One thing was strange about the twins’ group’s journey back to Besgol. Halfway through the journey, Roan reduced their flight speed by half, much to Aurundi’s confusion. Naturally, Aurundi contacted them to inquire about the sudden change.

-I decided to go slower in case we are taken by surprise. If we have too much momentum and find some kind of trap or array, we’ll have a better chance of avoiding it,- Roan explained.

Aurundi thought it sounded reasonable. -Very well. We are following a very different route anyway. It won’t hurt to be more careful.-

And so, the airplane continued on its way to Besgol.

—

It had initially taken around seventy days for the twins’ group to get that far into the Godly Creatures’ Territories. Now that Roan had chosen a longer route and reduced their speed halfway back, it took them more than a hundred days this time to get close to Besgol.

They continued fighting the Godly Predators and the lower-level creatures that got in their way, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened during the journey.

In fact, things became so routine that eventually only two or three members of their group would come out to fight whenever a Godly Creature approached. The rest simply remained inside Rean’s airplane, allowing whoever was available to deal with the threat before they continued their journey.

After all, they had already accumulated an enormous number of Godly Crystals. There was no reason to waste everyone’s energy every time a Godly Creature appeared.

Then, when there were no more than five days left before the airplane reached Besgol, something changed.

Celis had kept his senses sharp throughout the entire journey, paying particular attention to anything that disturbed the flow of Celestial Energy around them. He immediately noticed when another airplane approached from behind. “Someone is here!”

Everyone’s expressions changed slightly. Aurundi also received the message through his Ring Communicator. -Shit! You guys go ahead! I’ll try to buy some time!-

Roan immediately refused the idea. -No. Put your airplane away and enter ours. We are going to use its true speed from here onward.-

Aurundi was taken aback. However, Rean had already slowed his airplane and positioned it in front of Aurundi’s vessel, leaving the Voltari with little choice but to follow along. Aurundi quickly stored his own airplane inside his Spatial Ring before jolting into Rean’s airplane.

Rean immediately pushed the controls forward. At the same time, he activated the Array Slots where several Godly Predator Crystals had been inserted.

*ZuuuuuuUUUUU!!!!*

The airplane shot forward like a streak of light, its speed increasing dramatically. Aurundi’s eyes widened as the scenery outside blurred almost instantly.

“So fast!” he exclaimed.

Celis looked behind them, his expression becoming somewhat grim. “Their airplane seems to be as fast as ours.”

Rean had expected as much. “Nothing surprising there. I talked quite a lot with Thery back in Woster. Their own arrays aren’t any worse than mine. It’s only natural that they can make Celestial Thrusters capable of flying as fast as my airplane.”

He had always known that the Thousand-Script Race would eventually catch up with his designs. Their expertise in arrays and inscriptions was simply too great for them to remain behind forever. The advantage he had enjoyed in his designs had been more about innovation than an insurmountable gap in technical ability.

Suddenly, an airplane appeared in the distance.

No, it had always been there. It was simply that the airplane had deactivated its Light Bending Arrays, finally revealing itself.

“Seems like they know we noticed them,” Rean commented.

Aurundi’s expression became nervous. “Their speed increased. Just how did they find us again? The beacon of your airplane was turned off, wasn’t it?”

Rean nodded. “It definitely was, but there’s no point thinking about it now. I’m turning off my own Light Bending Array Plates. They did that to redirect the energy toward their thrusters and gain more speed, and I can definitely do the same.”

He immediately deactivated the array.

Rean’s airplane appeared in midair, and its speed increased as the energy previously spent on concealing it was redirected toward the thrusters. The pursuit instantly became more intense.

—

Doluno, who was piloting the airplane, couldn’t help but feel relieved when he saw the twins’ airplane clearly. “We finally managed to find them.”

Krava and Tapoqi had their eyes glued to the window, their hearts beating faster. They couldn’t fail this time. After Corfitiu’s death, they had spent more than three months trying to locate the twins’ group again. If they allowed the twins to escape now, they might never find them again.

“Can’t we go faster?” Krava asked.

Doluno shook his head. “If I try to go faster than this, I’ll damage the thrusters. Even though we’re Law Gods, we’re still too far away to fly all the way to them. Our energy reserves would run out before we reached them. We’ll have to catch up to them like this.”

