"What happened!" Shadow shouted as he jumped off his horse. He lunged toward Drixlia, aiming to catch the falling daeben. However, he ultimately fell behind Kira who appeared by Drixlia's side like she had been expecting the fall. Kashi dropped onto her back, unconscious, but ragged breathing revealed the internal struggle he was suffering.

"Thanks," Shadow said in appreciation as Kira lowered her frame, allowing him to pull Kashi off her back. Shadow carefully propped the daeben against a boulder. He examined the daeben, brows drawn together in worry when he could not find any external cause. Helpless, he turned to Kira, "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

Kira placed a paw on Kashi's chest and sent Shadow a troubled gaze. She opened her mouth, but no words would come out. All she could do was whine helplessly as she constantly pawed at the daeben's chest. Never in her life had she hated her inability to speak as much as this moment.

"Does it have something to do with those eggs?" Larsial asked. Her question was innocent enough, but both Kira and Shadow turned to glare at her with unbridled hostility. In their panic, they had forgotten an enemy was within their midst. Larsial inadvertently reminded them of her presence, causing them to immediately adopt a defensive stance. Who knew if Larsial would take this opportunity to attack the defenseless Kashi?

"Don't worry. I have no plans of attacking," Larsial declared with raised hands. "I gave my word I would follow him for six months, and I intend to fulfill that promise." She knew her words would not assuage their suspicion, so she didn't bother with convincing them any further. Instead, she pointed at Kashi. "You keep pressing his chest. Is the problem over there?"

Kira's eyes involuntarily brightened, but she still kept her guard up.

"I may have an idea as to what's wrong with him." Larsial's keen eyes caught the change in the direwolf's expression. She slowly made her way over to Kashi's side under Kira and Shadow's strict watch, keeping her hands high in the air. "I heard him say something about being a Dimensional Artist before he took those eggs. Unless everything he said was hogwash, I imagine he has a personal dimension of his own. Something must've gone wrong when he put the eggs in there."

Kira raised her head and howled as if to express her agreement. She pawed at Kashi's chest, whimpering as she nudged him.

Larsial slowly reached over and placed a hand on Kashi's chest. Her expression twisted somewhat as she felt the impossibly rapid heartbeat. Any other hume with such a heartbeat should already be dead. How the hell was he still alive? She glanced at Kira and asked, "Is it here? The dimension?"

Kira red eyes lit up as she nodded.

"This is serious," Larsial stated, her expression bleak. "I don't know what is happening, but he can't last long like this." As if on cue, Kashi suddenly spasmed violently, coughing up a large chunk of blood in the process. "Hold him down!" Larsial ordered, but moments passed without any help. "What the hell are you do—" Larsial started to shout, but immediately stopped when she looked up.

Kira and Shadow were frozen in place, staring at the convulsing daeben, shock, and fear apparent in trembling eyes. Kashi had always been an insurmountable figure to these two. No matter what happened, he always pulled through with a confident, sometimes slightly cocky grin. Even when completely overpowered by the Adjudicators, Kashi still managed to seize the momentum. The duo - no not just these two - probably the entire Hopeful Maggots guild had never considered a possible future without Kashi. His back was just that huge.

But now, to see that invulnerable leader completely helpless like this, to the extent he was violently coughing blood. There was no word to describe the terror that seized Kira and Shadow.

Shadow was a little better. Larsial's shout managed to get him back to his senses. He dropped next to the thrashing daeben, struggling alongside Larsial to hold him down. This was the first time he felt Kashi's inhuman strength for himself. Shadow thanked their lucky stars this was only an instinctual thrashing, hence Kashi was not using his full strength. Or else, as assassin classes, both he and Larsial sorely lacked the muscle power to hold him down.

Unfortunately, the stalemate did not last long. As if reading Shadow's mind, Kashi's efforts to free himself suddenly tripled, the exertion causing Kashi to cough up even more blood. At this rate, the daeben would surely die of blood loss!

There was only one person here strong enough to firmly hold down Kashi,

"Kira! What are you doing!?" In a rare moment of rage, Shadow let out an exasperated shout. "Get over here! He'll kill himself if he keeps this up!"

Kira however, remained frozen in place. She just stared at the extremely vulnerable Kashi. Her heart beat chaotically, so loud she was sure the entire world could hear it. But even this could not snap her out of her stupor. The young direwolf had never realized just how much she had come to depend on Kashi's presence. Ever since her mother's death, she had been with this hateful man all the way.

They had grown strong together, faced all kinds of impossible situations and dangers right by each other's side and they had always found a way to get through it. But now, she did not know what to do. She could not think of any way to help Kashi and the thought of permanently losing him terrified her more than she could have ever thought possible.

