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Announcement I'm finally back from the mini-break and is planning to release a new chapter once a week due to a writing competition while editing the old chapters along the way. "Falsus, do you remember me?" The Nature Fairy smiled as she joyously asked him. However, her voice was wicked and sharp as a knife, cutting onto his mind like a dagger threatening to end his life. As her voice echoed in his ears, the half-crimson flowers on his eye sockets shook as they madly disrupted the circulation of sorcery energy within Forus, causing some internal damage to his organs and blood veins. Without any intention to speak, Forus lifted his head upwards to see any reactions from both Mountain Union and Flying Green Garden. To his expectation, none was willing to step in to help him or Florie. "With your power, fight me and help me prove myself. The teacher had already promised that, as long as we fought, we won't be going after anyone related to you. So, show me how I am compared to you now." Florie did not speak nonsense and directly skip to the relevant detail. As she promised the safety of everyone else, she would get Forus to fight her for real. As long as she believed that she could overcome him, the looming shadow in her soul would dissipate away and help to progress her sorcery mastery. For this result, she would need Forus to be sincere and fight to the death with her. Forus frowned when he heard her statement but did not say anything. Around him, although he could not detect anything, his strange soul was vibrating in a rapid rhythm indicating a hidden danger. He could feel the determination in Florie's voice, indicating that she did not know that he was getting suppressed by the flowers in his eyes. Coupled with the hidden presence around him, Forus knew that the female sorcerer was watching over him. His sorcery mastery, which touched the boundary of middle-staged of the first-ranked, had fallen towards the bottom of first-ranked, making his overall power slightly weaker than Florie. Nonetheless, if he used his Death Aura to fight, then he would be able to defeat her single-handedly. However, Forus decided to play along with the script. After hearing the explanation from Lord Phasma, he became aware of some secrets forbidden to mention. As his Death Aura had a connection with the Taboo Existences, he knew that things would get even more complicated if someone recognized it. "If I win, could you help me with a request?" Thinking about something, Forus spoke for the first time. Although he did not display any emotions on his face, his hands were trembling while he spoke. "As long as you defeat me, then I'll listen to it." Seeing that her opponent finally decided to talk to her, Florie quickly agreed to his deal and retreated a little, preparing herself to start the duel. With a wave of her hand, a vine-covered staff manifested in her hand. Without any hesitation, she stuck it onto the ground, creating a small rift on it. The greenish shade of the wand tainted the crack, causing grasses and weeds to grow out from it. Her robe extended outwards and grew into arrays of vines and leaves, turning from ordinary clothes into a long-tailed dress. As if she had become one with nature, Forus could feel her presence spreading and merging with the surrounding wildness. Compared to Abicel, Florie, who had a mentor to guide in the way of Fairy, was a lot more familiar to the abilities and power of Nature Fairy than her. Although her constitution was worse than Abicel's pure bloodline, she had both time and guidance that let her power develop. A floating leaf slid past Forus' body, grazing his left arm lightly. Even though it was just an ordinary leaf, when infused with the power of Nature Fairy, the blade of leaves would be able to cut open a small wound on his body. Sensing the whirlpool of leaves and petals surrounding him, Forus wondered about how powerful Abicel would become when she fully developed her bloodline. In his mind, having a strong ally to help Ocelia was a good thing. Knowing that it was his time to act, Forus stepped forwards, causing the temperature to drop. As cold air began to rush outwards from him, the flow of the leaves vortex also started to slow down. With the freezing forcefield, all movement would get suppressed. Weak leaves would freeze and disintegrate into dust before getting close enough to him, making the area around him the forbidden land for the leaves vortex. Although some would occasionally get through and wound him, his vitality would heal his wounds in a matter of seconds. With a tap of his finger, Forus condensed the cold wind into a ball of bluish snow. He flicked his hand and sent it forwards, floating ever so slowly closer towards Florie. When Florie tried to retaliate by sending in groups of grass blades, most of them only turned into icy sculptures and fused with the ball, becoming a part of the all-devouring sphere. Although his power was weaker than Florie, his experience and comprehension over sorcery were superior. The Nature Fairy that ascended with the help of her mentor in a peaceful environment would never be able to clash with Forus, whose journey had skirted around with death more than any others. Just as Forus was about to hit Florie with it, the flowers in his eye sockets swayed lightly, sending thunder-like sound echoing within his bloodstream, causing his veins to rip open and burst into various rifts. The sudden outburst clouded his perception with a tremble, making his control over the sphere lessened and allowed Florie to fight back. Using the pause Forus gave her, Florie knocked her wooden staff onto the ground, causing the pellets felling from the sky to converse into flowery arrows that shot towards Forus. They pierced through his magical icy sphere and went straight towards his chest. The devouring sphere clashed with the arrows. Although it could not withstand the impact, it still exploded in front of Florie and brought forth the rain of icy spikes onto her. When they clashed with floating leaves, small combustion would occur and die down, condensing into peddles of water that soaked the ground. While some managed to land some hits on the Nature Fairy, her wounds quickly became covered by the various vines and flowers on her body, healing it back up in minutes. Forus focused his sorcery and manipulated the Ice Element onto his hand. As he gestured his hand and made a drawing action, the frosty handle of the blade swiftly formed under his hand, revealing its chilly appearance. With one stroke of the blade, Forus parried the fancy arrows away from himself. However, just as they landed onto it, they dispersed into the mist of light fragrance that engulfed his body, seeping into his pores. Although Forus immediately tried to retreat, the mist managed to touch his skin and caused a part of it to mutate into the greenish coat. In a blink of an eye, moss and mushrooms began to sprout on his body, draining his energy and hindered his movement. In his act of retreating, Forus swung his blade upwards, causing a part of it to break away from the main body and headed towards Florie. Although they were small and low in numbers, they were fast and unexpected, allowing them to catch her off-guarded and stabbed onto her flesh. Gritting her teeth, Florie disregarded the pain and rushed towards the falling Forus. Even though the sudden sneak attack had interrupted her manipulation over the arrows, she was able to fire some more towards him, creating pressure to distract him while she rushed in. In the battle between two low-ranked sorcerers, the outcome usually came from their battle experience and tactics while their sorcery mastery being the supporting factors. As long as one controlled the pace of the fight, they would outperform their opponent and win. While he continued to retreat away from the arrow bombardment, Forus was keeping track of Florie all the time. From the previous battle against Lord Phasma and his bloody formation, he became much more vigilant with the position of his enemies. After the fifth swing, a loud noise resounded as Forus' icy blade shattered into shards of ice. The force of its self-destruction propelled Forus away from the mist, giving him a moment to catch his breath and reorganize his thought. Seeing the situation, Florie slightly frowned and decided to send forth the leaves revolving around her to pressure him. With only a handful of petals covering her body, she threw her staff up and clapped her hand, creating a ripple of sorcery energy. When the ripple hit the staff, it shook gently before dissolving into an ocean of pinkish pollens. After a moment, the only part of it left was its jewel, which transformed into a nice little crystal dagger. Forus naturally felt the sudden change, but he did not display any emotions and continued to roam around the arrows and the petals. However, as the pollens covered the battlefield, Forus finally frowned as he sensed that Florie's presence had disappeared into thin air. Soft giggles resounded around Forus, preventing him from picking up on any additional noises from the surrounding. Not only that but the pollens also obstructed his sorcery perception, reducing his area of awareness to only a small radius around himself. As Forus dodged and parried the oncoming leaves and petals, he gradually accumulated shallow wounds all over his body. Although his constitution was exceptional and could heal them in only a short while, they would slowly exhaust his sorcery energy and clouded his mind with pain and tiredness. Although Florie seemingly disappeared and never intended to show herself again, Forus' expression only worsened as the stressful atmosphere intensified by the passing second. Her disappearance transformed into a looming shadow of a scythe that could sever his head at any moment. Occasionally, the flowers in his eye sockets would spin and induce dizziness and pain onto his body. With everything stacking on top of his mental fortitude, the toll on his physical body soon followed suit. However, it was not only him that suffered in this situation. Although powerful, the spell also drained more sorcery energy than any other she had. Florie did not dare to rest in fear of letting a chance pass by. She knew that her body could not support the prolong usage of the spell. Time passed in silence, and Forus showed no sight of despair or frustration. He continued to endure and wait for the storm to subside, knowing that Florie would not be able to maintain it forever. If he could pass this moment, he was sure that the fight would soon end. As if Florie could not bear to wait anymore, the pollens suddenly stopped in place before resuming their movement with even more intensity. The petals moved across the air, creating sounds due to friction and air resistance. The mushrooms and mosses on Forus trembled as they exploded into a colourful stream, injecting more pollens into the air as well as cutting open more wounds on his body. The flowers in his eyes also withered, turning pitch-black as they rot inside his body, creating a foul smell that blackened a part of his face. Forus immediately forced the black substance out from his body while channelling his sorcery energy, using the Ice Element to freeze the parasites on his body. Although the frozen flesh would wither under the extreme cold, it was better than becoming the breeding nest of moss and mushrooms. However, as Forus was focusing on his body condition, a black figure manifested within the current of the pollens and approached him without his knowledge. In a mere moment, the crystal dagger flashed in crimson light as it closed in near his body. The surrounding pollens, as if excited by the dagger, rushed towards Forus in all direction. The petals and leaves around him also merged into a group of edges, hiding within the sea of pinkish particles. Knowing that the deciding moment was nigh, Forus extended his hand forwards and grabbed the crystal dagger with his bare skin. Although blood began to drip out from the cut, Forus did not let out any scream of pain and held onto it with all his might. With his suicidal move, he managed to catch the hiding Florie out in the open.