“How did they find out we were approaching?” Krava voiced her doubt.

Doluno had an idea. “According to Thery, they have a World Swallowing Cedar in their group who is extremely sensitive to variations in energy. I’m pretty sure he was the one who noticed our approach. There’s also the fact that these Light Bending Array Plates were created by none other than that white-haired man called Rean. Maybe he has some way of detecting whether anyone nearby is using his arrays.”

Doluno’s eyes narrowed as he watched the distant airplane. “In any case, we’ll continue the pursuit. I refuse to believe his Celestial Thrusters can maintain this speed for longer than the thrusters made by our Thousand-Script Race.”

Krava and Tapoqi nodded. They remained ready for the moment they finally caught up. This time, there would be no hesitation and no attempt to capture anyone alive. Their objective was simple: kill the twins’ group and recover the Eternal Night Raven and Eternal Day Fox.

—

Two airplanes streaked through the skies, attracting quite a few Godly Creatures along the way. Their speed was so high that the disturbances they caused in the surrounding Celestial Energy could be felt from quite a distance.

Fortunately, they were flying at a very high altitude. Only Flying Godly Predators could realistically hope to catch up to them. Even if one did appear, Aurundi could strike it with his Lightning Attacks before it got close enough to block their path.

However, one thing quickly became obvious.

Although it looked as though the distance between the two airplanes wasn’t changing, it actually was.

It wasn’t much, but the airplane belonging to the Thousand-Script Race experts was gradually getting closer.

Several hours passed.

Doluno’s group was now relatively close to reaching striking distance. Doluno calculated that, at their current speed, they would be able to attack within two hours at most. Once that happened, they could simply leave their airplane and use their own Law God speed to catch up to the twins’ group.

However, it turned out that they didn’t need to wait that long.

*Bang, bang, bang, trummmmm…*

Suddenly, one of Rean’s airplane thrusters began to break down, leaving a curtain of smoke behind.

Rean’s airplane had two main thrusters. It could continue operating with only one, but a single thruster wouldn’t be able to maintain its current speed. At most, it would allow them to flee for a few more minutes before the pursuing airplane caught up.

“Shit!” Aurundi immediately recognized the situation and prepared to go out. “At least it lasted longer than I thought it would. I’m going to try to buy some time. Just try to hide and flee.”

Roan stopped the Voltari before he could move. “No point doing that. If they could find us before, they can find us again. We are being tracked. We’d better stick together.”

Aurundi’s mood darkened. He knew Roan was right, but that didn’t make the situation any more pleasant. “Then we might share the same grave today.”

*Bang, bang, bang, trummmmm…*

Finally, the second thruster couldn’t take the burden anymore and broke down as well, leaving an even thicker trail of smoke behind.

Rean’s airplane immediately began to fall from the skies, heading toward the wilderness below.

Before it could hit the ground, however, the twins’ group quickly left the airplane, and Rean stored it inside his Spatial Ring. They could only fly on their own now, but against the Thousand-Script Race’s airplane, they wouldn’t last more than a minute in a direct chase.

Instead of wasting their energy on a hopeless escape, the group decided to make their last stand in that location. One after another, they descended toward the wilderness below and landed among the trees.

Doluno’s group arrived soon after, and they quickly exited their own airplane as well.

The atmosphere immediately became tense.

Aurundi went to the front, preparing to confront the three Law Gods, but before he could speak, Rean stepped forward instead.

“Can’t we talk about it?” Rean asked, his expression surprisingly relaxed. “How about a big payment so no lives are lost today?”

Doluno angrily answered as his group approached. “After killing our friend, it should be pretty obvious that no amount of payment will save your lives today. In any case, you wouldn’t be left alive even if that hadn’t happened.”

Yet Rean merely showed a playful but cold smile. “I think you got the wrong idea here. Actually… I was talking about your lives, not ours.”

Doluno’s expression changed.

At that exact moment, Rean’s Godly Sense spread through the surrounding forest, connecting with several runes hidden deep within the trees.

The runes immediately responded.

*Buzzzzzz!*

A powerful array suddenly activated, and the entire area began to tremble as an enormous amount of energy gathered around them.

And as always, any Golden Tickets and Stones are welcome. ??

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