Not even a second passed after Arthur was separated from Lucy, and here he was, standing in the same deserted room that he used to travel to the Underworld.

Only the Golem was transferred with him to Astria, as for Lucy and the rest, he didn't know where they were sent to which infuriated Arthur.

"Fuck!"

Fron anger, Arthur started furiously slamming the wall with his fists until there was nothing left yet he continued doing it until for a couple of minutes. It was helpful as releasing some of his frustration was the only thing he could do.

Not only was he not able to teleport with them, he doesn't even know where they are. Maybe a dangerous world? Maybe his wife and daughter are fighting while putting their life on the line? So many things could happen and it was partially the mysterious man's fault. Zodiak should not have interfered too but Arthur couldn't blame him as Zodiak probably did so before they went to the Underworld so he could assure that Arthur comes back.

After Arthur managed to calm down and think things through, he left the room and found himself in the old territory of the Ma Clan which was destroyed by the fight between Lissandra and Anastassia.

With no one around, Arthur didn't linger around for long, he turned around and headed West. The only place he could go to right now is the Western Continent, where he officially founded his and Lucy's clan. Every time he thought of Lucy, his heart would ache and his feeling would storm, leaving him stressed and anxious about her and Saly's safety.

Delia and Randiun were with them, nonetheless, there is the small chance that they too, were separated and that is a possibility Arthur would rather not think about.

With his speed, Arthur arrived on the Western Continent in no time, his destination was the place where he talked to Jackob for the last time.

Time flows differently on Astria and the Underworld. Arthur and Lucy stayed a couple of months in the Underworld but On Astria, it has already been one year and a half, almost double the time spent in the Underworld.

The MoonStar sect had spread in almost the whole continent and its influence is on par with the Human Empire and The Demons. Unlike other clans and sect, per Arthur's orders, the sect didn't remain reclusive. It announced itself to the world and despite a lot of forces joining to eradicate it, they weren't able to.

One because the clan had an incredibly strong leader, second because there were three bones dragons with one being unbeatable. There was also a Lv800 Red Minotaur which is permanently guarding the sect's territory and roaming it every day. Surprisingly, the Minotaur was not aggressive against the sect members but any intruder was brutally killed by it.

The Human Emperor expressed his neutrality and didn't act against the sect knowing that it belonged to Arthur, moreover, Arthur was his benefactor as he gave him an army of skeletons which are constantly staying on the border and defending the humans from any sudden attack from the Demons.

Currently, Anastassia was temporarily taking the position of the Patriarch until Arthur and Lucy came back. Jackob trained hard in the past year and a half and raised his Level all the way to 674. It was an infinite grind but he took care of the miscellaneous stuff related to the Sect. It recruited strong warrior and countless arrogant ones were kicked from the sect. They belonged to the old tribe of Jackob but it was cleaned when he and Anastassia took over.

Although the sect was situated in a desert, there were countless buildings created and with the presence of some Oasis, it wasn't too shallow. Anastassia brought all her remaining clan members to the sect. She managed to breakthrough to the Heavenly Realm and her little sister, Sonia, finally reached the Spirit Realm.

"What's the situation?"

With her usual expressionless face, Anastassia asked Jackob who was busy writing on some scrolls. He paused for a second to reply then he resumed writing

"Nothing. The Yan Clan made an alliance with the Demons and are pressuring us but nothing too dangerous. If we launch a serious attack with the three dragons, we'll annihilate them in two days at most."

"Remember, we yearn for coexistence not wage war against any enemy that pops against us."

"Yeah yeah, I know, that's all you have been saying for the past year."

Jackob didn't seem to be scared of Anastassia despite her strength and cold attitude, in a funny way, the two of them got along pretty well. After the short talk, Anastassia went into a corner and sat cross-legged, she would do this all day and it was a good way to practice and increase her strength.

She is at the middle-stages of the Heavenly Realm, if it went well, she would break through to the next Realm in the next 6 months. It's a strange occurrence but the amount of Mana and Qi on Astria thickened and became denser once Arthur left.

Just as Anastassia was going to enter meditation, her eyes suddenly opened and her daggers were unsheathed with lightning speed, she was looking sharply at a certain corner of the room, where a black shadow appeared.

After gazing at the shadow for a second, Anastasia put her daggers down but she her eyes were still glued on Arthur.

"It's been a while."