Just when did the hated daeben become this important?

"Kira!"

Shadow's subsequent shout managed to reach Kira. She listlessly looked over to the assassin. "I know you are afraid," Shadow said with a grunt as he struggled against Kashi's increasing efforts. "I am too. But this is Kashi we're talking about. He'll definitely recover and laugh at us for worrying so much. Help us stabilize him first so he doesn't harm himself." Shadow looked her in the eyes and solemnly stated, "Everything will be fine."

Who knew if Shadow actually believed those words or if he was just saying them to convince Kira... or maybe himself?

Regardless of his intentions, Shadow's words managed to spark a little life into Kira's listless eyes. She walked over and stood on Kashi so that her four limbs were on Kashi's. Her considerable strength showed as Kashi's efforts to move were instantly rendered futile. Only Kashi's head could move, but Larsial was more than enough to hold that part down.

Kira stared down at Kashi. Only at this moment did she remember that no matter how great he may seem, in the end, Kashi was just a hume. He could die. If he died, he would be gone forever. He would leave her. She would be alone. Kira reared back her head and let out a sorrowful howl, pouring out all the pain in her heart.

Pa!

The howl seemed to spark something in Kashi as his eyes instantly snapped open. Kira felt the movement and instantly cut her howl short. She met the daeben's gaze, but before she could let out a thought, she cried out as a single message bombarded her mind over a thousand times in the span of a second.

"GET IN HERE!"

Kira felt a torrential aura envelope her body. That aura forcefully tried to pull her somewhere. Against her best instincts, she didn't fight the force. A second later she disappeared and Kashi's body went still.

"What was that?" Shadow muttered.

Larsial did not forget to quickly check Kashi's pulse and breath. She only relaxed when she noticed Kashi's vitals rapidly stabilizing. She nodded at Shadow. "Don't know. But whatever she did, it's working."

Shadow looked at Kashi's chest. "What's going on in there?" He turned to look at Larsial. "Thank you. If you didn't react when you did..."

"He might have killed himself," Larsial harshly finished. She glared at Shadow. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you think your leader is some sort of god? Kashi has completely spoiled the lot of you." She glanced at Kashi. "This is his fault as a leader too. He's too used to handling everything by himself so the rest of you have begun to see him that way." She stood up and dusted herself off. Fixing a hard glare at Shadow, she advised, "If you do not want to be the cause of your leader's death, become a force he relies on and not the other way around. That way, you will always take Kashi's vulnerability into consideration in everything you do."

With a sigh, Larsial added, "You're strong, but you do not know how to analyze situations beyond the battlefield very well. With this ability, you would have easily deduced the most probable cause for his condition. You should consider joining the Assassin's Guild. They're not as powerful as they used to be, but it's a good place to learn the fundamentals of what it really means to be a person's Shadow."

Shadow's sat in a seiza by Kashi's side. His expression remained neutral through Larsial's tirade, but he acknowledged her critique with a determined, "Thank You."

Larsial sighed and shook her head. She looked down at the daeben. Really, what was going on in there?

****

Minutes Earlier

"Fuck!"

Kashi let out a tirade of curses as he glared at a pair of stone-like eggs. His inner world was a complete mess and these two were the culprits! Tsunamis and floods crashed against sturdy mountains and hills. A sea of flames burned over the mountains, constantly fighting against the flood, but at the moment they were at a stalemate.

This was a battle between the bloodlines of these eggs against the joint forces of the dragon and Yggdrasil. Kashi initially had no clue as to how his inner world functioned, but probably as a result of this incident, information related to his world began flowing into his head.

It was only at this moment that Kashi realized that his so-called 'inner world' had not yet reached the status of a world. At best, it was only an embryo of a future world. There was only one way to build this inner world of his, and that was to introduce the six elements of creation: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Metal, and Lightning. Furthermore, the magnitude and strength of the world depended greatly on the type of materials used in their creation. So far, the fusion of Kashi's inner dragon (fire) and Yggdrasil (Earth) managed to create the first patch of earth for the inner world.

Furthermore, as far as earth elements were concerned, there was nothing with the same quality as Yggdrasil. Unfortunately, as Kashi had not yet managed to acquire all the branches from the guardians, it was not yet at full strength. Still, it's high-quality aura managed to create and stabilize Kashi's inner world such that he did not need to gather all the elements.

