**Two Long Chapters today, I wanted to do a lil something extra today since y'all have been so supportive, so here's one of the two 1500-word chapters.**

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"Funny enough, Gabby isn't even worried about you…which I find slightly strange." Tilting his head to the side, Cynrik teased the strange occurrence.

Generally, Gabby was the first to overreact when anything happened to Brance; however, as he looked up and observed her body language, she seemed totally relaxed, as if Brance had gone to the grocery store and not into a potential life-or-death battle.

"Hm, oh, that's easy; she knows I am not in danger since Jessup already explained it takes prolonged exposure to Divine Particles before turning into a Corrupted Divine." Pausing to contemplate his response for a second, Brance followed Cynrik's gaze up to reality and smiled faintly at how well Gabby was taking things.

If it had been a month prior, there was no doubt she would have flipped out after he got dragged into the Shadow Realm; however, now that they had gotten significantly closer through physical intimacy and strengthened their relationship to such an extent, Gabby was more understanding and had total faith that Brance would come back to her in one piece.

But that wasn't his only thought.

"At the worst, she probably expects us to fight before I win; after all, I am the hard counter to 99% of your abilities; however, she should still be worried about me returning to Reality…which reminds me, how would I have done so?" The moment the words left his lips, Cynrik tensed up as he felt the piercing gaze of his younger brother threatening to bore a hole through his head.

"Ima ignore that statement about her believing this would have been a one-sided beatdown. As for you leaving the Shadow Realm, I have no clue; we have no evidence if this place will disappear if I die or open another portal. Hell, for all we know, my death could potentially drop the Barrier between realms and create a merger between it and reality." Shrugging his shoulders and glancing at Tobs, who mirrored his shoulder shrug, Cynrik continued.

"Regardless, I'd rather not find out nor test any of those theories, so for argument's sake, let's assume you would have been stuck down here until you or Tobs came up with a plan on breaking through the barrier to return." action

"In that case, we have already seen that Divine Particles can migrate through the Barrier. Theoretically, you would be stuck here until you reach Tier-7 or are so saturated with Divine Particles that you can punch a hole through the membrane-like Barrier.""That's it?" Raising his left eyebrow out of concern, Brance asked.

"That's it…without me, I can't honestly think of a more reliable method." After saying that, the two fell into a contemplative silence until it was disturbed by Tobs.

-Not to break up this introspective moment you two are having, but there is another glaring issue that neither of you has noticed.-

Flapping her tiny fairy wings, Tobs flew off Brance's shoulder and stopped, hovering between the brothers.

-As your body adapts to the Divine Force, the Barrier is actually getting more robust, or so I have observed. I noticed this after every Tier advancement and Evolution Cynrik had undergone; however, the speed of its thickening has rapidly accelerated with the addition of the Divine Force Accumulation.-

-So technically, the odds of Brance leaving the Shadow Realm without Cynrik's assistance are becoming more skewed as time passes.-

"Great…that's EXACTLY what I wanted to hear; if anything happens to chuckle nuts over there while me and the party are down here, we end up trapped, then everyone dies a slow and agonizing death…Cyn, you've got to realize that the danger level of the Shadow Realm just increased 50-fold." With a huff, Brance began swaying side to side in anxiety.

"I mean, you ain't wrong, but at the same time, I could trap our opponents down here; after all, this place DOES make the best prison due to its lack of Naturally occurring Mana." With a slight chuckle, Cynrik sent a whisp of Umbra Mana toward Selene, who was hiding off in the distance like a dragon protecting her treasured Orichalcum, informing her to come back over.

Once the whisp of Mana reached her, Selene's head snapped in their direction, and she ruefully stomped over to them. lights

"Brancie, it's mine, and you can't take it…" Glaring like some crazy lady at her new brother-in-law, Selene snarled, causing Brance to give her a weird look in response before shaking his head.

"We have wasted enough time down here, guys, since Jessup left the hole in his Divine Barrier open, that means he is expecting you to come back…or me; either way, we have kept them waiting on pins and needles long enough, it's time to go home." Taking charge, Cynrik looked to the sky and clicked his tongue.

Only about 20 minutes had passed since he dragged Brance down into the Shadow Realm; however, everyone was primed for combat in the training room except Jessup, who was calmly waiting on standby.

"Have you thought about what you are going to say yet? Because you can't just waltz in and be like, "AYE, totally fine; see, same ol Cynrik here." What the three of us can achieve thanks to being LCs is beyond impossible in the minds of Native Vinestrans."

"Staying under the Divine Particles, without protection, for over a month is SUPPOSED to turn you into a Corrupt Divine…" Wishing to speak further, Brance was suddenly cut off by Selene and Cynrik, who wore cheeky smiles.

"Mana Zombies." The two said in unison with a slight chuckle.

"Fuck off, you two know what I meant. Still, the fact that neither of you has turned after prolonged exposure isn't supposed to happen, so you need to devise an actual, believable reason for that." Ignoring their ignorant use of "Mana Zombie" and using ambush tactics, Brance pushed for answers from his otherwise nonchalant older brother.

"Ehhh…you gonna be mad if I say I plan on just winging it? You know, fake it till you make it." Catching Selene by her waist and kicking off the ground, Cynrik expelled Blackfire from the soles of his feet and shot into the air, up toward the Barrier between realms.

"Yes…YES, I WILL BE MAD IF YOU SAY SOME BULLSHIT LIKE THAT!" Brance practically exploded as he launched himself into the air, following the two toward the Barrier.

"Come on, Cynrik, take this seriously; you may be able to fight off our faction or even Mom and Maeve; however, Jessup would stomp you into the dirt like a bug, so unless you plan on getting yourself killed over a misunderstanding, I suggest you take this shit seriously." In an exasperated tone, Brance chided as he worriedly looked between his brother and Jessup above.

"You know, what I am about to say next may come as a total shock to you…But Brancie, did you ever think that I would…I don't know, maybe come clean and tell the truth this time?" Spotting his younger brother approaching out of the corner of his eye, Cynrik spat.

"Bullshit, there is no conceivable way you come fully clean about everything." Not even bothering to entertain the motion, Brance dismissively shot past Cynrik and Selene and flew right to the edge of the Barrier between realms.

"Ow…that stung a little bit; of all the people I expect to believe me, you would be in second place." Rolling his tongue under his bottom lip, Cynrik gracefully came to a hover beside Brance and shot him a wounded expression.

"Only second; I didn't know I ranked so low." Rolling his eyes, Brance crossed his arms over his chest and waited to see what Cynrik had to say while already having an idea of the reason.

"Well, I have a wife, an Eiginkona, now, so she gets the top believability spot. Anyway, I do have an idea of what to say to them, but whether or not it comes off as acceptable to Jessup is an entirely different story." Cynrik stated as he heard Selene giggle and felt her cuddling up to him in contentment at being given first place.

"Sigh…always gotta be difficult. Jessup already knows our skills and Stats since it was necessary information for creating our gear, plus he knows about us receiving the Divinity Whisps from Viktor and Lithlen."

"Using the Whisps of Divinity as a foundation and our already unnatural abilities, it isn't a stretch to give a convincing story to the old man; after all, in everyone's eyes, we are already freaks of nature, so what is another random and weird occurrence in our already strange existences." Shaking his head and explaining things to Brance, Cynrik couldn't help but feel he was forgetting something important.

Luckily, or unluckily for him, Brance quickly pointed out the flaw in his explanation.

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