Naturally, the doppelgangers didn’t surrender, instead choosing to lunge at James in a suicidal attack.

“Come on, I am willing to spare your lives. Why don’t you just cooperate with me?” James insisted as he dodged their attacks.

But no matter how much he talked to them, they weren’t willing to tell him anything.

“God damn, what kind of spell do they cast on you so that even selfish bastards like you are unwilling to betray your cause?” James spat as he stopped dodging, and instead began killing his foes one by one.

Now that he was even faster than before, the fight was basically already over. The doppelgangers tried to flee again after seeing their brothers being turned into dust in just a few seconds. But it was of no use.

In mere minutes, James was done.

“God damn it.” He spat out again as he looked at their corpses. He won, but he still felt like he lost.

Simply killing them wasn’t enough. He had to find out just how much they knew about him, and how much of that info they relayed to their headquarters. Did the entire dark side know everything about him now?

Without wasting another second, James activated his fleshrending flight and darted towards his friends.

As soon as he woke them up by dumping a huge ball of water on top of them, he flew them back to where he killed the doppelgangers.

Even though every second counted, he couldn’t use fleshrending flight for the trip back. Unlike him, his friends did feel pain. And they probably wouldn’t like the feeling of having flesh melt off their bones.

But even his lower speeds were fast enough. Within minutes, they had already arrived.

“You know what to do.” James told Denmac, immediately placing his hands on the latter’s shoulders.

Denmac didn’t hesitate either, immediately trying to scry through the memories of their fallen enemies.

Even though it hadn’t been more than a few minutes since James had killed them, their souls and memories were already dissipating.

But since James was pumping him full of mana, Denmac did manage to salvage at least some memories.

“So, what do they know?” James asked in an unusually serious tone.

“I’m afraid it’s the worst case scenario. “Denmac answered dejectedly.

Everybody gasped, the implications were disastrous. James was the only one not in the mood for gasping.

“So they know we’re from Hedonia, that’s what you’re saying?” James asked impatiently.

“Yes.” Denmac was about to cry. “The stalkers you killed earlier were an elite group of scouts. Their invisibility was just one of their great tools. If it were anyone else, perhaps our origins would still be a mystery to them. But with them being the ones that stalked us, it was as if we weren’t wearing any disguises at all.”

Sniffles and cries immediately broke out, the group’s mood at an all time low. As far as they knew, their home could already have been destroyed.

But James, Helios and Lunaris didn’t panic. They only had one home in this world, and they weren’t about to let panic prevent them from defending it.

“How much time do we have?” James shook Denmac by the shoulders to make him focus.

“I don’t know.” Denmac sniffled. “They were on our tails for quite a while. But gathering enough of a force to wipe Hedonia out would still take some time for the Dark side, what with the war and all. I’d say we have a day. Two at most.”

“What, really? That much?” James was the one who gasped this time. “Are you kidding me? What’s with the crying then? That’s a shitload of time!”

The group was staring at him dumbfoundedly.

“What do you mean?” Denmac protested. “If we’re lucky, we have 48 hours before the Darkness will overwhelm Hedonia with its elite troops, much stronger than anything we’ve faced before. Even if we get back and you manage to fuel the pocket dimension, there’s no way we can finish the whole process in time. Sure, some people could probably rush to the pocket dimension, but most of Hedonia, both the people and the buildings and resources, will be left exposed to the attack!”

James squinted as he looked at Denmac in confusion.

“I don’t see the problem. It’ll take less than a few hours to get back home. So we’ll be there in time, and we’ll just help defend our home. Easy-peasy.”

They looked at him like he was an idiot. Insanity was one thing, but this sounded downright stupid.

“Have you forgotten why we’re doing this?” Emilia asked. “The kind of forces that would attack Hedonia aren’t anything like the ones we’ve been fighting up until now. They’ll bring out the big guns, that’s the whole reason why we went on this mission. The only way to keep Hedonia safe is to hide it inside a pocket dimension! Otherwise we don’t stand a chance!”

“I think you’re the ones forgetting what we’ve been doing.” James grinned devilishly. “The original plan was to pillage just one or two cities. And we’ve already gotten the equivalent of more than 70. With me on Hedonia’s side, the balance of power has shifted considerably.”

Emilia sighed. “You don’t get it. Even if you’re dozens of times stronger than before, that’s still not enough to fight the kind of armies that are sent against powers like Hedonia.”

“I think it’s you who doesn’t get it.” James revealed an evil smile.