Jackob was focused on writing and by the look of it, he was immersed in it, only when Arthur's sound rang in his ears did he freak out, almost falling from the chair. With a dumbfounded look, he looked at Arthur, appeared out of nowhere, but it isn't a strange thing since it's Arthur, the reason Jackob was surprised was due to how suddenly Arthur appeared.

"A,ah.... Ar--*cough* Patriach Arthur.... hahaha, it's nice to see you are back."

Contrary to Jackob, Anastassia remained silent for some time, it's not that she hated Arthur, but she was feeling a bit guilty after what happened. From her point of view, it was totally her fault that Saly got abducted since she couldn't properly protect her, so basically, she didn't know how to face Arthur.

"Why the long face? Is that how you greet an old friend?"

Arthur walked to Anastassia and stretched his hand to shake her hands. He had a positive impression of her, she helped him and provided shelter for him and Lucy back in the days. She wasn't a bad person, she was just bad at communicating with people to the point of making it awkward most of the time.

After a moment of awkward silence, the slim white hand of Anastassia was lifted and soon, both parties shook hands. Anastassia was feeling a bit strange, she truly didn't know what to do, fortunately, Jackob was here to liven up the gloomy atmosphere that SHE created.

As if they are old best friends, Jackob walked up to Arthur and patted his shoulders whilst saying

"Did you forget about me? I sacrificed so much for you and worked hard for the task you entrusted me to do....."

His attitude changed a lot but it's a good thing at least that he was not fearful of Arthur. Moreover, Arthur didn't dislike such attitude, Jackob was an honest man, albeit he did nothing for him in the past, from the look of it, he worked hard as he noticed that his Level rose by a lot!

"I didn't. I remember you quite well, I see that you worked hard in my absence but I'm sure I don't need to reward you since we're friends, right?"

Poor Jackob who was expecting to receive a dragon as a mount became dejected as his smile stiffened for a second. He patted Arthur's shoulder a second time before bitterly saying

"Urgh... it's fine, being the vice-patriarch is more than enough for me."

...

After finishing the short reunion, Arthur, Anastassia, and Jackob sat around a table to discuss the serious stuff. Arthur was about to speak when the ever-so silent Anastassia finally uttered her first words

"Where is Lucy?... And Saly?"

Her relationship with Saly has always been good, she even trained her sometimes and showed her some special techniques, she deeply cared for her that's why she was feeling guilty about what happened.

For a second, Arthur's eyes gleamed with a cold light and turned gray just like his hair but it disappeared by the next second.

"A lot of stuff happened.... we got separated on the way here."

Jackob didn't know what exactly happened, Anastassia only told him that Arthur went to far away place to search for Saly, hearing that they got separated on the way, he pitied Arthur and said

"Patriarch, I'll dispatch a few groups to search around the continents, we can also send the drag-"

Jackob was interrupted as Arthur waved his hand to stop him from doing something foolish and useless

"No need, they are not in any of the continents... if it was that easy, I would be able to find them in a day... *sigh*"

This time, it was Anastassia who talked, her tone had a hint of anxiousness in it.

"D-Do you know where were they teleported to?"

With another sigh, Arthur shook his head and answered

"No... but I have a few guesses...."

Arthur didn't even know a way to search for them. When they were in that spatial tunnel, he saw a car shadow so they are most probably on Earth but he wasn't too sure of that guess as he might be hallucinating. Maybe the end of the tunnel only showed his past memories, past life.... so many possibilities.

The atmosphere turned dead silent as no one talked. Jackob knew that it was not his place to interfere so he just remained silent, as for Anastassia, she seemed to be lost in thought, pondering about something.

Arthur waved his hand, retrieving a blue orb from his storage which quickly transformed into Lissandra, who wore tattered and torn clothes and wasn't in the best condition. Being locked in that orb and to top it off, whilst being a mortal, it was surely not pleasant.

"You!"

Anastassia appeared in front of Lissandra, crouching and holding the two daggers on her throat.

"Don't kill her, she's but a mere Mortal now, no need to bother. Plus, I need her."

Seeing the figure of the person she mocked and trashed a few months ago, Lissandra face paled and she couldn't help but shiver. It's fortunate that she didn't slaughter the whole clan and focused on finding Saly and fighting Anastassia or else the clan master would not have shown mercy despite what Arthur said.

Anastassia begrudgingly lowered her daggers and backed away from Lissandra but she was still looking at her with cold eyes, emanating thick killing intent. She was like a tiger that would leap at its target in any given second.