The wind howled, but no leaves swayed. The world descended into the state of silence as the invisible domain enveloped the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. The decree of the Mountain Emperor had suppressed every little movement of the Elements. Abicel struggled to remain standing as her face showed a sign of suffering and pain. Her disguised human-like skin shrivelled and disintegrated into dust and ashes, revealing her nearly-naked figure. The vines and flowers embedded on her body began to wither, turning brown and grey in shades. As a nature fairy, her body had already crossed the boundary of humanity into the realm of Elementals, which relied on the circulation of Elements and sorcery energy instead of blood. With her unique constitution, the damage bought by the suppression did more harm to her than to other sorcerers. As she fell onto the ground, a delicate hand extended towards her and grasped at her wrist, supporting her fragile body from falling onto the ground. The smooth crystal-like skin of the maiden reflected the light rays into a dazzling glare, giving birth to the colours in this silent wildness. "Keep yourself up, Abicel. The dirty ground is not where a lady should be." Ocelia smiled as she transferred a portion of her sorcery energy into Abicel, who gladly accepted it. The circulating sorcery energy counteracted the suppression effect, allowing Abicel to get hold of herself and slowly regain control over her power. She looked at Ocelia with her eyes glittering, seemingly in dazed at the beauty of the crystal-like maiden. As the couple had been to the last floor of the Tower of Succession, they had witnessed and withstood the pressure from the statues depicting the legendary characters, whose power sat above the second-ranked sorcerers. Although the suppression came from the Mountain Emperor, a third-ranked sorcerer, it contained only a part of his power, and could not rival his full strength. Via adapting to the superior pressure, Forus and Ocelia could easily withstand the suppressing domain. "Let us hurry towards the outpost before doing anything else." Forus interrupted the ladies' playful time and stepped forwards, leading the fragile Elemental maidens towards safety. "Halt! Before the Mountain Envoy, you all shall bow." As the group came near the outpost, many brown-robed figures descended around them and formed a circular formation with Forus at the centre. "My name is Ocelia Coruscare, the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. Please send my regard to the Mountain Envoy." Ocelia stepped forward and bowed. As the potential successor of the Coruscare Family, she had to learn about the surrounding world, including the existence of the sovereign of the Mountain Union, the Mountain Emperor. Hearing the mention of the Coruscare Family, the brown-robed men nodded at each other before retreating, dispersing the circular formation and let a figure came in. He was the man who held the decree of the Mountain Emperor, the Mountain Envoy. "No need to worry, my dear Ocelia. I've seen you once when you were little. Didn't your father tell you about me?" The Mountain Envoy smiled and spread his arms, letting Ocelia come forward and hug him. With his eyes filled with the kindness of an elder, he seemed to be reminiscing the olden day. "Uncle, sorry for my lack of etiquette. If only your granddaughter knew of your arrival, she would gladly welcome you with her utmost effort." Ocelia spoke as she glanced at Forus and Abicel who stood behind her. The two positioned slightly away from her and lowered their face, expressing respect for the strong. "As expected of your mother's daughter, you've inherited her beauty. I reckon that you've received both your mother's appearance and your father's wisdom." Observing her movement, the Mountain Envoy smiled as he complimented her. As he did so, he also swept his gaze past Forus and Abicel. Although he was one of the peak-staged second-ranked sorcerers, with Forus' exotic knowledge and power, he was able to hide his strange fate and Death Aura from the Mountain Envoy. As for Abicel, with Ocelia's lingering sorcery energy, she could barely conceal her Elemental form in front of the man. "Now, stay here until your father came. There's something that I, as the Mountain Envoy, have to do." The Mountain Envoy waved his hand and channelled his sorcery energy, creating invisible pressure that propelled him up into the air and floated away. As their leader had departed, the brown-robed figures moved with the Mountain Envoy and quickly moved towards another direction, skirting around the Fleeting Emotions Ruin until they left the trio's sight. Watching as the Mountain Union's force withdrew, Ocelia sighed as she looked back, observing Forus' expressionless face as well as Abicel's tired look. The fragmented power of the third-ranked sorcerer had drained her a great deal of her sorcery energy. "Let's not get involved with the business of the Mountain Union. We could not create any significant impact on the overall situation yet." Ocelia said as the three resumed their journey towards the outpost. They knew their place and did not meddle with deadly secrets. If the Mountain Envoy did not tell Ocelia, she would not ask him. The secret mission of the Mountain Emperor was too heavy for her to know. Her power was not significant to peer into such matter. Although their journey resumed, the occasional chats between the girls did not occur. The atmosphere after encountering the Mountain Envoy was suffocating with everyone having many thoughts in their mind. Only Forus managed to remain cold and unwavering. "Mistress, you are back!" As soon as Ocelia stepped into the outpost, the guards and servants of the Coruscare Family quickly assembled a carriage to come and welcome her arrival. A few of them looked at Forus for a while before locking their gaze at Abicel, wondering about her relationship with their mistress. They knew that Forus was their mistress' favoured talent, but this female sorcerer did not come with her when she first departed. "No need for any unnecessary celebration. Prepare the manor for us. I would be resting here for a while." Ocelia did not mention anything, and the servants knew not to disturb or ask anything carelessly. The ruthlessness of the sorcerer families was well-known. "Let us go. Father is coming." Gazing upon the sky, Ocelia let Forus held her hand and led her towards the interior of the outpost. Abicel only chuckled and followed suit. No one wished to stop their advance. Even the Ninguis Family did not come to cause any terrible. Their silence was as quiet as the sea. However, Ocelia and Forus knew that it was merely the calm before the storm. "Strange, isn't it?" Inside a manor at the edge of the outpost, a figure stood in front of a large window and peered into a distance, landing his gaze onto Ocelia. Behind him, a feminine lady sat quietly, listening to the sound of the heartbeat. The crimson robe that she grew fond of covered her expression, revealing only a devilish smile. Her cherry-red lips moved every once in a while, releasing a puff of air. "Who knows what opportunity did they get? A treasure, an inheritance, or scrolls of forbidden knowledge?" Her mouth moved, uttering slightly hoarse voice, yet remained charming and naughty. "Let's wait and see. When things unfolded, we'll naturally witness the result." With his back facing the lady, he spoke while running his finger across the surface of the window. Golden light formed a trail behind his movement, illuminating the darkroom with its glow. Its pattern changed and evolved, revealing secrets and information unbeknownst to the ordinary eyes. As the runes formed a vague picture, a subtle shake spread across the room, filling the atmosphere with a sense of dread. In an instant, the golden light completely disintegrated, returning the darkness to the world. The man whose spell got interrupted trembled backwards as he panted violently, revealing a line of crimson blood that seeped out from his mouth. He had stumbled into a forbidden realm and got punished for his overextension. The devilish lady quickly stood up and rushed towards him. While doing so, she employed her detection spells and checked for any abnormalities. However, to her surprise, she could not find anything. "You can stop now. There's nothing to find, just a backlash from touching the path of the future." Although the man nonchalantly said it, his expression continued to worsen as a hint of fear and uncertainty permeated his mind. ... "Reporting to the Elders, our remaining outposts at the mines had fallen!" A sorcerer barged into the meeting site and shouted on top of his lung, bowing his head to show respect while bearing the news. "Impossible, how are they able to act this fast?" An Elder muttered as he looked at the frozen atmosphere of the meeting site. Although the death of the Grand Elder was a big matter and significant to the Sect, it would have to take some time before the other Sects knew about the circumstance. At that moment, everyone lowered their gaze and surveyed their surrounding, maintaining high alert at all time. As the situation unfolded, even a fool could realise the only possible answer. "Everyone, let us wait here and notify the Sect Leader of this news." As everyone descended into silence, a man clasped his hands together, producing a sharp noise that attracted attention. "If Lord Siprytas wished so, then we also have no problems." Other Elders quickly agreed with his suggestion. In this situation, the most suitable person to lead the Icy Scorpion Sect was Siprytas, the sole disciple of the Sect Leader. "Then, report the situation of the outside." With everyone restaining everyone else from acting, a delicate balance emerged from the chaos. ... Purple clouds raised beyond the sky, filling the dark void above with golden-purple light. The array-like structure flashed in multi-coloured flares as various shapes and forms emerged from the ever-changing sea of nothingness. A distorted figure remained motionless amidst the great darkness, cloaking in the imperial robe that moved according to the arrangement of the stars. Her glowing pair of eyes rested shut as she felt the ripple of movement from the void, feeling the subtle quake of the darkness as various events were influencing this incorporeal realm. Floating around her were thin layers of threads, weaving around her in strange motions, twisting every once in a while. Soon, some would intertwine while others would separate. The cycle would repeat itself yet remain slightly different in every way. However, despite everything that was happening, the maiden's eyes remained closed. At least, until a particular string vibrated, triggering a series of resonance that threatened the collapsed the whole area of strands. With a rapid yet elegant movement, her eyebrows lifted, giving way for the purple-golden pupils to shine their brilliance onto the void. The imperial robe trembled as it shimmered in bright, golden light, radiating the majestic authority of her sorcery mastery. The purple clouds above the sky converged and gathered, forming an immense celestial body that turned darker in the shade, revealing the gloominess that hid beneath the dignified appearance. The loud, thunderous noises echoed the void, instilling the sense of dread into the fabric of space and time. The strings vibrated and trembled, expressing horror directed towards the purple storm. The empress extended her hand, making a grasping motion with her fingers. As she willed, the void above her hand distorted, opening a gateway for an antique pocket watch to slip through. As it landed onto her palm, her eyes flashed in a faint glow as her body relaxed before tensing up as she opened its case. Before she knew it, the long hand had moved again, and it was about to complete its full cycle. As she watched the slow yet steady movement of the hand, pain and regret began to show in her soul, revealing a pitiful expression on her face. It was two minutes before eleven.

Standing above the mountain of the Icy Scorpion Sect, the last remaining Grand Elder oversaw their defensive formation. Although there were two living Grand Elders, only he could use his full power without any drawback. Behind him were several figures. They dressed in a bluish robe, holding their different treasures. Although the internal struggle between the Elders was intense, in the face of the external danger, they would gladly set aside their grudge to unite and protect their sect. "Sect Leader, the Life Lantern of Elder Frozen Chain had already extinguished. None of the Elders that accompanied him had survived." One of the Elders spoke with a hint of grief and panic in his voice. With the death of the Elder Frozen Chain and his team, they could deduce that the mastermind had united more than one of their nemesis. "Let us wait no longer. From this moment onwards, we, the Icy Scorpion Sect, shall enter out battle-ready state!" Although his voice was overflowing with confidence, the Elders knew that their situation was dire. Without any desire to continue, the meeting concluded after a simple discussion about the internal resource distribution. Most of the Elders bid their farewell as they hurried into their side, gathering their faction to address the upcoming disaster. After everyone except the Sect Leader left, he let out a sigh before sitting back onto his seat, looking over into the landscape of the frozen forest. Because the meeting room was at the top of the mountain, he could see almost the entirety of the Icy Scorpion Sect. Picking up a feather pen, he wrote a simple letter detailing the content of the meeting and the general issues about the Icy Scorpion Sect. However, after finishing the mundane topics, he also wrote about his feelings, detailing how he wished the event would turn out. By tapping his hand lightly, the letter sealed itself before flying off into the distance, moving towards a secluded cave that his friend was residing. "Ancestor, please bless us and let our sect live through this war." Holding a spherical orb in his hand, the Sect Leader began to pray to the revered Founder, the Frost Ancestor. Although there had never been any reply back, he felt somewhat at ease every time he did so. ... Unable to control his emotion, Glacies smiled as he sighed a chill breath of relief. He watched as the bloody formation expanded and covered every part of the wildness, enveloping everyone including Abicel who was at the edge of the battlefield. In the final moment, Glacies managed to hold against the continuous assaults from Ocelia. By using every bit of his sorcery and willpower, he managed to gain time for Avidas. At the edge of the chaotic wind system, the vine-covered Abicel put down her flute as she revealed a pure, childlike smile. Although vines and flowers made her appearance non-human, her charm instead increased after the conversion into a tree fairy. While one side relaxed their mind, the other felt as if a dark cloud had just concealed the last sunray from the sky, and the darkness soon descended. Forus, with his feeble strength, jumped towards Ocelia and pushed her away from the spot. At that moment, a pool of blood manifested beneath her, and a strange crimson hand crawled out of it. It grasped at her robe and tore it apart with its sharp nails. Although Ocelia came out unharmed, the hand did not stop its momentum and continued to move upwards, grazing Forus' skin as its nails darted past him. The open-wound did not cause any permanent damage, but the crimson blood from the hand had sneaked into his body. The crimson blood made its way into his bloodstream, eating away his lifeforce and swelling his muscles. The infected skin inflated and turned into a pore-like organ that continued to vomit out the crimson blood. If the corruption did not get treated in time, its lethality would increase exponentially. Fortunately, the crimson blood could only rampage as it wished for a little while before the greyish soul sensed the annoyance and processed to devour it as if it was just a snack. Although the all-corrupting blood was powerful, it was no match for the Taboo Existences. Witnessing the strange occurrence, Ocelia felt her body going numb as she exerted herself to cast a flaming spell to dissipate the blood beneath her. Even Glacies and Abicel expressed their anxiety as they turned their attention to the silent Avidas. He did not utter anything since the completion of the formation. "At long last, I'm back once again." As if he had gone insane, Avidas chuckled and smiled to himself. His movement and manner changed from the timid and boot-licking servant into a confident and narcissistic master. "Sir, who might you be?" Sensing the subtle change, Glacies frowned before asking him politely. After all, this Avidas was the one who controlled the gruesome formation. If he accidentally offended such person, he might not live past this isolation barrier. "As I expected, the takeover did not stabilize yet." Mumbling to himself, Avidas took a glance at Glacies before he smiled, confusing the young master. "Don't worry, young man. I only have a simple request for you." Lifting his finger and pointing it towards Glacies, Avidas widened his smile into a wicked degree. The black light manifested on his fingertip and snapped onto Glacies. "Die for him." The instant Glacies perceived the black light, a sensation of despair overwhelmed him, drowning him under the pressure of death. Before he could move, the death's grip arrived in front of him, stabbing into his heart. The air around Glacies froze as a silhouette of a grail manifested in front of him. It shook and let out the milky liquid. The liquid moved to intercept the light, sticking onto it and pulled its momentum down. However, despite its unique power, the black light disintegrated all of it and seeped into Glacies' realm of consciousness. Avidas watched as the young master of the Ninguis Family dropped onto his knees, showing blank expression as his body decayed into a greyish