When Loa returned to the border of the Xunzhen Republic Empire with Wangcai, Bebe, Barker, and Desri, Desri was the first to stop.
His home was in the village not far from the border that formed its own special district. After leaving the Necropolis of the Gods, he was desperate to get home. He said goodbye to Loa at the border, then turned and flew toward home. Loa continued toward the main city with the others.
Linley had already sensed that familiar fluctuation of divine power. He put down the Magic Academy lesson plans he had been reading and vanished from the study with a flicker. The next second, he was standing at the entrance.
Ten years had passed. Xunzhen City's walls were still the same walls, its streets and alleys still the same streets and alleys. Only the trees at the foot of the walls had grown taller, and the Three Sacred Beast Stone Sculptures in Republic Square had been polished smoother by wind and rain.
Bebe spotted that figure from far away. He was steadier than he had been ten years ago, his features carrying more of the weight that came with time and responsibility. But that face, that stance, that presence that came from deep within him-he was still Bebe's boss.
He launched himself off Wangcai's head, turned into a black streak, and plunged into Linley's arms.
He burrowed and rubbed his little head hard against Linley's chest, as though trying to knead himself into the fabric. Before Linley could speak, he heard sobbing against his chest.
"Boss, I missed you so much. Ten years was so long."
In the Necropolis of the Gods, from the Flame Monarch on the Sixth Layer to the Million Abyssal Blade Demons on the Eleventh Layer, from Mother Empress Lashabel's Life