The inner dragon contributed fire to the inner world, hence why there was a 'sun' overhead. In the end, Yggdrasil was still a tree. The sun increased the speed at which it evolved. The only unfortunate reality was that, as an Elder Dragon, Kashi's inner dragon's fire element could only be considered as 'very good'. It definitely did not match the premium quality of Yggdrasil, hence the boon it provided Yggdrasil was quite minimal.

However, the dragon benefited greatly from Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil was known as the 'Tree of Life' for a reason. All life that stayed under its branches often evolved multiple times past their own bloodline limit. Every second spent under Yggdrasil improved its strength. The dragon was certain that even if Kashi did nothing but sleep, sometime in the future, it would evolve past being an Elder Dragon.

This fragile balance was maintained because both auras belonged to Kashi, hence there was no disharmony as to who should lead and who should not. They cooperated for the sake of making Kashi stronger.

However, it was into this fragile ecosystem that Kashi unceremoniously tossed, not one, but two Hydra eggs. By themselves, these would already be huge threats as Hydras were an even better source of water element than Elder Dragons were of the fire element. However, these were no normal Hydra eggs.

First, their mother was a Hydra that had lived for over a millennium and had been personally selected by Razznik to guard a god. The purity and strength of such a bloodline were already terrifying enough on their own. The two other secrets that Kashi was not aware of were even more damning. First, while their mother had been a Hydra, their father was a Kraken. Razznik, in a bout of boredom, had one of his servants artificially impregnate the Hydra with a Kraken's seed.

These eggs were so powerful that they had taken over eight hundred years to form. It had also been over two hundred years since they were laid, but they were unable to hatch for one terrifying reason: their powerful mother was unable to supply the quality of mana needed. Hence, she could only substitute quality with quantity. She had spent over two hundred years nourishing these eggs, but in the end, she died right before the eggs were ready to hatch.

The lifeforms within the eggs struggled to conserve the remaining mana accumulated over time, but without constant replenishment from their mother, the mana was quickly running out. They knew they would soon perish if they did not get some high-quality mana. Hence, the moment they sensed the rich mana emanating from the combined auras of Yggdrasil and the dragon, they greedily attempted to forcibly absorb it all for themselves.

This was a terrible enough scenario on its own. The mana drain would certainly leave Kashi weak until it stabilized, but it was not fatal. However, things took a rapid turn for the worse when the dimension recognized the eggs as a potential source of one of the missing elements needed for its creation: Water. Furthermore, it was such a high-quality source of water too. The dimension automatically attempted to seize control of the hydra eggs and place them under submission. The idea was to establish a continuous cycle between the eggs, the dragon, and Yggdrasil that would benefit all the parties involved.

Unfortunately, immediately the Hydra eggs felt the pull on their remaining aura, they pegged the environment as a hostile place that wanted to kill them by sucking out the rest of their mana. The eggs burst out in full retaliatory force, their combined auras seeking to crush the world around them.

Yggdrasil and the dragon recognized the threat to the already fragile world and immediately worked to counter and suppress the eggs. Unfortunately, Yggdrasil was still largely incomplete and the dragon's bloodline was not up-to-par, forcing them into a stalemate with the eggs.

The battle between the elements raged chaos within Kashi's world, causing tears to appear in the 'sky' and 'ground'. The world could no longer handle the clash and would soon implode if left unchecked.

Kashi would have liked to communicate with the eggs, but no matter how ancient, these were still just eggs. All their actions right now were based on the basest of animal instinct. There was no mode of communication. Kashi's brows had already begun to knit in worry when a loud, sorrowful howl tore through the world.

The wolf cry was so unexpected, it brought a momentary pause to the conflict.

Kashi, meanwhile, stared in shock at the silhouette that had appeared in the sky as a new piece of information entered his mind. Using all of his willpower, Kashi willed himself to wake up, just long enough to give Kira the signal not to resist.

Kashi's attempt was successful, and moments later, a confused Kira appeared next to Kashi in the sky. Despite her confusion, Kira pounced on Kashi immediately she laid eyes on him. The daeben did not have a chance to say anything before she nestled her head on his shoulder. Initially shocked, he eventually regained himself and patted Kira's head. "Sorry for making you worry."

"Hmmph." Kira snorted and released her grip on his shoulders. She instantly regained her proud demeanor, the scared little wolf nowhere to be found. "I told you before. You're not allowed to die until I kill you."

"You did say something like that, didn't you," Kashi admitted with a short laugh.

Kira ignored the smug grin on Kashi's face. She looked at the chaotic battle and questioned. "What's this?"

Kashi gave a quick summary of what he understood of everything that had happened so far. At the end, he added, "I'm going to need your help."

Kira sent a determined gaze Kashi's way. "Just tell me what to do."