statue. The statue captured the dignity of Glacies, displaying his cold and unfeeling expression. Although he was kneeling, his attitude remained unyielding and determined. If not for the bloodstains that covered the ground, one could mistake this statue for the work of a master craftsman. Abicel trembled at the sight of the demise of Glacies. Although she had no feeling for him and his well-being, watching his swift death instilled her with profound terror. She hurriedly raised her flute and blew her soft breath into it, forgoing any side effects and ordered the moving trees to guard her. However, as she turned and tried to run, the overflowing blood pool spurted out the crimson hands that dragged everything into the abyss. Within a mere moment, Abicel lost all connections with her trees. "Fret not, girl. I have no desire to kill you. However, continued testing my patience won't end well for you." With his words, Abicel ceased her movement and silently stood behind a tree, leaning onto it as she held her breath in anxious. "We meet again, at long last." Avidas turned his ghostly pupils towards Forus and chuckled. Although Forus had never heard this voice before, he felt a certain familiarity within the remarks. As Forus tried to sense the Elements within the air, his soul suddenly stirred as his perception locked onto an old rusty ring on Avidas' hand. Although Forus could not see the ring itself, he could feel the strange and mystical force that the ring continued to emit. The invisible yet inviting fragrance of the Death Aura caused his soul to grow unrested, as well as reminding him of the source of such thing. "As expected of a Taboo Existence, your perception over Death Aura was as great as ever." Witnessing the change in expression, Lord Phasma smiled as he let out even more Death Aura from his ring, trying to lure Forus in. Although Forus could control himself, he could not predict what the greyish soul would do. Upon discovering a large amount of Death Aura, his soul began to go out of control as the tendrils crept their ways out from his realm of consciousness. "Don't worry, dear. I'm right here." A delicate yet firm hand grabbed hold of Forus', pulling him into her warm embrace that gained him the strength to control everything. A simple hug had calmed his mind and repressed the tendrils. "Very interesting. You manage to overcome your urge." Glancing at Ocelia, Lord Phasma willed and created the crimson hands, sending them flying towards Ocelia. "Wait!" Before Ocelia and the crimson hands could begin their lengthy battle, Forus shouted at Lord Phasma and interrupted his concentration. As if he had already expected the shout, the swarm of blood came to a halt instantly. "If your objective is my body, leave her out of this." From their previous encounter, Forus had already deduced what Lord Phasma wanted to accomplish. Although Forus and Ocelia were strong, they could not contend against the current Lord Phasma who controlled the deadly formation. Any suspicious actions would lead to their immediate annihilation. "Your deal couldn't sway me, young man." With a wave of his hand, Lord Phasma ordered the stationary crimson hands to continue in their path to seize Ocelia. Sensing the abnormality, Ocelia pushed Forus away and attempted to evade. However, due to the excessive consumption of sorcery energy from the earlier battle, she could not exert herself anymore. As the swamp of blood closed in, she resigned herself and stopped her struggle. Although the act was abrupt and violent, the hands did not cause any damage to her body. Instead, as long as Ocelia did not resist, they would gently hold her body like a precious gem. "Let me tell you something, young man." Lord Phasma extended his hand outwards and caressed the maiden's cold, emotionless face. His face formed a subtle smile as he admired the quality of her body. "Your girl's body is what I want." As his mouth twisted into a grin, Lord Phasma thrust his hand and stabbed onto Ocelia's chest, creating a hole that reached to her pulsating heart. The pain crept onto her face as her brows frowned into a curve-like shape. However, although sweats formed on her forehead, Ocelia did not utter any scream or wail. Her eyes only locked onto Lord Phasma's face in silent. At the same time, the pool of blood manifested beneath Forus' feet and spurted out more hands, grabbing onto his legs and infecting him with the corrupting bloodstains. Although he could use his Ice Element to freeze the blood, he could not move from his spot due to the overwhelming quantity of the hands. "Young man, watch as I devour her soul and take over her mind." As his words echoed the isolation barrier, Forus could hear the intense anger and frustration within the speech. Lord Phasma had never forgotten that moment where his fragmented soul got devoured by the greyish soul. As the waves of laughter continued, Forus decided to disregard his injuries and break out of the stalemate by letting the crimson hands pierced his body. Surprisingly, on his path towards Ocelia, Lord Phasma did not summon any obstacles to block him. Although the wounds were small, the corruption of the bloodstain turned his appearance disfigured and radiate pain all over his body. Coupled with the rampaging tendrils that emerged from his realm of consciousness, his appearance resembled monster from the abyss more than a regular human. Holding a beating heart in his hand, Lord Phasma watched as its systemic pulsation slowed down. The aromatic fragrance had stirred his mind, inviting him to take a mouthful bite and taste the unique flavour of a novel heart. Little by little, the stagnated hands of the skeleton clock trembled. After a long time of peace, the clock of fate began to tick, moving towards the twilight of life that was midnight.

Although the scene could make someone else panic and fear, Ocelia only found those tendrils weirdly adorable. They behaved like a pet that only moved according to their instinct, trying their best to move towards their food. She tried to touch them with her hand. However, they would always stray away from her, afraid of dirtying her pure body with their filthy appearance. She did not know if it was Forus' wish, or their instinct to avoid danger. In the end, Ocelia stood motionless as her eyes studied the tendrils from the moment they devoured the corpse of the ancient beast until they retreated into Forus' realm of consciousness. Only until Forus dropped onto the floor did Ocelia rushed in to help him. She did not want to interrupt his moment of improvement. The rotten scent transformed into something else. The lingering fragrance did not cause any discomfort anymore. Instead, it had the dull effect of soothing one's mind, making the anger subsided, and the joy ceased. Ocelia felt numb and indifferent as she experienced the process of life and death. In her cloudy mind, a silhouette of a shadowy monster howled in pain as many tiny creatures ambushed it, aiming to take its life with their combined power. The fight caused mountains to crumble, and river to dissipate. Screams of pain echoed the sky as the beast roared in anger. Because Ocelia was watching in the perspective of the beast, she could not observe the spells that the creatures were using. Otherwise, she would gain much experience and ways of utilizing the sorcery better. Even then, seeing the spectacular power of the mighty beings did widen her outlook. Never in her mind would she believe that there was something as big as mountains. In the beast's vision, the tiny creatures had many strings attached to them, glowing in different lights and shades. With each of its attack, a hazy thread would strike at the strands, severing a number of them. If an important one got destroyed, the creatures would shriek in desperation before melting into a pool of flesh and blood. Their sorcery circulation turned chaotic and backfired. "Ocelia, what are you doing?" Like a thread of love, Forus' words pulled Ocelia out from the depth of memory. Before she knew it, Forus had already stood in front of her with his hand touching her forehead. She was spacing out for a while now. "Nothing. I just thought about something just now." Her smile was pure, creating a spark of joy inside Forus' heart. Without any intention of asking, Ocelia grabbed hold of Forus' hand before walking forwards, pulling him with her. After merging with the Mask of Sun and Moon, as well as getting the legacy of the Evanescent Record, Ocelia had further gained more knowledge about the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. The structure of the Tower of Succession and the information about the second-ranked sorcery master flowed into her mind. Except for the members of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, Ocelia would be the most knowledgeable person about this place. Behind the imposing altar, the couple stood in front of the Door of Hope. It had the same appearance as the first and the last Door of Hope they had been walking by. However, like the two, the text on it was different. "Connected by love, wandered through the ocean of lives. Time and again, strings would intertwine. In the end, what will prevail?" Ocelia spoke it out loud for Forus. She could easily guess that the sentences were talking about them, and they were encouraging them to stay with each other. Unbeknownst to her, Forus also saw the texts hovering in the visionless perspective. They stationed at the same place as the real lines on the Door of Hope. However, the content was different than what Ocelia saw. Reincarnation, the cycle of renewal, it is the work of fate. The all-controlling strings, the all-seeing eyes, they are the hands of fate. Balance in all things, it meant absolute subjection. As soon as Forus finished the sentences, the glowing runes twisted and changed again, showing new texts. Man proposes, but fate disposes. Fate proposes, so we disposes! Although Forus did not utter the words, he could still feel the formidable aura as well as the aspiration of the writer of the text. He could not imagine the height of the power that it took for this person to look down on fate and challenged it. A subtle noise woke Forus from his deep thought. Before he knew it, the Door of Hope had already open and waited for him and Ocelia to enter. Ocelia also stopped beside him while holding his hand, waiting for him to start first and to lead her. Gasping at her hand tightly, Forus became determined after reading the secret passage. Although he could not understand the truth, he could feel that this mad-sounding rumbling would have an enormous effect on both him and Ocelia. Coupled with the passing words of that figure, Forus began to step into the deep, dark background of the Sorcerer World. The two only nodded at each other before stepping into the Door of Hope. Even without any communication, they knew that they would be exiting the Fleeting Emotions Ruin and that the danger was not over yet. Although the danger of the realms within the Fleeting Emotions Ruin had gone, a new threat also approached them. With their involvement in the evil entity's emergence, they had witnessed the scene of the massive wave of Elements and lights tearing through the barrier of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, exposing the coming of the terrible being to the world. Such commotion was sure to attract the attention of the higher-level sorcerers. If they were unlucky, the mythical third-ranked sorcerers might get involved, and if they decided to capture everyone who entered the Ruin, then there would be no escape. The vision of Ocelia faded into white as she stepped into the Door of Hope, letting the light engulfed both her and Forus. Her body felt light as a feather, floating in the sky as she travelled across dimensions and worlds. In the moment of tranquil, her memory began to replay itself inside her mind. She saw herself stumbling in the barrier of light, slowly dying while Forus was struggling to save her. She also saw the moment when Forus kneeled in front of her, giving his Ring of Recollect to her. Although the moment was dangerous and life-threatening, Ocelia also felt like it was a dream that was full of happiness and comfort. She did not mind getting ever so close to death if she could experience such a wonderful occasion again. Thinking about their moments together, Ocelia gazed towards her side, watching over Forus' unwavering figure that floated steadily along with her. The hollow eye sockets did not make her uncomfortable. Instead, they captured her attention, luring her sight into the black pit that stored much memory within it. To find his daughter, he lost one of his eyes, and to save her, he also lost another. Although with time and power, Forus could heal them back again, not everyone would willingly trade their significant parts for the wellbeing of the others. Before Ocelia could say anything, the whiteness faded into darkness as the vision began to manifest. The couple had already exited the Fleeting Emotions Ruin and entered into the Sorcerer World. Because of the unusual mechanism of the Ruin, when one exited it, they would get transported into some random locations surrounding the mountain where the Fleeting Emotions Ruin resided within. It was for the weaker sorcerers to gain a chance at keeping their treasures and prizes. If the powerhouses decided to camp the entrance and the exit of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, the vagabond sorcerers would never get any chance to get in and out freely. It would decrease the amount of the participants, lowering the possibility of finding a suitable successor among the giant pool of talents. "The scroll did not lie after all." A cold voice echoed the forest as the area surrounding the couple glowed in multi-coloured light, revealing the hidden formations and arrays. With several enhancements in place, the enemies indeed came prepared, not allowing the couple to detect the origin of the sound at all. Forus and Ocelia had already stood back to back, forming the same formation that they had once used to suppress Mabilis and Abicel. However, due to their continuous empowerments, their might now was a lot higher than before. Forus gestured his hand, creating a series of floating black weapons. He used them to circle him and Ocelia, protecting the two from the sudden ambush. Ocelia also used her Ice Element to create an icy blade as well as a glacial shield. The two became prepared for the upcoming battle in an instant. The formation slowly rotated as it opened portals above it, spewing out many spells of different Elements at once, firing them towards the couple in the centre. The freezing spikes, the burning fireballs, the spikey stones, the thorny vines, they came in various forms and random patterns, not letting the two have any rest. After a while, the ground below the couple glowed in red light, forming a design that spread from the centre towards the rear. Wherever the lines went, the soil would heat up and cool down alternatively, making the temperature turned chaotic. If Forus and Ocelia did not do anything, the onslaught of the formation would drain all of their sorcery energy. Without any hesitation, Ocelia willed and ordered the Leaning Tower of Frost to manifest, hovering above a part of the surrounding arrays. Its power also increased since the first usage as Ocelia had gotten the inheritance from the Witch of the Scarlet Snow. She had already completed the fifth floor, making its power surged again. As Ocelia commanded, the Leaning Tower of Frost began to descend, moving towards the ground at an incredible speed, causing ripples of winds to spread outwards, swaying the surrounding trees. "As expected, the Fleeting Emotions Ruin has countless treasures." Another voice echoed from the surrounding. Although this voice had a hint of feminine in it, the icy-cold ruthlessness did not shy away from it at all. Accompanied by the voice, a portal opened below the Leaning Tower of Frost and spewed out three magical arrows before dissolving into nothingness. The arrows came in different colours, exuding various Elements. The green arrow moved slower than the rest, but it continuously created walls of thorns behind its path, forming a net that would wrap around the Leaning Tower of Frost. The red one moved the fastest, creating explosive noises and gushing out waves of heat in its trail, melting the freezing air around the Tower. The last one was pitch-black, having the ability to swallow everything that came into contact with it. In only a single moment, the Leaning Tower of Frost crashed with the arrows. The layers of thorns ripped apart while the momentum of the Tower slowed down. The Ice Element of the Tower got nullified by the blazing arrow that caused cracks to manifest on the Tower. When the Tower decided to send out Ice Spirits, the darkness would dissolve them into pure Ice Element and devoured all of them. With their preparation, the mastermind had already taken many situations into their account, and because of the lack of knowledge, Forus and Ocelia instantly fell into the passive side of the battle. If the two could not do anything to change the tide of the exchange, they would slowly exhaust themselves to death. Unlike in the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, there was no mysterious power at play. Dying in this wildness would mean certain death. Ocelia's eyes flashed as she observed the three arrows destroying her Leaning Tower of Frost. Although she fell a sorcery rebound after they cracked her Tower, she also gained some information about the mastermind. Now, she had a little guess about the situation. Engulfing his fist in the flame of Death Aura, Forus punched downwards, crashing onto the formation beneath his feet. The loud cracking noises echoed as the barrier surrounding the array disintegrated into dust, causing the ground to crumble onto itself. As soon as the barrier broke, the array burned as it imploded onto itself, releasing the pending energy onto the world, swallowing the couple in its wave.

