Vesper didn't say anything to Marlin. If Axel was actually dead, then she had to see it for herself and then think about how to rain hell on whoever was involved.
Marlin was still thinking of what to say to placate her when she suddenly dashed forward with shadow step, she was gone in no time.
"Hey, wait for me," Marlin said, quickly running after her.
It didn't take long for Vesper to get to the area, and the first thing she took notice of was Cassie, who was lying on the ground unconscious. But no matter how much she searched with her eyes, there was no sign of Axel anywhere.
"What happened here?" She mumbled, sinking her teeth into her lower lip.
Marlin arrived at the area at that moment, he took notice of Cassie and quickly made his way to her.
"She's alive." He said as he slowly lifted her, her body now resting in his arms while she sat on the ground.
There was no response from Vesper who looked like she was about to blow a fuse as she seriously searched the area.
"You know she might have an idea of what happened here; that way, we'll know what we're dealing with."
Just after saying that, Marlin found Vesper suddenly standing in front of him.
He couldn't help but sigh as he wondered what Axel did to receive this level of attention and care from someone as cold and aloof as Vesper.
Flicking Cassie on her forehead was enough to pull her out of her state of unconsciousness.
She slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times before she could clearly see the people in front of her.
The moment she saw Vesper, her eyes were instantly filled with tears.
She carefully recounted the event that led to Axel's disappearance to the two and by the time she was done, she was crying as heavy streams of tears streamed down her cheeks.
"He couldn't escape it. I don't know who would do such a thing." She cried.
Marlin watched her for a while before he let out a sigh as he reached for her face to clean her tears. Afterwards, he turned to Vesper.
Her face had turned ghostly pale as she staggered back, digging into her palm to the point that there was blood dripping down from both of her hands.
The next moment, her expression turned fierce as she turned to Cassie.
"I remember telling you not to let anything happen to him!" Her voice thundered.
"I tried but there was nothing I could do about that." Cassie sobbed.
"There was nothing you could do and you didn't even see the person. You didn't even see the person who did that to him!"
"I don't know what happened, I just passed out for some reason." Cassie sobbed. "I'm sorry."
Marlin could tell that Vesper was just on the verge of losing it, and if he didn't do something, things might just get ugly.
'Just how much does he like that fairy?'
Marlin honestly didn't know what to do but fortunately, it looked like he didn't need to do anything as a voice resounded from a distance at that moment.
"I don't think he's dead."
Everyone turned their gaze to where the voice came from to see Michael making his way to them, his left hand in his coat's pocket.
He stopped right on the spot where Axel was standing before he disappeared. Afterwards, he bent down and picked up some of the soil.
It seemed a part of the soil on that exact spot had turned red.
"Just as I expected." He remarked.
"What?" Marlin asked.
"He's been transported," Michael said.
"Where?"
"Someplace beyond this world, a place where no one can easily get to."
"A place beyond this world?" Marlin was confused.
"It was a discovery that someone stumbled upon five hundred years ago, the red desert. Basically, it's a place that exists outside of the world currently known to you, it's like a different world." Michael explained.
A bit of hope seemed to have been restored in Vesper's eyes and before anyone knew it, she was in front of the teacher.
"If he was sent to a place like that, then there must be a way for him to come back, right?" She asked persuasively.
Her eyes were practically pleading with him to give her a positive response.
Michael could only sigh in defeat.
"The only way to get to the desert is to use the portal keys. To prevent people from carelessly venturing into the place the three keys were placed in the possession of important figures to ensure their safety." Michael disclosed. "One of the keys has been missing for a long time. The second key happens to be in the hall of fairies, and the third key should be here at the Academy."
"The Academy?" Marlin said. "Where exactly?"
"Most likely the underground dungeon," Michael uttered.
That was all Vesper needed to hear. The next second she seemed to have vanished into thin air.
"Your Highness." Michael sighed. "This situation isn't as simple as it might appear."
"Looks like she's gone off to look for the key in the dungeon," Marlin said as he slowly helped Cassie up.
"Thank you." She mouthed.
________ ________
A lot of time seemed to have passed before Axel groggily opened his eyes.
For a moment, he thought he might be dreaming, so he closed his eyes, but when he opened it again, nothing seemed to have changed.
The only good thing about this was that he could see normally now.
He couldn't believe that the sky could be so red; even the so-called occasional red moon he had seen a few times was nothing compared to the bright red sphere hanging above him now.
"What the heck?"
He slowly sat up on the ground to discover that he had been lying on sand all this while, sand as red as the sky and moon in this mysterious place.
He seemed to have found himself in some sort of desert; it was desolate, with nothing but sand in sight. The place gave off an apocalyptic and gloomy vibe.
'What is this place? Am I dead or something?' He thought.
He wasn't given much time to organize his thoughts and figure out what was going on as the ground suddenly began trembling.
It started out as a small tremble but then suddenly began to get heavier and heavier.
Axel suddenly got up on his feet and looked ahead to see something furiously burrowing toward him.
That seemed to be the source of the trembling.
"What the…."
[ Danger approaching ]
[ Three hundred killer earth rats approaching ]
[ Priority: Survive! ]
Axel felt his jaw drop at the sight of that message.
Three hundred rats?
How was he supposed to deal with that?
He was still in thought when a right about seventy-five centimetres long thrust out from the ground heading straight toward him.
This one seemed to have run ahead of the swarm.
Axel reacted quickly, infusing his cane with light before releasing a light slash at the rat.
The attack hit the beast right on its head immediately pushing it back.
That was enough to deal the rat a critical hit as it was struggling on the ground now.
[ One killer rat defeated ]
[ +1 exp received ]
Taking care of one rat wasn't enough; soon Axel found a huge shadow looming over him; the whole swarm was here, and all of them wanted a piece of him.