Avoiding the few people that were still roving around was a simple task for the siblings. All they had to do was avoid the paths. The students rarely left the lit paths at night, not daring to venture into the beckoning darkness beyond.

They kept to the darker portions of the academy grounds until they were well away from the dorms and cafeteria. Minutes later, they were on the path that would lead them to the portal complex.

Thankfully, due to them working at the school, there had been a copious number of chances for them to explore the area. Naturally, that also included the areas around the guardhouse outside the complex. The entrance from the academy side had laxer security guards than those on the road.

Zack led the way, keeping one eye on the guard station, and his ears focused for the sound of any approaching footsteps. Taking it slowly, he inched underneath the viewing window and avoided the odd-looking tube with glass inset at the end. He had no idea what it was, but a sixth sense told him it would be trouble if he didn’t.

Zara followed close behind him, making sure to pay attention to the same things he did. This was their chance, and she wasn’t going to waste it by not being careful.

The inside of the complex was quiet, without the usual number of people moving about coordinating everything. The only people moving around at all were the small and infrequent groups of guards. They had been hurriedly pressed into doing the extra work of walking around the compound. Normally it was a job that whichever corporation was there that day handled.

It was easy to avoid the unwilling and inattentive guards. The siblings were careful, and soon enough, they were crouched in the bushes, feet away from the main building.

Zack and Zara monitored the area before making another move. There was no telling how much trouble they might be in if they were caught so close to the portal. Carrying around and keeping the bears hidden made everything more difficult than it otherwise would have been.

The door opened on silent hinges, revealing the empty interior to their eyes. To the side, the large warehouse doors were closed. The only light illuminating the interior came from the ruined ceiling and the portal.

Zara stepped forward first, her grip on George loosening. The bear sagged to the ground as she walked closer to the portal. A quick shake of her head later, she looked back at Zack. “Do you want to go through together?”

He hefted up Aisha. “I’m fine with that. Do you need more time, or are you ready to go through now?”

“Now, definitely now. I’m still numb to it from spending so much time near the portal earlier, but the sooner we go through, the better.” While he had gone through earlier with Jean and the healer, she had been doing more than eavesdropping on the soldiers. Just being near it was a mentally and emotionally taxing experience.

They linked their free hands and walked into the portal. The surface resisted Zara’s entrance for a moment, the rippling membrane peeling away as Zack pulled her all the way through. Exactly as they had known, or at least believed it would. She had suspected and felt that even without access to her status page, she would be able to go through the portal.

It was one of the many methods that had been tried unsuccessfully in the past with other travelers. This time, however, it had worked.

Zack kept his eyes peeled towards the distant forest and their surroundings as Zara collapsed with a gasp and began to glow. She closed her eyes and curled into a ball, the familiar rush of energy pouring into her body. A halo of blue and white energy grew in radiance, the light surrounding her prone form.

The energy sank into her skin and began the process of inspecting and changing every cell.

Around them, the bright glow revealed everything in stark relief. The mix of harsh blue and white light bleeding everything of their color.

What Zack saw; he didn’t like. Near the edge of the forest, monsters that had initially begun to retreat from the bright eye-searing light turned around as it faded. Within seconds, they started to run towards Zack and Zara in rapid fashion. He dropped Aisha beside where George had fallen to the ground and prepared to meet them.

He was merely a level one with some outside ordinary base stats from his aberration class. The class gave his magical attacks plenty of extra power, but that didn’t mean it was enough to jump more than a few levels. His homeroom teacher, Quinn, had never mentioned the level of the monsters in the portal. Now he was about to find out the hard way what they were.

Zara groaned as stirred as the last of the awakening glow faded and disappeared. “That was much more intense than it was the first time.”

“I’m not surprised, considering we had to force you through the portal.” Zack helped her to her feet and quickly brushed the loose grass from her side. “Please tell me you got the same class, spell, and ability as before! We have incoming!”

Zara took a moment to gaze at her newly revealed status page and smiled. “I’m an ‘Arcane Puppeteer’ again with the same abilities and spells. I even got a title similar to yours, plus I might be able to use the mana crystals as well.”

He hugged her, happy that she would soon have her little friend back in her life. “How much time do you need for the spell and ability to take effect?”

She pulled away and bit her lower lip. “The spell used to only take a minute or so, but the ability takes like 30 minutes the first time.” She peered around, trying to pierce the darkness and spot the coming monsters. “Do we have that kind of time?”

“No, no, we don’t!” Zack unstrapped Zelda from her bag and pushed her towards the other bears on the ground. “I’ll hold them off, but I’ll need all the help I can get from you as well.”

By that point, the sound of monsters thumping over the grassland could be heard and felt.

“I’ll start with Aisha then; hopefully extra power comes with her bigger size.” Zara grabbed the large bear and began tracing invisible patterns into its fur.

Zack took a deep breath and focused on the approaching monsters. He needed to make each shot of his magic count. The number of spells he would get without his ability coming into play was limited. Regardless, he knew he would be depending on it, as he always did.

The first of the beast-classified monsters stepped into the light provided by the portal.

Unexpectedly, the sight calmed Zack. This was something he knew how to deal with. He may have been weaker than before, but the situation itself was almost eerily familiar. Only the presence of his little sister made it different from the other times he had faced off alone against hordes of monsters.

The large panther-like beast was joined by an ape and then a snake, and more. Soon they were surrounded by the monsters, all just barely inside the visible area and no closer.

He had no idea why they weren’t attacking. However, every second they delayed was another moment closer to Zara completing her puppet spell. The bear, Aisha, stirred and stood. The action prompting the gathering beasts to attack.

Zack concentrated on the spell and pointed at the group in front of them. His aberration class did not require him to utter a keyword to trigger his spells. He only needed to envision the spell and will it to activate. Pointing was simply a helpful visual guide.

A bolt of magic shot across the intervening space and hit the ape in the chest. His elemental affinity for ‘Space’ came into play as pieces of the beast disappeared and reappeared elsewhere. The magical attack continued into the monster behind it without pausing. It was an instant death for the hulking ape.

He hadn’t been expecting his affinity for ‘Space’ to affect his very first attack. Pieces of ape rained downed from the sky as the location of their reappearance was revealed. The affinity led to some rather messy battles whenever it decided to activate. His control of it had never been great.

Zara flicked off a piece of hairy chest meat without a word and began her second spell. She had seen far worse things than pieces of a beast falling from the sky. It would take something far worse than that to even make her blink.

Aisha shook her body and mindlessly charged forward. Puppets under the control of her basic spell could only obey simple orders, such as to attack. Thankfully, the spell modified how the targets were held together, hardening them, and making what were normally soft, fluffy paws into semi-deadly weapons.