GDLiZy Sorry for the inactivity. Life had hit me full-force, and I got a little sick while planning the end of this volume. The chapter will be coming out slowly yet surely, and I'll also be editing the old chapters for some grammar correction and minor rewrites. Don't worry, the plot won't change, but some minor details that kept bugging me and some plotholes would be cleared up. I'll make sure to tell you guys when I updated the chapters! The winds and sounds of the battle traversed outwards, moving across the wildness as they howled around the trees. However, before they could send out the notice to the others, an invisible barrier appeared after a distance and blocked everything from passing through. As the mastermind had planned a great deal, they would not want any trespassers to ruin their scheme. In his tattered robe, Forus heavily panted as blood dripped from his face. After sacrificing his hand to crack open the array beneath him, Forus had sustained severe injuries as he had endured the explosive power of its destruction. On his open wounds, many tiny grey tendrils twisted inside of his muscles, madly sealing the mouth of the injuries and reattached them. After gaining more Death Aura and the sorcery mastery from the journey within the Tower of Succession, Forus had gained greater control over his grey soul, allowing him to manipulate his Death Aura better. Although Forus had sustained a series of injuries, he refused to retreat and let Ocelia take the lead. Forus continued to exert his best effort to ward away the attacks while allowing Ocelia to focus on observing the rotating array. Ocelia knew this, and she could do nothing except increasing her pace to break the formation. The longer she remained focused, the more strikes Forus needed to endure for her. Although her body and mind was in a mess because of the destruction of the Leaning Tower of Frost, her speed only kept escalating faster and faster. Fortunately, after digesting the true essence of the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, Ocelia's formation mastery experienced an unexpected grow, filling her mind with countless attempts and knowledge about various arrays. At this moment, even Forus could not content with her, even with the knowledge from that blue-robed sorcerer. The landscape around the couple began trembling as hills emerged from the ground, connecting at the top to form a giant dome of darkness. The fog manifested after the absence of the light, shrouding the area in darkness. In the mist-filled the dome, the couple felt their senses turned numb. The sound from the surrounding turned silent while the vision of the landscape turned black, losing all colour and change. They could not see as well as hear anything, making defending themselves from the random strikes of the formation harder than before. Losing her vision of the array, Ocelia could only work with her memory about them, making her progress slower than before. Although she had the mastery of the second-ranked sorcerer, her body and mind were only that of a first-ranked sorcerer. She could not bring out the potential of her knowledge yet. In contrast to Ocelia, the darkness only gave Forus a little inconvenience. He had already learned to adapt to using his sorcery energy and sound to navigate through the world. After losing his eyesight, he had been living in the permanent blindness, forcing him to find a way to fix this flaw. Even without any sound or vision, Forus could use his sorcery energy to survey the surrounding. Inside the darkness, a faint crack on the space manifested and let a black figure walked out from it. The man had already brandished his sword when he slashed it onto Forus, aiming to snap his life away. Because of the ability to appear in anywhere within the formation, the man could easily bypass Forus' sorcery perception and struck his blind spot. Using his black spear to block the strike, Forus retaliated by twisting the weapon horizontally, aiming its handle to strike at his enemy. Because of his superior strength, by meeting head-first with the strike and injuring himself in the process, Forus could catch his opponent off-guarded. However, before he could hit the man, an arrow flew from the darkness, moving towards him without any intent to conceal itself. As Forus had already executed his strike, he had no time to avoid the ambush and got hit by it. Although the man also got pieced by his magical spear, he managed to merge back into the darkness and disappeared. Forus, on the other hand, could only watch as he vanished before treating his injury. The arrow was growing roots into his body, draining his blood and sorcery energy. If this was someone else, they might have a hard time dealing with the invasion of the Element. However, Forus had already experienced with the intrusion of the foreign force before, making him more prepared than others. Using his greyish tendrils, Forus could get rid off the Wood Element and consumed it to restore his power. However, Forus had a plan in his mind and decided not to show his card yet, letting the Wood Element lingered inside his body. Outside the dome of darkness, space began to distort as another silhouette of a giant burning tower assembled itself. The Leaning Tower of Flame was a lot more sturdy than the Leaning Tower of Frost. It had already exhausted its potential and created the seventh floor, which contained the mightiest Fire Spirit inside. As it descended onto the dome of darkness, the same familiar portal opened and shot out three same arrows towards it. The Leaning Tower of Flame had higher quality than the Leaning Tower of Frost. It could break through the defence and arrive before the formation after losing a part of its momentum. Four portals opened beside the first one, letting out four glowing snakes to coil around the tower. They hissed aloud and inserted their fangs onto the burning surface of the tower, stabbing into it to slow down its movement. However, without the mastermind to control them, the snakes could only work separately and failed to stop it. In the end, the heat from the tower burned all the snakes, dissolving them into magical dust, before heading straight towards the dome of darkness. As soon as the dome trembled under the pressure of the Leaning Tower of Flame, the ambushing figures stopped their assault and vanished into the darkness, allowing Forus to gain some rest. However, Forus did not rest and remain vigilance. He could not be sure that the ambushers had indeed left. With Forus' protection, Ocelia let go of her resistance as she willed her mind to tap upon her unused power. Despite remaining in the all-concealing fog, Ocelia's body could emit the blue and red radiance, lighting the dome of darkness into the colourful scenery. Her fleshy, human skin turned smooth and reflective as she transformed from a human sorcerer into an Elemental Lifeform. Her thin hair turned liquid-like as their colour changed its shade with time. She looked like a statue made out of gems and glasses that depicted the appearance of the goddess. Extending her hand outwards, she grasped at the space, causing a tiny copper coin to manifest before her. If Forus could see, he would be able to admire the works of art that emerged before his eyes. Her elegant movement concealed within the simple gesture, coupled with the glowing radiance that refracted from her mirror-like skin, she had unknowingly created the picture worth remembering. Once her fingertips touched the coin, she immediately sent her sorcery energy into it, channelling its power to manifest. In her Elemental Lifeform, she could replenish her sorcery energy faster than her natural form. However, as the twin Fire-Frost Elemental Lifeform, she could only cast the spells related to Fire and Ice Element, which was why she did not remain in this form all the time. Ocelia watched as the coin she tossed towards the peak of the dome began enlarging, turning from the tiny coin into a large platform. As its size grew, the ancient and deadly aura it exuded only continued to intensify, forcing the weaker treasures to submit in defeat. Under the pressure of the Underworld Copper Coin, the dome of darkness finally crumbled as it could not bear the weight of both the Leaning Tower of Flame and the suppressing coin. Despite breaking into pieces, the fragments did not disintegrate into the dust. Instead, they merged and formed into a glowing sphere of white. The sphere span around the couple, moving faster and faster, leaving the white trace in its path, forming a white ring that rotated around the two. Although the sphere did not send out any strikes, it had spun quick enough to create a chaotic wind system that would mess up the trajectory of the blows. Without the concealing fog, Forus and Ocelia quickly spotted the masterminds that arranged their trap. Three figures were standing in front of them, not bothering to conceal their appearance in the slightest. While Glacies and Avidas were standing inside the radius of the white sphere, Abicel kept her distance away from both Forus and Ocelia, aiming to support and ambush the two from afar. Knocking his cane onto the ground, Glacies walked forwards as the trail of ice manifest behind him. Behind his body, a floating lotus-like statue rotated slowly, swaying its petals as they sent out breezes of freezing fragrance that would move at his will. Without any verbal exchange, they started to fight, aiming to kill the others. Although killing the heirs of the Sorcerer Family would bring in troubles, in the presence of the treasures of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, they were willing to risk offending the families. More importantly, the background of Ocelia and Glacies were comparable, lessening the risk of getting bullied by the strong. While Forus would clash with Glacies, he also got the support from Ocelia, letting him put in more and more pressure on Glacies. However, he also needed to be on guard for the sudden strike of the arrow, which could come from any angle because of the chaotic wind system. With Avidas setting up traps at the edge of the battlefield, Ocelia also had no way of killing Abicel. Although her Fire Spirits could bring in trouble for her enemies, they could not display their strength in the strong current of the deadly wind filled with the debris of sharp fragments. As Glacies continued to retreat towards the edge, Forus himself could not do anything as Avidas had laid in many traps, filling the battlefield with danger he could not ignore. However, with the wave of his hand, he expanded his sorcery energy and created the black weapons, shooting them towards both Avidas and Abicel. Even if Glacies could defend them himself, he could not run around and trying to help his team while Forus was trying to kill him. However, if one of his companions died, his plan would fall apart, and he would surely lose his only chance at getting the treasures. "Young master, please help me!" Avidas panicked as a spear pieced onto his shoulder, injecting Death Aura into his bloodstream. The Death Aura began to devour his flesh and life force, making him experienced the pain of slowly withering. However, before Glacies could move, a wind whirl shot towards his back, aiming to hit him with its freezing blades. As soon as it approached him, the lotus-like statue trembled as its petals started to fall off, merging with the others and formed a barrier of ice. Although the lotus could reduce the force of the wind whirl, it could not stop the blizzard from advancing. The impact blew him away as he stumbled forwards, moving into Forus' range of attack, watching as the black blade came towards him. Knocking his cane once again, the frozen ground below him crumbled as icy spikes emerged from it, forming a wall that blocked the strike while counter-attacking. However, the wall could not prevent the full attack from Forus and broke down as the Death Aura dissolved the Ice Element. Glacies, fortunately, had made enough space for him to dash backwards to avoid the strike. At that moment, while Forus was going for the follow-up, a freezing snake shot from the side and bit onto his arm, freezing his hand and preventing him from attacking Glacies. Although Abicel successfully saved Glacies, she also needed to endure an assault to rescue him. If she did not force herself to defend instead of dodging, she would not have time to fire her arrow to save him.

