Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2688: The Return

The sudden arrival of the three Earth youngsters at the Olympus arena sent a ripple of unease through the gathered factions. The blinding light that heralded their entrance had erupted in the very same place where the Kronos Patriarch had vanished. The coincidence was too sharp to ignore, and suspicion immediately clouded the air.

The Kronos elites rose in anger, demanding answers. Klea and the other Earth magus wasted no time. They formed a protective front around the three young figures. To avoid bloodshed, Magus Alliance officials quickly asserted authority, announcing that a joint investigation would be launched, with themselves as lead arbiters.

Only months ago the three youngsters had been reported missing during their Magus Academy mission on the planet Valaryn. Now, inexplicably, they returned not as acolytes, but as fully ascended into the magus realm.

Each of them was separated for questioning. In a chamber under heavy wards, Klea insisted on remaining nearby as their guardian, her sharp gaze fixed on every word, ready to object if the Alliance overstepped.

One by one, the stories came out. Haron spoke first, his voice uncertain but earnest. They had become stranded in a strange, isolated world. For much of the time, he said, they were within his master domain, under his guidance, training and waiting as he worked toward returning them home. His account was vague on details, but it aligned with the little King Rig later shared.

King Rig, usually boisterous, seemed subdued. He repeated the same lines: they had been together, Emery was their anchor, and they knew little beyond the confines of his domain. His words carried weight, not because of eloquence, but because he was too plain-spoken to fabricate.

Then came Shinta. She sat across from the investigators with calm, almost detached poise. Her answers were minimal and carefully chosen. She offered the barest explanation of their ordeal, omitting key details, refusing to elaborate on the ”mysterious world” they had been stranded in. Yet whenever pressed, Haron’s and Rig’s testimonies reinforced her account. Their insistence that Shinta had been with them the entire time shielded her from deeper suspicion.

The realm was called Tartarus; it was fascinating in its own right. But for the joint investigators gathered, curiosity was a luxury. Their task was singular: uncover the truth behind the sudden reappearance—and disappearance—of Kronos and Morgana.

Their answers never changed.

”We don’t know...”

The last they remembered was being trapped in a dangerous realm within the belly of the beast for two years, fighting for survival, clawing their way toward freedom. Then—suddenly—they return, without memory of the passage.

That answer—and the unexplained two-year gap in time—was not enough. Suspicion lingered. The investigators summoned a spirit master, one skilled at probing minds.

Klea immediately stepped forward, but her protests were dismissed. The alliance had already decided.

Unable to stop it outright, Klea stayed close. She watched every gesture, ensuring no harm came to the three. The spirit master pressed his will into their minds... and failed.

He could confirm fragments of their ordeal—The Tartarus realm, the journey, the beast—but the final moments, the truth of how they arrived in the Olympus arena, were veiled.

”There is nothing,” the spirit master admitted. ”Either their memories have been erased... or sealed by a higher power.”

A higher power meant one thing: the hand of a supreme being. If that were true, only another supreme, or a spirit champion of equal rank, could unravel it.

That prospect split the council. Some demanded answers at any cost. Others, with Klea foremost among them, refused to allow such a dangerous procedure to be done to such a young magus. R̃Âɴо𝐁ƐS̩

”They are not criminals!! They don’t deserve it!”

The debate dragged on for days. Political undercurrents began to show. Kronos’ deep connection to the alliance gave weight to certain voices, pressing for harsher measures. Yet Klea was not without influence.

Before the alliance reached a verdict, the matter was swept aside by a new arrival.

From the void above the planet, a massive vessel emerged, its blackened hull engraved with the coiling symbol of a silver serpent. The presence it carried was undeniable. The Ouroboros Queen herself had come. She came for her granddaughter, who has been missing for a year.

She did not request—she demanded it.

It was no comparison: Kronos’ level-one faction against Ouroboros’ level-three faction and leader of the entire serpent half-blood line. Lacking sufficient grounds, the Alliance bent to her will.

Within hours, the three youths were released into Earth’s custody, shielded beneath the banner of Ouroboros.

With relief, Klea and her companions departed the oppressive halls of Olympus, exiting the planet, following the queen’s entourage out of reach of Kronos, and heading home.

