Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"We are ready now!" Esmeralda said, and then she passed to Rain the core before she was sent to the pocket dimension.

As soon as the core touched his body, Rain used Teleport and then the mana cannon finally showed its true power.

As Rain disappeared from the world, the mana cannon, no longer hindered by his presence, surged forth with unrelenting force. In a matter of seconds, the devastating beam pierced through the planet's surface, cleaving through layers of rock and mantle with terrifying efficiency.

On the opposite side of the planet, massive chunks of earth were violently expelled from the newly formed hole, propelled into the void of space by the sheer force of the explosion.

The celestial body quaked and shuddered as the catastrophic event ended, its very foundation rocked by the unimaginable power unleashed by the mana cannon. With each passing moment, the intensity of the tremors grew, rattling the planet to its core until it could withstand no more.

Finally, with a deafening roar that reverberated across the cosmos, the planet shattered into countless fragments, scattering debris and devastation in its wake.

The once vibrant world was now reduced to a mere shadow of its former self, its surface ravaged and torn asunder by the merciless onslaught of destruction. Amidst the chaos and devastation, Rain's retreat spared him from the cataclysmic fate that befell the planet… he soon landed on a dark area with his back hitting the ground…

As if all the pain chose that moment to act out, Rain felt his body screaming in pain… it looked like Elisabetha's wrath had helped him a bit, but as the shadow retreated, there was nothing stopping him from suffering all the pain.

"You were lucky that those two gems helped you decrease the effects of the mana cannon… otherwise, we would have melted after a couple of seconds," Elisabetha said.

The ominous sword still looked completely fine… no wonder since it was made of the dark steel that also made the bodies of the ancient and first dragons. Rain couldn't help but sigh while he was healing himself. The monsters that they had killed had tons of those materials… even if they weren't destroyed, they should be roaming in the universe now.

"It looks like I accumulated enough mana… to truly return back to earth," Rain said and then checked the other gem. "I only used half of its mana, and since the skills leveled up, I should be able to return to their territory when we need to."

Before long, Iori began to expel most of the people that were in his pocket dimension… the underworld wasn't the best of places for them, but at least it wasn't cramped.

"It seems that we did it…" Sealyn said while looking around. "I guess this place is secure enough for now."

"I think I am getting too old for all this emotion…" Seadrei said and then sighed.

"... What about our losses?" Rain asked.

A heavy silence was in the air as Rain's question about their losses echoed among the group. Though no one spoke aloud, the weight of their collective grief was palpable, a somber reminder of the sacrifices made and the lives lost in their struggle against the machine gods and their monstrous creations.

The toll of their losses was immense, and it would take days, perhaps even weeks, to fully assess and comprehend the extent of the devastation.

Despite the overwhelming sorrow that gripped them, there was work to be done. With a sense of grim determination, the warriors set about the task of accounting for their fallen comrades. It was a painstaking process, filled with sorrow and anguish, but it was a necessary step in honoring the sacrifices made and paying tribute to those who had given their lives in service of their cause.

Amidst the solemn atmosphere, Terra and Seara stepped forward and decided to assist Rain; they tended to his wounds with their healing magic while he was deep in thought… he had to think of a way to prevent the losses… completely.

"Trying to bear the burden of the whole universe now instead of the world?" Terra asked.

"No way, I am just using my amazing brain to solve an issue that will help us a lot," Rain said. "I thought that the methods that we came up with would have helped us now, but such methods are almost meaningless when the enemies can spam world-destroying magic cannons."

"Tell me about it…" Terra asked and then sighed. "I tried to heal as many people as I could, even from a distance… but there isn't much that I can do when their upper bodies are completely blown off."

"We have become insanely stronger… so perhaps that can't be helped," Seara said. "When fighting, dying is a natural part of the process… even more so when the enemies became specialties at crushing people like us for millions of years."

Terra's healing skills were reaching a level that even Rain was having a hard time catching up since she only used them and her fists to fight.

It also seemed that Isa's power was improving her leveling up speed and the efficiency of those skills… Still, if even she couldn't do that when she was almost at the level that she could revive someone as long as they had a heart or a brain left, then it seemed truly impossible to achieve what Rain wanted.

Seara, on the other hand, looked like she had considered such things before, but she couldn't help but accept their limitations… there are things that aren't just meant to be. A wise man once said: Life always comes to an end. Life is a pilgrimage of suffering.

But it is not a story of death and separation… Rain wanted to cling to those words in order to reach the peaceful future that they perhaps that they didn't deserve yet, but they would keep fighting until they could deserve such a future…