"Please, help me find someone." As he pleaded, Forus' voice quivered. Despite the progress he made with his sorcery mastery, he had not made a single noticeable step towards his real goal. Whenever he experienced happiness, a faint sense of longing would manifest in his mind. In there, Forus struggled to find his inner peace. Although Ocelia had partially filled his broken heart with her love, it was not enough; his heart would not let it. "Who are they, then?" Florie was a little surprised when she heard Forus asked for something so... little. She reckoned that he would ask for wealth or knowledge. Alas, different people had different priorities. She still would not go against her promise. "My lonely little girl— I need to know how she's been doing. She is always alone, and I'm worried about her." As he talked about his daughter, Forus revealed a rare happy smile. Just a faint memory was enough to warm his heart. Knowing that Forus had immersed himself in his memory, Florie decided to take out a healing potion and drink it. Although it could heal her injuries and replenish her sorcery energy, it would take some times to have any effect, which was why she could not use it during the battle; only an instant was enough to determine the outcome. When Forus gradually returned to reality, the pollens around both of them had already dispersed, revealing the inner area for the world to see. The sorcerers around them became shocked at the bloody scene. They could not believe that two sorcerers would be battling against each other to the death with such ruthlessness. After all, this was in front of everyone. As the shades of blue and red mixed, the battle got split into two sections, overflowing with a blending sense of repugnance and icy beauty. One part was bloody and dark, while the other remained cool and elegant. If not for the two figures that stood at the centre of the battlefield, the onlookers would have thought that the scene before them came out of a painting of a renowned painter. "... Her name is Matia, Matia Ander. She is my sole daughter." As the words left his mouth, Forus shivered in both anxiety and excitement. Bit by bit, warm tears began to form and fall from his face, dripping onto the ground before merging with the puddle of crimson blood. At that moment, Forus felt as if someone had taken an enormous weight off of his soul. All this while, there was finally progress in his seemingly hopeless quest. "Don't worry. I will." After witnessing his outbreak, Florie smiled as she looked up. Her gaze met with the feminine figure descending from the sky. Although her mind turned clouded and at the blink of exhaustion, she remained focused at her mentor and let out a wry smile. Florie could never know that the lonely little girl named Matia was her mentor. Despite living in the same abode, Matia had never told anyone of her surname. Although Florie knew that her mentor's name was Matia, she could not connect that this mysterious Falsus would be her mentor's father. In reality, there was never any news about anyone successfully reincarnated with their memory intact. The subject of reincarnation was mysterious and dangerous, involving the dark secrets of the Sorcerer World. There was no way for Florie to have any access to this information. With her intelligence, after she calmly analysed the strange action that Forus displayed during the fight, she could deduce that someone was helping her in secret. If it was her previous self, she might have gone crazy in despair and bitterness. However, with her current temperament, she only let out a sigh and shook her head. By observing her pupil's reaction, Matia felt bitter at the thought of her actions. She knew the risk of her plan, but as she only had one person whom she cared, she was willing to do anything for Florie. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Matia gazed at Forus deeply before she sighed. Although she had only met this man only once, she still felt a sense of familiarity from him. If he did not clash with her pupil, she would never use her power to bully him. Matia quickly put her strange thoughts at the back of her mind before she held Florie in her arms. Although the scent of blood and gore lingered in the air, Matia did not feel any disgust or dirty. She watched in silence as her pupil tried to speak something but fell unconscious before she could do so. "You've done well. Just leave the rest to your teacher." Matia whispered to the sleeping beauty. Although Florie had fainted, in her eyes, she was still the most vivid-coloured person she could perceive. Ever since she had lost her ability to discern colours, she could only see in the shade of white, black, and grey. Only Florie could make her world colourful again. Even though the dull world made her uncomfortable, she could not make herself hated it, for her mind felt that it was somehow very precious to her. To everyone else, she was the cold-hearted Elder who only doted on her sole disciple. However, in her heart hid the deep longing and loneliness. The day she regained her memory still lingered in her mind after three hundred years. "Young man, I've underestimated you. Nonetheless, thanks to you, Little Florie had successfully passed her trial and overcome her past." Aside from the first brief encounter, Matia finally got to observe the facial expression of Forus for the first time. Forus had an average face, but his silvery hair made up for the mediocre appearance. Although dirt and filth were all over his clothing, they could not conceal his calm and chill vibe. Aside from the terrifying empty eye sockets, his figure seemed ordinary and unassuming. Although Florie did not pay any attention to Forus' chilly vibe, Matia would never forget the same piercing aura that broke her peaceful fate apart. She formerly had no idea how to deal with this without letting her pupil knew the truth, but, since Florie had already fainted, Matia could do as she wished. "Because you helped my pupil broke through her bottleneck, I won't pursue that matter anymore." After all, Matia did not wish to betray her pupil's promise. Although it was only until the end, Forus and Florie somehow managed to gain each other's respect, and she did not want to break it apart so soon. The more allies her pupil had, the safer her journey would be. "Now, tell me. Who is your mentor? Where is he?" Matia's voice turned sharp as she channelled her sorcery energy, causing the ground surrounding Forus to tremble and break apart. From the rift, vines and roots shot towards him and locked him into place. The crushing pressure weighted on his body like a mountain, threatening to annihilate his entire being. "... Who is he?" Even if Forus utilised his Death Aura, he would never be able to break free from the experienced second-ranked sorcerer, let alone when he got injured heavily. Naturally, Forus could only struggle in vain as the torture intensified. "Young man, don't try to test my patience. You have his aura in your body. Choose, your life, or his whereabouts?" Although Matia knew that the man was dying, she specifically made sure that he would never faint and continue to experience more and more pain. With her meticulous control, Forus would inch closer to death but never crossed the line. The pain began to fill his mind as Forus remained constrained by Matia. Although his consciousness was blackening, there would be an abrupt pulse that shocked his mind, forcing him to remain awake. He could do nothing except searching his memory, trying to understand what the sorceress was talking about. Seeing that Forus was lost in his thoughts, Matia stopped her torture and stared into his dark abysses. Her hands caressed Florie's face as she injected more sorcery energy into her, helping her recovered from her exhaustion. "Stop!" A series of soft footsteps echoed forth as a figure quickly closed in. From the distant, her silhouette was messy yet calm. Although her clothing got ruined by her careless actions, her disposition remained steady. Without any hesitation, the figure extended her hand forwards before conjuring a few spears. She shot them towards Forus, aiming precisely at the roots and vines. She spared almost no attention to Matia as she ran across the field of blood towards her beloved. Before Forus' body could hit the ground, a pair of delicate hands supported his weight, causing a soft noise to resound. Ocelia collapsed onto the bloody soil as she prevented Forus from landing onto the dirty pool of blood. At first, Matia gestured her hand and prepared to capture both Ocelia and Forus. However, just as Ocelia ran past her without any second glance, she felt a sudden urge to reach her hands to touch the lady's back. The ever so familiar feeling rushed through her body as a blurred memory resurfaced. In her vision, a faint pinkish colour manifested on Ocelia for a moment before it dissipated into dullness again. The pink shade struggled to remain, yet, it could not resist the darkness of the skeleton clock. In the end, it got devoured by the impossible curse and faded into obscurity. The change happened too fast, and Matia could not detect anything. All she knew was that a feeling of longing emerged from witnessing the scene similar to her memory. As Matia watched the two in envy, she gazed back at her only pupil for a long time. Her eyes turned gentle and caring as she hardened her will. No matter what, she would always protect her last connection to the colourful world. "Miss, please forgive me for being so impolite, but, if you wish to bring harm to him, you'll have to kill me first." Without any intention to conceal her unique ability any longer, Ocelia revealed her mystical eyes. The blazing red and the icy blue intertwined as they merged and separated, forming a dynamic shading that changed over time. "Ocelia, don't worry. I can handle this." Although he had not recovered yet, Forus did not want to impose on Ocelia too much. He forced himself up and smiled at his wife before placing his attention on Matia. Looking for the distance, Forus finally gained an impression from the sorceress before him. Although he could hardly stand in front of her frightening pressure, he could feel the vague feeling of longing and regret in her strong outwards silhouette. "If you're talking about the sorcerer whose foundation I've stolen from, then he's long dead." Forus spoke as his body trembled at the mention of the blue-robed sorcerer. Even if he had passed through many strange and surreal experiences, he could never remain calm thinking back at the lowest depth of his life. Just like how he had changed Florie, the gruesome experiment at the dark hideout had altered him. If one grim fight could shake a sorcerer apprentice's mind, then a despairing mortal would never be able to endure the tens of years of complete darkness. Just as Forus was losing in his depth of memory, Ocelia reached out her hand and held his. Her warmness travelled from their connected palm along with the veins, rushing straight into his fragile heart. As if she had cast a healing spell on him, Forus gradually calmed down. Matia froze in her place once she heard the unexpected answer. Without any explanation, tears manifested on her face, dripping from her eyes and caressed her cheeks. When she closed her eyes, its warmness reminded her of a hand that once pampered and spoiled her every time she begged to go out and play. "Then, do you know where he was hiding? Does he mention anything about anyone else?" Matia spoke as quick as lightning as she tightened her hands. Although it had been so long, she still remembered the scene where her father and mother crumbled into the ground. Since the day she regained her memory, Matia swore to never call herself Matia Ander before she avenged her father and mother. Due to this reason, no one knew about her surname, not even the green figure who brought her to Flying Green Garden.

Despite using her demonic wings to shield herself, Iracia wailed in agony as the black spears and blades penetrated her flesh, leaving behind wounds that saturated with rotten fragrance. Despite the power of the demonic bloodline, it could not contend with one of the primal force whose origin came from the ageless legend. Although Death Aura Forus had was merely a fragment of its all-consuming form, its legacy was still a notch above the mundane sorcery power. As a result, her wings became tattered with holes that ate the flesh away, destroying life force and turning her skin rotten. She could not predict that Forus could manipulate Death Aura as he only used it to enhance his fist, leading her to believe that it was the effect of some treasures. With her confidence boosted by snapping icy sword in half, Iracia got careless and suffered. Not only that but after becoming a full-fledged demon, Iracia had a terrible time retaining her instinct in check, creating an internal threat that restained her new-found power from displaying to its potential. If she relaxed her guard, the corruption of the demonic bloodline might take over her mind, transforming herself into a killing machine who only ate souls and drank blood for the living. Flapping her wings, Iracia created a strong current of wind to slow down the black weapons before leaping away towards Mabilis, swinging her tail to knock against the Leaning Tower of Flame, changing its trajectory to make it fall onto another location, saving Mabilis as well as grouping up with him. Under Forus' manipulation, the black weapons changed its course and shot towards Mabilis, crashing against the runes and exploding in black light, sending out scent of death and destruction. However, as Mabilis continued to stare at Forus with his third golden eye, his movement was slowly yet steady, blocking all of the weapons without fail, not getting injured anywhere. Ocelia used the precious time Forus had gained for her to freeze her wounds, stopping the internal bleeding as well as restoring her sorcery energy. After merging with the Guardian, Ocelia could quickly draw in the Elements to her manipulation, having a higher rate of recovery as well as affection for all Elements then before, notably the Ice and Fire Element. Although Mabilis could block all of the black spears, he could barely support the consumption of the formation at the current rate. However, as time progressed, Forus would gradually increase the numbers of the spears, pushing the limit of how much Mabilis could do. Even if he could flawlessly block with his defence, Forus could naturally overwhelm him with numbers. Furthermore, even if Forus could not increase the number of the spears beyond what Mabilis could accept, he would still struggle against the combination between the rains of weapons and swamps of Fire Spirits. A fireball from a sorcerer-apprentice would not do anything meaningful against a first-ranked sorcerer, but, a torrent of fireballs from an army of apprentices could overwhelm the sorcerer if he could not break out of the killing formation. Thankfully, Iracia knew about his situation and retained her sense, rushing in to help Mabilis instead of engaging with Ocelia, potentially getting grouped up by Forus and missed the chance to overturn the battle. With her help, he could slowly relax and began to create a plan to overcome the situation. Before long, Forus and Ocelia slowly tensed up as the fight continued. Although the more Mabilis and Iracia struggled, the more sorcery energy they would consume, both Forus and Ocelia also fell into this too. Not only that, but while Iracia continued battling in her demonic form, she also gradually got used to controlling her instinct and new-found power. Once she could completely assimilate the bloodlust of her bloodline with her sorcery mastery, her strength could sky-rocket and experienced a qualitative change. A strange blue light manifested as the formation around Mabilis glowed, displaying multiple runes depicting lost languages. In an instant, all runes that both defended against the rain of black spears and Fire Spirits merged back into the formation, emitting white fog that engulfed the surrounding, concealing Mabilis and Iracia. Like a barrier between realm, when Fire Spirits touched the surface of the fog, they disintegrated into the simplistic particles of Elements and dissipated into the surrounding. However, the black spears could pass through it but lost its connection with Forus and became the ordinary spears. Seeing the property of the barrier, Forus and Ocelia immediately created more conventional weapons without infusing any Elements into them. They all traversed through the fog without any problems, creating a tiny gap in the mist everywhere, showing a glimpse of the inside. However, observing the flow of Elements, Ocelia could conclude that they were trying to create something using the Elements in the surrounding, presumably activating the previous formation. Without any choice, Ocelia gestured her hand and tossed out a copper coin, which rapidly expanded as it flew towards the fog. A loud bang resounded as the transparent barrier that held the fog together collapsed, generating a strong wind that dispersed all the mist, destroying the Elements-consuming formation. Although the barrier could restrict the usage of sorcery energy from both sides, with Iracia's demonic body, Forus and Ocelia would fall into a disadvantage in no time. So, Ocelia chose to sacrifice her Underworld Copper Coin to disrupt the formation, causing it to collapse. As the fog dispersed, Mabilis faintly smiled as he waved his hand, sending out a ghastly orb towards Forus. The sphere was ever-changing, continually shifting from one structure to another. With twelve stars-like objects rotating around it, it traversed through the chamber unhindered, evading all flying spears as if it already knew the trajectory of all things. Seeing an unknown object moving towards him, Forus exerted his force and jumped backwards, passing through Ocelia and leaping away from her, gaining more distance as he placed his hands onto the ground and channelled his sorcery energy. Slowly, ice walls began to rise from the nothing, forming a mountain of defence that could block a bombardment of countless fireballs. Ocelia did not idle as her eyes flashed in realization. She willed and sent out a drop of condensed water towards the orb, moving steadily yet fast. However, as moments passed, the said