios carrying a battleaxe kneeled behind him. (Author's note: 'Neelkanth' means blue throat, it is often used to refer to Shiva)

'Is he calling out to me?' Arnold thought and slowly turned around. What he saw next sent shivers down his spine. 

An army of innumerable monsters, humans, undead beings and demons stood behind him, bowing down in front of him to show the utmost respect. Arnold could hardly comprehend what was going on in front of him when the majestic Minotaur spoke again. His voice carrying a sense of authority within. Arnold didn't open his mouth yet a voice came from within.

"What happened?" The voice was calming and yet intimidating.

"Total decimation, my lord. Everything went just as you wished." The Minotaur said, his eyes boring a deep hole in the ground. 

"What about that bastard? Where is he?"

"Went into hiding with a handful of his imbecile followers. Our scouts are looking for him as we speak. He won't be able to hide forever."

The man in control of his body nodded, "No matter what, don't kill him. The council wants to deal with him."

"Yes, my Lord." The Minotaur stood up and left, followed by the army of the monsters.

The next moment, he was pulled away from his body. Much like when he used [Soul Grapple]. But instead of going anywhere else, he was now stranded in a dark space which looked like someone's domain. The fact that it was a domain made it clear he wasn't alone in there. 

"I know you're here. Show yourself!" Arnold shouted at top of his lungs.

"You have keen senses, I'll give you that." The man's voice echoed through the dark space yet no one appeared in front of him, "Still, it's not the time for me to show myself. Instead, I wanted to show you a glimpse of what could be yours. Men, monsters, demons you can control them all. But it all comes at a price-"

"Look. I'm not really in the mood for this alright? How about you wake me up and we'll discuss this next time?" Arnold was sure it was all a nightmare, but that didn't stop him from acting cocky. 

He expected the voice to shut him down instead it started laughing!

"You are amusing. The guide wasn't wrong about that at least." The voice replied, "Very well then, we shall continue this soon. Until then, rest well my paladin."