Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

'It's Karlan,' Fay thought, relaxing a tiny little bit.

The massive frame of the bear, thrice as big as her mom's animal form, was somewhat familiar.

Fay wouldn't go as far as to call the bear an uncle, but she did have some fond memories of him in the past. They were all from early on in her life, but this aged senior seemed to be relatively… reasonable.

'Which isn't something I can lightly say about the rest of them,' Fay thought, a long wrinkle splitting her forehead in two.

Her eyes moved to the side, at the confident figure of Peter standing just in front of her.

And Fay… pressed her lips together, in a bout of silent frustration.

Ever since establishing the bond through Peter's strange system, her ability to feel him skyrocketed. It was as if a material link replaced the fussy, unstable feeling that she had with him before.

And thanks to this new, reinforced link, Fay could tell the truth.

'He simply refuses to consider anything going wrong,' Fay pressed her lips so tight, they started to hurt.

But Peter's show just came to an end, at the cost of a massive scar to the forest, one that only promised to grow much larger as the demonically intense fires started to consume the broken plants.

Only for the man to casually throw a few glances around, and produce an extremely satisfied and outright amused smile before standing down and looking at Karlan's massive frame. Then, without a single hint of fear in his voice, he asked his question.

'Will he be okay?' Fay tightened her fists in addition to her lips. 'If this invasion is anything like what mom told me…'

"Just listen to this boy," Madam spoke out, coming from the back of the group.

She appeared not to be used to her human form, at least not to the degree Fay was after merely a few weeks of assuming it.

"He is not our enemy."

Fay looked at her mom with a certain dose of gratitude.

'My word means nothing, only hers matters…' Fay thought, gritting her teeth in frustration. 'But…!'

Taking a quick breath, Fay raised her face and moved forward, quickly closing the gap between herself and Peter and launching herself at back.

Her hands moved forward, sliding underneath Peter's arms as she wrapped them gently over his belly and pressed herself to his back. Then and only then, Fay invoked all the fire from her soul and raised her eyes, throwing a possessively hostile look over Peter's shoulder and towards the reasonable elder.

"It's unbecoming of me to make a young lady put on a such brave act," a deep voice suddenly filled the area from every possible direction.

Karlan didn't speak with his mouth but with the power of nature itself.

'He invoked his domain!'

The world around Fay suddenly stopped. And for but a second, it refused to buckle, suspended in the strange sea of powerlessness that surrounded her.

Just moving a muscle was akin to the struggle of trying to lift a mountain.

But while her body was powerless, Fay's ability to invoke her powers remained all the same, as if not affected by the same laws of this strange fissure in time.

And so, without a second of thought, Fay invoked her bond with Peter, and with it, the link that brought all of her lineages together.

A singular point, low above her abdomen. And as the familiar surge of strange powers coiling and interweaving filled the spot, for the first time…

It materialized.

'Before he attacks…!'

Not paying the strange evolution any mind, Fay called forth all she ascended might, something she hurriedly named after learning of its name from Peter…

Only to see invisible blades of nothingness cut deep into Peter's flesh, just in front of her eyes. As Fay's powers surged in her hopes of stopping whatever Karlan would do now that he raised his domain, those invisible blades continued to cut deeper and deeper, marking Peter's skin with long yet thin but extremely bloody incisions.

'Oh no,' Fay's thoughts scrambled when she, in the spur of the moment connected the dots.

The strange wounds Peter incurred during the last fight. His explanation of his abilities and their costs. And the recent addition of the bond that allowed them to partake in each other's powers, something even further reinforced by the evolution of Fay's ability to feel him.

As horrific realization exploded in Fay's eyes, she dropped her powers, relaxing the fabric of the world around her to let this evil effect dispel.

The weird fissure of time collapsed in a single instant… But Peter's wounds didn't explode with blood as they should according to Fay's predictions.

His cuts appeared far shallower and shorter than in her vision too.

And in the very next moment, they dissipated completely, like a weird illusion that never took root in reality.

And right as Fay forced herself to lower her guard, Karlan's words finally rang in her eyes.

Fay breathed out, frozen by the sense of guilt exploding in her soul.

'I've brought him harm,' she thought, her jaw starting to shake.

Fay's hands tensed up, pulling her deeper into Peter's wide back.

"What is your deal…" Karlan's nature-sourced voice appeared again, only to pause for a moment as the massive bear lowered its gaze and took a closer look, "… human?"

"I'm Fay's mate," Peter's body shook slightly as he confessed without even a single heartbeat of hesitation.

Hearing those words and with the memory of what she just did to him mixing in Fay's brain…

Her thoughts locked, her emotions mixed in such an impossible knot that she couldn't form a single thought.

The happiness that the instant confession mixed with the guilt of hurting her man who paid it no mind only to confess a moment later…!

"Oh…"

All of a sudden, the lingering sense of Karlan's aura vanished without a trace. Even his massive form appeared to stumble, genuinely impressed by the bold response.

"I'm here to help in any way I can," Peter then continued speaking, caring not for what he had to feel when his body split open all over the place. Instead, he lowered his right hand… and pressed it down on Fay's fingers, as if to symbolically hug her back. "Even if that includes shooting some…"

Peter's aura cooled down from its usual fiery and energetic feel. Yet, the very moment Fay tried to hug Peter even tighter to bring back some warmth to his soul, her eyes shot up to the sky hidden behind the lush canopies of the nearby trees.

Alerted, Fay moved her eyes around, quickly using the huge incision on the line of the trees to look past their crowns and towards…

The quickly and threateningly darkening sky.

"Curses!" Madam spat out in anger, equally as quick to notice the anomaly. "They are starting already?!"

Peter twitched in Fay's tight hug.

"Was my guess right?" he asked, his body smoothly moving to turn and look at Madam. "A few powerful guys that are out of the norm?"

Fay quickly connected her man's question with what he guessed before. But before she or her mom could reply, Peter shook his head before reaching out and rustling Fay's hair.

Feeling his gentle head weigh down on her head, Fay squinted her eyes, struggling not to let out tears.

Too much was happening at the same time.

'I hurt him!'

'How can allow himself to ignore the pain and danger so much!'

'I don't want him to get hurt! I don't want to hurt him again!'

'Does he really have to go…?!'

'What's with those dark, sparkling clouds?!'

Tormented by a multitude of emotions, Fay struggled to keep her tears at bay. No matter how she tried to reason with herself, going towards this quickly forming storm would only put Peter in danger!

"Can you lead me to where I can see whoever's behind this thing?" Peter asked without a single doubt in his voice, as if it was the most logical thing to do.

"Are you sure?" Fay's mom asked, clearly noticing Fay's looks.

"I only need to buy us one cycle," Peter replied as casually as if he was trying to brag about something irrelevant. Then, despite Fay's tight hug, his aura grew considerably colder, just like his expression sank down a little. "If my guns won't be enough to rout them, that is."