droplet crazily absorbed Elements in the surrounding and began replicating itself, turning from a single speck of sparkle into a sphere of fluid. Without any delay, Ocelia flicked her fingers, drawing a strange symbol and pushed it towards Mabilis before pointing her finger at the revolving orb again, feeling the pulsating rhythm of her soul. As she concentrated, a faint echo appeared within her heart, leading her soul towards the location of the Underworld Copper Coin. As the resonance reached its peak, Ocelia's mind formed a mysterious connection with it, and she transferred her thought into it, causing it to tremble and shoot towards the strange orb. As if something within the coin woke up, it released a blinding ray of crimson light, engulfing the surrounding in the fragrance of blood and decay. However, a burst of feminine laughter echoed as a strong wind passed through Ocelia's face, causing her to divert her attention towards the origin of such wind. Iracia flipped her demonic wings and shot towards the orb, intercepting the Underworld Copper Coin as she struck down her claw. Her eyes reddened in excitement as their crescent pupils retracted in delight the moment the sparks between the inhumane nails clashed with the coin. The revolving sent its stars towards the wave of all-consuming water and moved towards Forus without any pause. The five stars danced around each other as they slowly expanded their size, forming spheres of blazing flame. Upon contact, the wave of water extinguished three of the stars before one of the remaining two exploded into a brilliant light of the red hue, creating a vortex of heat that evaporated the residual droplet. As for the last star, it rushed towards Ocelia as it slowly disintegrated, turning from one complete sphere into numerous strings of fire. Seeing that her Underworld Copper Coin got obstructed by Iracia, Ocelia rushed in with a black sword in her hand. After she realized that her Ice Element sword could not pierce the demonic skin, she mentally signalled for Forus to create her a sword with Death Aura as she witnessed that it could penetrate the wings. Although the Underworld Copper Coin could suppress various treasures, its effectiveness would decrease upon something outside of its speciality. When obstructed by Iracia, its oppressing aura of the Underworld naturally assaulted Iracia. However, as Iracia was a living being, the power of the Underworld would not work at its best. Sensing the danger, Iracia stepped sideways and swang her claw at the black sword, creating a colourful metallic spark before using her tail to crash with the copper coin, forcing it back a little, gaining herself an opening to distance herself from the suppressive aura. At the same time, by crashing with Iracia, Ocelia also established the connection with the Underworld Copper Coin, sending it towards the incoming star. By utilizing the force supplied by Iracia, the coin increased its pace and managed to arrive before the sun. Without the coin, Ocelia slowly fell into a passive state as Iracia exceeded her in both physical strength and reflex. However, with the help of the Death Aura from the sword, Ocelia had a much better weapon to finish off Iracia as she could not heal from the injury inflicted with Death Aura. Meanwhiles, Forus gazed at the battle between Ocelia and Iracia, feeling a little worry as he snapped back to his side. As he manipulated the ice wall to create spikes to obstruct the orb, it managed to evade almost all of them as if it could predict the future. After a couple of rounds, Forus then began creating them in swamps instead of one powerful shot. Once the orb got close to the wall, it had already lost three more of its stars, leaving only the last four. However, if those three stars did not fall, then the orb would have gone from the surface of the world. Every time Forus managed to corner it, it would decisively sacrifice its star to break the formation. Mabilis coughed out black blood as the light on his eyes dimmed a little, causing him to frown, showing thoughtful expression. After an instant of silence, Mabilis waved his hand before cutting open a wound at his finger, forcing blood to leak out. As soon as the unique fragrance of his blood spread, a low howl resounded as something beneath his clothing moved, travelling from his chest towards his arm. The living chain moved towards the blood and used its needle end to stab into the wound, greedily devoured his blood as well as his sorcery energy. The more blood it ate, the more wicked the chain became. At first, its exterior was silvery, reflective to light and elegant to inspect. However, as time passed, it gradually turned crimson-red and dull, changing from its artistic form into a frightful appearance, covering in spikes. "Blood for blood, and one life for redemption." Chanting under his breath, Mabilis pointed at Forus with his bloody finger, signalling the target for the Blood Chain. However, before it could reach him, a strange symbol moved in its path, obstructing its routine. The rune shone in blue light as cold breeze emitted from it, slowing down the chain and forcing it to defeat the rune first. Although the rune still lost in the end, it gave Forus enough time to create the black spears. He gave the order, and they moved according to his will, shooting towards the Blood Chain and exploded in front of it, destroying a part of the chain every time they reached it. After sensing the chain's struggle, the orb sent two of its stars towards the chain, making them blew up and created a pathway for the Blood Chain to move forwards. Without anything to hinder its path, the Blood Chain drilled itself into the ice wall, facing the icy spikes and the massive defence alone. at the same time, the Underworld Copper Coin finally managed to suppress the strings of heat and began moving towards Iracia, who was overpowering Ocelia.

Announcement Because I'm going to be busy with school and real life again, the rate of release would be reduced to a chapter every 3-4 days. Sorry for the inconvenience. Air froze as the icy spear passed through, emitting a cold wind that created a path of ice along the way. Its shiny tip reflected the flickering light of the candles atop the lantern that hung onto the ceiling of the chamber. Although the freezing temperature could quickly extinguish the torches and froze the lamps, due to the deliberate design of the hall, the mysterious force was protecting them while not interfering with the fight. The spear traversed through the swamp of stones, destroying all of the tiny darts that came towards it, charging fearlessly towards the wall of earth. Upon arriving in front of the wall, the icy spear quickly expanded and revealed its robust form, increasing in penetrating power and explosive strength. The one-head spear broke off into three sharp tips with a hollow middle as a rotating snowflake hovered in between the three peaks. Beneath the surface of the snowflake, layers of tiny magical formation arranged itself from big to small, increasing in complexity as one descended down. The wall of earth noticed the presence of the three-peaks spear and trembled in its arrival. It shook itself and created many cracks on its body, changing its structure and moving its place, warping around the spear as it attempted to slow the speed of the spear. With more and more roots of dirt coiling around the spear, its speed and power gradually lessened as it reached farther into the wall. Although the wall of earth had a very high consumption rate of sorcery energy, it was also one of the best defensive spells Iracia could use. However, as soon as it stopped in position when it nearly escaped the wall of earth, the snowflake also ceased its rotation, making those tiny spinning formations stagnated, causing them to fall on top of each other. The submersion of the arrays caused an implosion that expanded after every time another structure collapsed. After the last formation collapsed and imploded, the pending energy moved into the snowflake and overloaded it, causing a violent energy outlet. The leaking force expanded as the snowflake began to rotate, powering the spear and making it moved again. However, due to the restraining roots of the earth, the spear had no way of using its residual energy. The snowflake gradually accelerated faster and faster, becoming blurrier as time passed. Until it reached its threshold and crumbled under the fluctuation of the overflowing energy. Without any place to go, it leaked out from the three peaks and heated up the surrounding, burning the roots away as it touched one. Because there was no space for the heat to dissipate, it continued to stack up and turned the inside of the wall of earth boiling, turning hot-red in colour. Suddenly, space hit its limit and combustion occurred. The violent outbreak caused a chain reaction that split the group of energy into many tiny pieces, releasing blazing power all at once. The explosion blew apart the wall, sending parts of it flying in all direction, turning the defensive spell into an offensive weapon by letting the sharp stones soared everywhere. The handle of the icy spear broke in half, making it shorter. However, the smaller thing would take lesser energy to move. With the help of the combustion, the three-peaks spear shot with higher velocity than before, heading towards the Eyes Shield. At the same time, the flaming snake also moved towards Iracia. Although she could dodge the two, Mabilis would not be able to, forcing her to take a hit while blocking one. Although the spear wasted its time in the wall of earth, the cold wind that it emitted also slowed down the snake, making them arrived at the same time even though there was nothing to obstruct its path. Iracia knew this, and she already prepared her next move to deal with it. In that instant of trapping the spear, Iracia swung her Heart Blade at the snake, letting it devoured her blood and created a phantom of itself. The silhouette of the Heart Blade rushed towards the snake and expanded to its size before it swung itself downwards at the serpent. With the threat of the snake temporary ceased, Iracia willed and closed the eyes on the Eyes Shield, stopping its investigation ability while increasing its defensive capability. The icy breeze touched her face as the three tips of the blue spear collided with the demonic-looking shield, creating dazzling sparks that overshadowed the flickering light of the candles. Snowflakes blew in all directions as the shockwave occurred after the impact, landing onto her hair, giving it a sparkling quality that captivated her sharp look. The spear was getting weaker and weaker as time passed, losing its momentum with every moment it contacted the Eyes Shield. If Iracia could hold on, she would be able to exhaust the power of the spear. She would sustain no injury and had sufficient sorcery energy to deal with the flaming snake. However, how could the cunning puppets not know about this point? After releasing the first arrow, the female puppet made a grasping motion and pulled its bow once again, but this time, the bow trembled as it consumed even more sorcery energy than before. Along with her hand, four more illusions manifested around it, making the same gesture and movement. Four greenish arrows shot out at the same time as they released a faint smell that permeated the air, traversing through the snowstorm without any regard for its cold temperature. Although they did not transform into a snake, their power was only a little lesser than it. With the combination of four arrows, their overall destructive ability would only go up. The arrows moved faster than the previous snake or the icy spear, reaching Iracia within the moment the puppet released them. However, before it could penetrate the Eyes Shield and stabbed holes onto Iracia, a large rune appeared before it and turned into a whirlpool that gushed out lightning to shock them. Mabilis panted as he narrowly sent out a defensive rune to help Iracia, coughing out blood as dizziness numbed his body. Although there were healing runes in his formation, its power was not a one-time instant-use but a gradual one. As the female puppet expanded a third of her sorcery energy with the four phantom arrows, she could not do a follow-up and needed to recover her stamina first. She gestured and let the weakest puppet did its work, using a simple array that healed her and boosted her recovery speed. Although it could not fight, it excelled in supporting spells. The master puppet knocked its golden cane once more, depleting his sorcery energy to send one a beam of energy towards the spear, aiming to ignite its destructive power and made it self-destructed to damage Iracia. With the gradual dissipation of the snowstorm, its path was clear, making it took a lesser amount of time to reach the icy spear. As soon as the golden cane knocked onto the floor, the heart on Heart Blade resonated with Iracia's heart and caused a tremendous pulse to disrupt her train of thoughts. With the sudden pain in her heart, Iracia decisively used her demonic tail to strike onto the spear, letting it froze her tail into ice. The spear broke into pieces as Iracia suffered a minor injury on her tail, causing her facial expression to frown. However, without the spear to self-destruct, she avoided having to endure an explosion from the spear. Although the fragmented spear could still explode, its damage would be much lower than the whole. With a flap of her wings, she sent the fragmented spear away from her and towards the opposite direction, flying into the puppets. After sensing that the spear broke into pieces, the beam of energy separated itself and shot towards all of the fragments, moving back to the puppets' side. Although the ice shield could defend against the strike of Heart Blade, it also depleted some sorcery energy from the master puppet. After the unfortunate bombardment of the sharp stones from the wall of earth, he already used most of his sorcery energy. The constant sound of explosion repeated itself, depleting a part of his remaining sorcery energy every time it echoed the chamber. With the last loud blast, it blew the master puppet away and caused him to land onto the floor tens of steps from the impact. However, the golden cane shone and created a weak sheath to absorb the force when he fell, not letting him break his bones. Although Iracia must deal with the flaming snake first, Mabilis did not have anything obstructing him from finishing off the master puppet. Grasping the opportunity, he used his finger to touch his forehead, sending a part of his sorcery energy into the third eye and channelling its power. A bright light pierced the eyes of the puppets as the third eye slowly opened, causing different visions to overlap in Mabilis's mind. Although the relaxing sensation and visual illusion were beautiful to behold, Mabilis must supply the eye with a constant flow of sorcery energy, making him only use it when it was necessary. Without his command, the runes on the formation merged with each other, forming an ever-changing geometrical shape orb. The orb moved faster and faster towards the master puppet who was groaning in pain and trying to get up. The shape of the orb changed every instant depending on both time and the angle where one viewed its form. From a circle to a square, from a triangle to a hexagon. With six bright orbs revolving around it, it travelled unrestrained towards the puppet. The female puppet tried to help the male one, using its bow to shoot out the same flaming snake at the orb. However, the moment the snake moved close to it, the ever-changing shape shivered as it shifted out of existence, bending space around it to move towards another location, avoiding the snake altogether. Although she just wasted a part of her sorcery energy, the puppet had no time to regret as it shot four phantom arrows at the orb, moving fast enough to hit it before it could use the same trick to bypass them. However, before they could reach the geometrical sphere, four out of six stars moved in front of them as they detonated themselves, destroying both the stars and the arrows. Before the puppet could release another string, a star left the orb and shot towards her, giving her no alternative but to defend against its explosion. The orb reached the master puppet and sent its last star towards him, glowing brighter as it got closer. However, instead of exploding into a blast, it disintegrated into black smoke that engulfed both the ever-changing shape and the puppet, not letting any outsider peered into the inner world. After the puppet chanted under its mutter, it threw its golden cane at the orb and watched as it expanded into the web that surrounded it. However, before it could seal the orb, a bloody phantom of a giant blade swung onto it, shattering the net into pieces. Without anything to obstruct its path, the orb expanded and trapped the puppet inside, draining its sorcery energy and lifeforce as it used them to form the new stars. The incomprehensible screams echoed the hall as the puppet struggled to break free from the hellish prison. Everyone could only watch as it slowly became older and older, depleting of its strength. In the end, the shivered corpse produced two new stars. Without any support, the female puppet quickly got overwhelmed. However, as soon as the orb moved closer to her, she chose to self-destruct and killed herself instead of letting the abominable prison tortured her. As soon as the female puppet died, Mabilis collapsed on the floor as he bled all over his body, having exhausted all of his mental concentration and sorcery energy. ... Avidas watched as Glacies and Abicel died before him, screaming in fear and desperation as he slowly retreated until his back touched the wall of the chamber. The female puppet moved towards him, banishing its devilish blade as the pulsating heart shivered in her hand. The sight instilled dread into his mind as he clutched the ring tightly, mentally asking for help. "Young man, you are dying." A voice of an old man entered his mind, tempting him with the prospection of life. "Just let go of the control, and let me help you. You are tired, aren't you? Don't worry, rest well and I shall take over." Little did he know, the devil inside his mind was far more powerful and threatening than the devil with the Heart Blade.

