Ball of Nothing

Hades' message made a huge impact on the gnomes and Bob watched as their entire library and workstation burst into divine flames. Instead of getting angry at the unfair treatment, the six gnomes were silent and solemn. Jermine and Bob watched as they sat there dazed.

After many hours, Thomas was the first to stand up. The divine flames devoured everything important, leaving not even ash behind. The gnome looked over to their prisoners and Thomas had questions for them.

But first, they needed to know more about the mysterious lamp.

"Turmeric," Thomas called out to a snivelly gnome. "Go get that lamp. We have some questions for the wise young dragon."

Slowly but surely, the remaining gnomes started to clean up whatever they could from the chaos earlier. Pepper, in particular, was most affected by the loss of precious documents. The scholar and cartographer didn't know where he should begin the restoration works. Instead, he stumbled to and fro, trying to find something that could still be salvaged. His fellow gnomes could only shake their heads in pity for the scholar and cartographer gnome. Pepper spent his entire life trying to document knowledge from the gnome race after they were forced to flee Gnaway. Over the years, the scholar was able to recover most of what he knew and included some new materials about the research that Thomas and Welsey completed in their new hideout. Many information was still missing after the fall of Gnaway but Pepper was still happy that he did what he could in his short life.

Now, everything was devoured by the divine flame. Not a single document was left behind and Pepper despaired. He would never be able to finish documenting everything he knew even if he worked without sleep. He would probably die before he completed writing down everything he knew and Pepper knew better than anyone else how he had already forgotten a lot about the things of the past. Lost gnome knowledge would never be recovered just like the Gatling Gun and now, the gnomes would really be extinguished without a trace because they offended the chosen one.

Wesley told Olive to get the keys and free the dragon and mole beast girl. As it was, there was nothing they could do. The gnomes were doomed either way. It might be better to be eaten by a dragon than try to repair the broken portal or rebuild the Gun-dam.

Olive didn't complain. His most precious plants and garden was now barren land. It took him many years to finally create a thriving ecosystem beneath the harsh desert climate but because of Hades, everything was gone. His friends didn't seem to notice the problem yet but they soon will. Without plants, there would be no dinner. It wasn't a problem that could be solved immediately. There weren't any animals they could hunt in the desert so apart from losing all their research progress, they were now truly stranded without means for survival. The best option left was to be eaten by a dragon or be eaten by a desert monster after their defence mechanism was destroyed.

Bob was surprised when the magic-restraining shackles were removed. Jermine was also freed and Bob tried to reach out to his master immediately after he could use magic again. The mole beast girl simply tried to scan the surroundings and understand their situation better. She didn't know why the God of Death helped them but Jermine had a feeling it was linked to Zero's disappearance.

The lamp was quickly brought over by Turmeric who shakily presented it to Bob. The dragon received the lamp carefully. He knew this lamp!

"Where did you find this?" he asked with urgency and the gnomes before him trembled.

Thomas was the first to speak up. "We found it in the desert after the nova cannon arm was fired... the two elves disappeared without a trace in the crater but we found this lamp where they vanished. No matter how we pried and smashed it, it wouldn't open."

Bob grit his teeth. This was an ancient relic gifted by Zeus although, in reality, it truly was something created by Isis and her siblings. Zero and Truen were most likely still alive because the lamp was still around. However, the fact that Bob couldn't get Zero or Mii to answer meant that there were severe damages. The contract bond was still present but the Eternal Dragon was still worried. His master wasn't weak but against a God-killing weapon, he didn't know how badly damaged Zero was.

"Hold on to this," he told Jermine and the mole beast girl didn't hesitate. She knew how important the lamp was because Bob didn't hesitate to unleash his dragon's might with a powerful magic transformation.

The gnomes screamed and cowered in fear when Bob transformed into his teenage dragon body and roared. He sounded very pained but also furious. Jermine wondered if he was going to massacre the remaining gnomes alive but had a feeling Bob wouldn't do it yet without Zero's permission. After all, they had a mission to acquire a gnome technician back to Rocket Mountain.

Instead, Bob started casting a high-level magic that enveloped the bunker's radius and more. Jermine held tightly onto the lamp while Bob wove his spell. The gnomes didn't know what was happening but they started to pray for forgiveness. If they knew that the nova canon was suggested to them by the devil, they would never have created it! Not only have they offended the Gods, but they have also incurred the wrath of an ancient dragon. This was it for the last of the gnomes.

Strangely, nothing bad happened. Instead of feeling pain, the gnomes started seeing the destroyed bunker repair itself.

"No, it's not repairing itself," Jermine frowned as she witnessed the mana particles and flow. "He's reversing time."

Wesley heard what the blind girl said and expressed his astonishment with a fallen jaw. Dragons were powerful creatures who were said to possess incredible magic and powerful physical attributes. However, a dragon that had the ability to reverse time was in a league of its own. Till date, people only knew that one dragon capable of such things - the Eternal Dragon.

Why was the Eternal Dragon acting as a hired mercenary? Nobody could believe their eyes when an illusion of the past occurred. Bob extracted everyone's memories present to witness the nova canon's blast and the vaporising of the place that Truen and Zero previously stood. After a while, the dragon confirmed that they were telling the truth and ended the spell when Thomas got out of the Gun-dam to pick up the time-space lamp.

"I understand now," Bob said and returned to his human hybrid form. "You!"

The smallest gnome by the name of Pepper flinched when Bob singled him out.

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Bob pointed to Jermine and looked at Pepper with a slight glare. "Listen to her. If anything goes wrong, you're responsible. Nobody touches the lamp, I'm leaving my body here."

Nobody truly understood what Bob meant by leaving his body behind and Jermine wasn't prepared for Bob to suddenly collapse after touching the lamp for a while. The gnomes were alarmed when the mighty dragon fell unconscious. Now that Jermine was in charge of the situation, she laughed nervously.

"How about bringing him somewhere to rest? I think this will take a while."

Nobody questioned her and the gnomes set to work while Bob went into the lamp to search for Mii and possibly, Zero. He needed to know how everyone was doing. Hades wouldn't have made an appearance without reason and Zero would not block him from the mindscape without a good reason. Sure, he might not respond but this would be the first time he wasn't connected.

"Please be safe," he begged and waited for his mind to be transported to the mindscape.