Now that they were finally free from outside prying eyes, Shinta revealed something that set her apart from the others. Unlike Haron or Kingrig, she carried fragments of memory from the incident—memories that had been mysteriously shielded from all probing.

She spoke of how Morgana and Kronos had been cast into a temporal battle along with his father, the dark elf that had been chasing them since Valaryn, and how Kronos had ultimately met his demise.

As for how such a thing was possible, Shinta recalled a figure bathed in light just before she was sent back.

”He was an old man... but...”

She hesitated before finally saying, ”He... he was my father.”

The claim silenced the chamber.

With her keen mind, it took Shinta only moments to reach the conclusion: the man she saw was Emery, but from the far future.

If it’s true, it all makes sense.

Klea turned to Fjolrin, only to see her senior refused to confirm it, yet she was certain. That same future Emery must have been the one who had aided him.

The logic was sound. The figure of light, the seal that freed him, the intervention at the last possible moment—it was all connected. But the idea that someone could come from such a distant future was difficult to accept.

Klea took a deep breath, turned to Shinta, and finally asked the question that had weighed on her heart. ”So where is he?... Where is your father?”

Shinta shook her head and let out a long breath before explaining. She spoke of the temporal anomaly within the realm where they had been trapped. The fact that she had spent two years more than the others was proof enough that she had, in truth, been sent back into the past.

She hesitated, then revealed her speculation.

”We believe the time within that realm flowed five times faster. So... I think Father will return in ten years...”

Ten years.

The answer was hard to accept, yet for Klea, even such distant hope was far better than silence.

After hearing it all, the Ouroboros Queen spoke firmly.”It is best this knowledge remains hidden, at least until he returns...”

Klea and the others quickly agreed. After all, it was still only an unconfirmed theory—one that, if spread, could bring far more danger than comfort to the Earth faction.

Afterwards, the queen insisted that she would bring Shinta home to the Ouroboros planet, but Shinta refused. They compromised instead—the queen would come to visit Earth for a few days.

The reason for Shinta’s refusal was to attend Ashaka’s funeral, one of her masters from the academy, a teacher who had left a deep mark on her heart.

A grand ceremony was held at the Bodhi Temple, its ancient courtyards overflowing with mourners.

The divine bell tolled endlessly for hours, its solemn echoes rolling across the valleys. Thousands of monks in saffron robes gathered, their chants weaving into the air like threads of sorrow and reverence.

From the surrounding cities, hundreds of thousands of people came on foot, each one carrying incense, flowers, or offerings to pay their respects to the passing of their beloved head monk.

Damo, perhaps more than anyone, bore the heaviest grief. Ashaka had been not only his mentor but also a father figure. His guide through the trials of cultivation and life. The young monk’s eyes burned red with tears he refused to shed as he stood before the pyre.

Yet, despite the weight of his loss, he summoned the courage to step forward and take up his master’s mantle. From that day on, he vowed to protect Earth as its new guardian.

When the body was placed upon the pyre, the flames rose high, fueled by sacred oils and the blessings of the monks. The fire reflected in the countless tearful eyes of those gathered.

It was a fitting send-off to honor the memory of one of Earth’s legends.

###

The days that followed saw each Earth magus walking their own path: one devoted to closed-door cultivation, striving for breakthroughs.

Another marched to war, answering calls beyond the stars. One focused on building their empires, extending influence across realms.

Months blurred into years, and at last the long-awaited ten years arrived.

Klea was the first to receive the news. Not long after, Shinta—now grown into a young woman—came from Ouroboros to join her. Their destination was none other than the Golden City. Word had spread like wildfire: their Supreme Magus, Rosin Karat, had miraculously returned, a beacon of hope and joy to his people.

In the radiant halls of the city gathered familiar faces—Soltz, Kayelyn, and Feaneor of the fey. Yet one face was absent.

Klea’s eyes searched, and her heart fell heavy.

Emery was not among them.

She whispered question into the wind

”Emery... where are you?”

####

The end of this volume. The next will open with the title Destiny of the Chosen One. Thank you all for your support.