The mask trembled under the pressure of the Guardian's grip. Although there was no sign of cracks and rifts, Ocelia could feel the suppressing power emitting from the hand, causing her breathing to turn stagnant. In her point of view, the white interior of the mask slowly enveloped her vision, increasing in size every passing moment. Despite her utmost struggle, Ocelia could not do anything except watching as the mask gently rested upon her face, covering it flawlessly without any useless part. As if someone had modelled the mask according to her face, it had the same shape as her face. No one would know if the Guardian had the same appearance as Ocelia or that it changed its structure to match its owner. Upon the contact, many miniature tentacles emerged from the surface of it, fusing with her facial skin. Ocelia could feel the itchy sensation ran through her face as she gained control over a new part of her body. While maintaining the connection, the rune of sun and moon on the mask slowly emitted Ice and Fire Element, supplying the process of merging and helping Ocelia increased her sorcery mastery. However, not everything that it gave to her was beneficial to her. By increasing her power rapidly, Ocelia might lose control over her inner Elements circulation, generating a chaotic backflow of energy, damaging her organs and possibly her soul. Once the process of inheriting the power of the Guardian was complete, her body would experience the total conversion into the Elemental Lifeform, restricting the growth of her soul, resulting in a stagnant sorcery mastery. No matter how strong one was, if one could not control it, that strength would someday betray its owner. If one forcefully raised their cultivation, they would lack their experience and naturally lost to the cunning enemies who tempered their mind under the passage of time. Before Ocelia decided to bet with her life to overcome the suppressing power and stopped the ritual, the hall that stood in silence began to glow in colour. The majestic light descended before Ocelia and maintained its distance from her, floating above her head while observing her condition. Like rain, the light dissipated into countless smaller streams and washed down onto her. Wherever the light travelled through, it would dispel the itchiness from her body, restoring her hard statue-like exterior into its alive fleshy skin. The wave of bright glow would only occasionally help Ocelia sustained her body condition as it would be worse in the long run if she relied on too much external help. Realising that the hall was helping her get rid of the conversion, Ocelia finally stopped damaging herself and let the process took its course. After all, she did not mind having more power if it didn't have significant defects or hidden traps. As the Guardian and the Tower were overwhelmingly powerful, they did not have any reason to plot against the lowly first-ranked sorcerer, let alone the one whom they deemed the Chosen Ones. From the outside perspective, one would see that the mask gradually sank into her face, merging into Ocelia's look, regaining her previous appearance while hiding her real features under the invisible veil. One could see the significant change in her aura, fluctuating from hot-blooded to indifference. In her realm of consciousness, beside her vague soul and a reflection of a vast flaming touch, a silhouette of a mask floated below it. However, before it could touch the soul, an invisible force jumped towards it and attempted to devour it. Its shape was that of a circular rune, having luminous symbols on its surface with only two of them unlit. Despite its majestic, the rune just ran past through the shadowy mask, allowing it to assimilate into the soul. The weak soul shook while experiencing a weird yet unnoticeable change. Unnoticed by herself, a unique fragrance started to cover Ocelia's body, coming out from her very soul. With it carried the subtle reminder of her identity, hinting at the novel being she had become, half-human-half-Elemental. Little by little, along with her soul, Ocelia's body began to change, improving in quality. ... The green-robed figure shook its robe lightly before pointing its finger at a faint little girl, making her floated towards him. It then gestured its hand, creating a white wooden box out of thin air and threw it at another figure opposite of it. The figure wore a loose robe with the colour of the calm sky, catching the box and watched as the green monster swiftly departed, and after his enemy past the boundary of the horizon, he looked at the male mortal who was trying to crawl towards his wife. With a flick of his finger, he froze the man whose eyes were full of despair and death before carrying him away. He could not wait to experiment with his new-found material. It was not easy for him to find such high-quality despair. As the blue-robed man dragged a frozen statue of a middle-aged man away, a figure appeared before the forgotten female mortal, who was lying onto the crumbled ruin, unconscious and at the entrance of the death realm. The figure gazed onto her beautiful yet pale face, struggling whether he should extend his hand to caress it or not. He felt ashamed and guilt as he could not prevent these two mighty sorcerers from stealing everything he loved. In the past tens of loops, Forus had already tried everything to protect the family from encountering this tragedy. However, his power was insignificant, only reaching the lower realm of the first-ranked. No matter how hard he tried, he would get annihilated after lasting for a minute, and all of his family would follow suit afterwards. Even more than that, his heart got shattered the moment he gazed upon his wife's face. Because of the String of Fate and the extreme method of swapping body with someone stronger, a portion of his memory became missing. Before he could realise it, he couldn't remember the appearance of Meria, his only wife. Not everything would go as expected. When Forus swapped body with Ocelia, he didn't know any better and thought that the property of his grey soul would help him. As a result, like a fool, he could not even realise that he had lost something precious. Instead, he was thinking about marrying another maiden. Leading to the conclusion, Forus couldn't bring himself to rest his finger upon her, feeling uncomfortable as if thousands of eyes were staring at his bare body. They were judging him, ridiculing his stupidity. Some might say that time would heal all wounds. However, nothing was perfect, and time would sometimes leave behind an ugly scar. Those scars were often too hideous to recall. Worse, time could also create wounds of loneliness and expanded wounds of regret. Revisiting his memory caused his wound of regret to expand, hurting him mentally and tortured his mind. In the end, it required tens of failure and struggles for him to lose all his strength. Although his physical body was full of energy, his soul had exhausted itself, becoming tired and lifeless. When soul aged, no matter how strong one was, they would slowly rot overtime, unable to do anything. The same principle applied to the exhaustion of the soul. If it had no strength left, no matter how one tried to move the body, it wouldn't budge. Watching his memory shattered into fragments, Forus could do nothing except standing still and lamented in his failure. Although he knew that he had completed and could step forth away from the last step, landing onto the Tower of Succession, he could not bring himself to do so. The moment he left Burial Mind Lane would be the last time he could face his past, and he could not know if this was the last chance for him. Just the thoughts of leaving his wife alone were heartbreaking, and what if he forgot about it? Forgot that his first wife existed just like how he forgot about her appearance? However, as if his body was not under his control, he absentmindedly walked out from the fog, departing from the collection of his past, leaving the misery behind. The ugly scars on his memory silently submerged into his soul, reminding him of his fate as a failure. As he lost in his thought, the scenery before him quietly changed. From the previous hazy fog into the depressing hall, lacking in light and immersing in darkness. After a long while, Forus slowly stood up. He gripped his chest while the imaginary pain stabbed his heart. However, despite its mind-crumbling level of lethality, Forus held onto the scar inside his memory tightly. He did not wish for it to subside and vanish from his body. The agony was his driving force, pushing him towards the taller heights, and it was one of his motivation to ascend towards the higher peak to reclaim all that was once his. It was also a punishment, reminding him of his failure, both as a father and a husband. Losing the sensation of pain was akin to losing his motivation. Losing meant forgetting, and if he ever forgot about his past again, how could he move forwards? Struggling to stand up, Forus used his sorcery energy to survey the area. While he was feeling the structure of the hall, his sorcery energy detected something else. It was a figure of an unknown person, resting on the floor, unconscious. Like an electric shock, the feeling travelled through his heart, telling him the identity of the person without having to lay his eyes upon her. The faint pulsing of the resonance sorcery energy within his body and the Ring of Recollection gave away her vague location and distance. Stumbling towards Ocelia, Forus madly shouted her name as he quickly held her in his arms. Only after checking her overall condition and determined that she was safe, could he calm his heart and lay her back again, letting her had a long deserved rest. Although her body became different than before, releasing a distinct fragrance which could calm his mind, Forus did not find any dangerous substance within. If the mysterious rewards could help her progress, he would not stop and question it. He respected her decision. If he could see, the dazzling threads of hair would have already captured his attention. It had the colour of azure sky and sunset, and the shades would shift from red to blue, blue to red in a constant rhythm. Due to her resting posture, her hair spread across the marble floor, forming a sea of shifting mood, from the night-blue to dawn-red. With a doll-like maiden resting in the middle, guarded by a silver-haired knight on whose lap she slept. Although the candles in the hall were unlit, the darkness didn't seem to be depressing as before. Instead, it was the night veil that whispered in dream language, comforting the sleeping lady in her rest. With her love beside her, she subconsciously relaxed and drifted afar into the land of bubbles. ... Standing above the giant corpse, Glacies heavily panted while Abicel was cutting open the skin of the monster. The stronger the monster they battled, the better the quality of its inner organs and flesh would be. As one of the alchemists, she would not let any of the precious ingredients went to waste. While she was making a fortune, Glacies didn't do anything, and Avidas also couldn't do anything if the young master didn't order him to do so. Glacies knew that Abicel would naturally gift him a part of her fortune, and if he wanted to maintain his aloofness, he must not participate in such dirty and unfulfilling acts. "Mister Glacies, I'm ready to go." After collecting all of the precious material and having some rest, the trio finally approached the Door of Hope. When the last monster died, the rune on the surface of the door shone, and the door opened itself, creating a little gap. Just like what they had predicted, the mechanism of the door was for the challengers to complete all of their tests before gaining their reward. Avidas' eyes flashed for a moment after his gaze fell upon the lost language on the gate, revealing a hint of determination and madness. His hand kept caressing a ring he newly acquired. The ring was worn down by the passage of time, resembling the ordinary ring that mortals had. However, within it, a hint of Death Aura steadily flowed outwards before dissipating into thin air.

As the assault of the Blood Chain continued, its spiky exterior showed a sign of declining, losing its crimson radiance as well as its momentum. However, before the chain stopped moving, the orb suddenly sent one more star-like sparkle towards it, merging with the chain and provided an additional source of energy, propelling it to move forward. With the last push, the ice wall crumbled as they blew apart into rains of droplets, showering the surrounding with moisture and natural mist. Without any delay, the chain soared towards Forus, moving straight at his heart, aiming to devour all of his blood, feasting in his flesh and soul. Having no choice, Forus had already prepared his Death Aura and engulfed his arm with the blazing black flame, burning his skin alive and devouring his life force, turning his smooth surface into that of a rotten corpse. With his black fist, he punched out and clashed with the Blood Chain, creating a brutal impact that screamed in madness, mixing the metallic racket with the screeches of agony. As the aftershock rang outwards, it generated a strong wind that disrupted the tempo of both Ocelia and Iracia, whose attention quickly snapped towards Forus then shifted back to their respective opponent. However, by utilizing the current of the wind, Ocelia willed and led the Underworld Copper Coin towards Iracia, suppressing her once more, tilting the battle into Ocelia's direction. Although the Underworld Copper Coin was hovering outside of Iracia's range of attack, it constantly emitted the aura of the Underworld, causing flow of time to stagnant and slowed down her reaction speed as well as her motion. Even if it only slow her down for an instant, it was more than enough for Ocelia to stab into the demoness with her black, all-devouring spear. After Ocelia realized that her strong offensive tactic did not work, she immediately stopped using her sorcery energy to create icy spears. Instead, she changed her usage of sorcery energy into producing raw, dense Ice Element to flood the surrounding with its freezing gusts. With the mist of coldness everywhere, it silently seeped into iracia's body, lowering her body's temperature and upsetting both her mental and physical condition. The two battled aggressively, unlike Forus and Mabilis where the two never came into contact with each other, staying outside of their enemy's effective range. Their fighting style was devious and scheming, not leaving behind any potential threat that might unexpectedly endanger their life. After propelling himself backwards, Forus panted as he checked the condition of his arm. Many tiny cracks and wounds presented itself as the pain continued to assault his mind. Even if he could not see, he could roughly guess the location of the injuries by feeling the origin of the pain. The Blood Chain retreated for some distance to lower to the momentum of the force before charging towards him again, getting faster as time passed. As if the chain itself had wills in it, it shook violently as a soundless scream echoed outwards, telling the world how much pain it felt. After a couple of exchanges, Forus could only withdraw as he suppressed the pain on his arm, which had already reduced itself into a mess of flesh and bones. However, as soon as the latest exchange happened, the last star of the orb silently moved towards Forus, exploding in front of him and turned into a purple whirlpool, pulling everything towards it. Forus' expression turned solemn after he saw the vortex as he exerted himself to the extreme, using his physical strength to move away as soon as possible. His sorcery energy was running dry, and he could not waste anymore of them. With the meticulous arrangement, Mabilis had already exhausted almost all of his sorcery energy, reserving the last bit to protect himself from assassinations. Without any more card to play and resource to use, Mabilis closed his third eye and waited for the result. With his predictive spell, he had extreme confidence in the plan. First, he told Iracia to entangle herself with Ocelia, forcing the two into a stalemate as Ocelia could not quickly defeat Iracia. To increase the odds of succeeding, he told Iracia some tricks to counter Ocelia if the situation turned dire. By telling Iracia Ocelia's general fighting style, she could barely hold against the might of Ocelia and Underworld Copper Coin. Second, he deliberately used his cards to fight a long-drawn battle, gradually lessening Forus' sorcery energy. Even if his sorcery energy could recover thrice times the average recovery rate, he would still empty himself under the successive usage of sorcery energy, and if he had a little bit of sorcery energy left, it would not be enough to deal with both the whirlpool and the Blood Chain. After he finished off Forus, Mabilis would be free to help Iracia. Even if he could not defeat Ocelia by himself, just by diverting the pressure from the Underworld Copper Coin, he could subtly help Iracia gained the advantage and defeated Ocelia by herself. Mabilis willed and commanded for the orb to move at Forus for the kill, sending it flying at him, expanding as it did so. He did not even look at the scene as he set off to help Iracia, rushing at full speed to quickly attack and overwhelmed Ocelia. It would be a lot harder and time-consuming if Ocelia managed to familiarize herself with his battle tactic. However, as soon as Mabilis moved, Forus who had a grave expression revealed a faint smile before waving his hand towards Ocelia's direction sending out his last bit of sorcery energy towards her. The remaining sorcery energy turned into two-colours light, glowing in green and white as it became two rays of strings, intertwining with each other as they shot towards Ocelia. At the same time, Ocelia heard the commotion and forced herself to take a graze from Iracia's claw to push her away, widening the distance between her and Ocelia, giving herself enough time to channel her spell. Just as she started chanting, the Leaning Tower of Flame began to turn hazy and transparent, slowly disintegrating into dust. The area around Mabilis began to heat up as he felt a threat of death looming over his soul. However, Iracia quickly moved in and caught him with her tail before fluttering her wings once, leaping away from the impact radius. Because Ocelia had gained some distance from Iracia, she could not obstruct her even if she tried to. Seeing the situation, Ocelia could not conceal her emotions as she uncontrollably smiled, beaming with confidence and admiration towards Forus as she gestured her hand, finishing her spell. Although the Leaning Tower of Flame did not connect, it had given Ocelia even more time to went forwards with her plan. Iracia and Mabilis did not dare to move closer towards Ocelia when she channelled her spell and decided to leap outwards, distancing away from Ocelia and Forus. Without any delay, Ocelia began chanting again. However, the content of the spell became different, and the Leaning Tower of Flame did not start to dissolve. Instead, the temperature around Forus dropped rapidly as a new silhouette of a tower emerged from the shadow, hovering in front of him. Seeing the unexpected development, Mabilis frowned as his mind rapidly moved to find the answer, and soon, his face twisted into panic as he realised what he had missed. "Iracia, we must not let her succeed! Stop her!" Mabilis screamed. As Iracia and he rushed towards Ocelia, disregarding the Fire Spirits that tried to obstruct their way. Although he could dodge the fireballs from the Fire Spirits, he intentionally took the hit to reduce timeframe that he had to spend with them, not willing to give Ocelia any more time. Fortunately, with the protection from Iracia's demonic wings, he could avoid getting hit on the vital spots. After moving past the Leaning Tower, they did not show any joy, but instead, they got hindered again by something else. The two strings of white and green moved forwards fearlessly as they transformed into two different things. The two light stopped intertwining as they shot towards their respective opponent. The green light extended its branches outwards and became corporeal, turning into layers of vines. The white light shaped itself into the shape of a hand, spreading its five fingers outwards, turning into a golden hand. Mabilis had to deal with the green vines, considerably slowing him down as he had almost no sorcery energy left. The entangle roots were agile and flexible, dodging his strikes and whipping its tips onto his body, cutting his magical robe and created many sliced wounds. Iracia screeched in pain as her voice twisted from the enchanting tone into a rough, hellish noise. The golden hand radiated a white radiance that continued to damage her soul, directly assaulted her bloodline, threatening to purify her demonic nature and burnt her alive. Although she could withstand it, her power gradually dropped as her bloodline thinned down. At the same time, the silhouette of the bluish tower appeared in front of Forus, descending towards the ground as soon as it manifested. The timing of its drop was perfect, causing it to clash with the Blood Chain as well as obstructing the orb. With the Leaning Tower of Frost, Forus managed to avert the crisis and gained the upper hand with his plan. Mabilis almost lost his focus when he saw the tower descended. He exhaled in defeat as his mind gradually relaxed and let out a sigh in relief. Without any extra sorcery energy, he knew in his heart that it was impossible to reverse the situation. In the end, Mabilis' plan was almost perfect, accounting every information he had gathered as well as assuming the worst case scenario, forming a scheme that involved a magnitude of factors, integrating onto each other like a web of destiny. However, they failed to understand what Forus and Ocelia were hiding, and miscalculated their estimation. They had no way that Forus and Ocelia would meet a specific requirement for an extraordinary inheritance, and that Forus had a wondrous soul property, as well as the grand will that withstood two lifetimes. With their mystic adventure, they had gained much more than Iracia and Mabilis, both in term of experience and power. Nevertheless, Mabilis and Iracia still made use of their rewards to the limit, forcing almost everything out from Forus and Ocelia. If not for Forus' extreme cautious nature and Ocelia's complete trust in him, they would win the exchange and became the winners of the Door of Hope. "Ocelia, you have to remember. Your trump card is not supposed to be the strongest strike you could muster. Instead, it should be the most unpredictable spell you could cast, having the potential to throw your opponents' plans into chaos." The words that Forus said after he narrated his whole life to her was echoing in her head, imprinting itself into her memory. Since the time the blue-robed sorcerer had captured him, Forus had been fighting his whole life, and he also gained much wisdom and strength to progress further. When battling with the blue-robed sorcerer, Forus almost caught him unprepared and killed him several times. However, due to his hidden traps, he managed to restain, confuse, slow, or incapacitate Forus without having to face any severe injuries. If not for Forus wishing for an end and went for mutual destruction, he would not have defeated the blue-robed man by doing unexpected actions. After that, he went on and fought with the young master of the Ninguis Family, using his sudden and suicidal strikes to quickly overwhelm him before he could use his life-saving cards, telling the Ninguis Family as well as escaping the death. In every battle, he quickly defeated his enemies, killing them and silencing their methods. If he did not finish the fight fast, he would face exponentially worse consequences when his enemies managed to use their trump cards, or send out a distress signal. Knowing how he battled, Forus also adapted his fighting style according to his knowledge, concealing his most unlikely move as his secret and using them at the right time to disrupt the pace of the battle.

Although they had prepared for the upcoming battle, they did not have time to cover everything possible, and they also had no way of knowing what extraordinary encounters Forus and Ocelia had met. After the initial ambush had exhausted its advantage, Glacies and his team slowly fell into the disadvantage side and continued to get suppressed. However, Forus also got hit by several strikes that would have been fatal if not for Ocelia's protection. As a result, he also suffered. Gripping at his arm, Glacies channelled his sorcery energy to expel the Death Aura inside of him. Since he entered the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, he had encountered many weird and exotic abilities. To his surprise, none could hold a candle to Forus' Death Aura. It was persisting, destructive, and fast-reacting. The lotus-like treasure had lost more than half of its petals. Although it could generate more, Glacies lacked time the most. Despite that, he still needed to use them to save him and his allies. The freezing spikes from the cane were not enough to combat both Forus and Ocelia. "Avidas, I've decided. We'll use it." Feeling desperate, Glacies transmitted his thought to his allies. Although he did not prepare everything, he was smart enough not to act arrogant and create a safety net when all would fail. Hearing his young master's command, Avidas' turned pale and stood in his track. Despite his unwillingness, he did not dare to disobey his young master and comply in the end. Using a ritual dagger, Avidas sliced his palm and let his blood dripped onto the ground before chanting an unknown language. While he transferred his sorcery energy into the blade, it absorbed life force from his blood and turned it black. After he filled the ground beneath him with blood, Avidas gritted his teeth as he stabbed the dagger into the centre of the blood pool. Using his already injured hand, he drew circles upon circles with his blood. As time passed, the chant echoed louder and louder, gaining the attention of Forus and Ocelia. Although the two did not know what Avidas was doing, they also did not want to witness the completion of such an array. If anything unexpected happened, they might lose their advantage. Glacies knew this thought process, and he would not allow his enemies to succeed. Although he was reluctant, he willed his mind and let the lotus-like treasure separated all of its petals, creating a tempest of freezing petals that covered both him and Avidas. As Ocelia saw his action, she became sure that this would be one of the trump cards she would be facing. She channelled her sorcery energy and twisted the space above Avidas, opening an empty area for the Leaning Tower of Flame to manifest. The surface of the Tower had many cracks and rifts on it. Although the impact with the dome of darkness and the arrow did not break it, it had sustained some damage from them. At that moment, the icy spikes emerged from the frozen ground and shot towards the Tower. Glacies' gripped onto his cane with all his might, madly injecting his sorcery energy into it. The staff shook as a tiny crack began to form on the handle, spreading little by little as too much usage would lead to power overload. Forus did not idle and sent his black weapons to intercept the glaciers, breaking some of them apart with the cost of their destruction. Forus also tried to approach the tempest, but he could not get too close before the frozen petals would slice his body. Instead of trying to break apart the tempest, Forus retreated to Ocelia and guarded her against the ambushes from Abicel. Although the chaotic winds made the trajectory prediction almost impossible, Forus could do it when he focused his concentration at detecting it. Knowing that her husband was doing all he got for her, Ocelia's power rose as the fit of excitement and passion washed over her body, filling her with endless energy to accomplish her goals. With a flick of her hand, she tossed her copper coin towards the tempest, letting it expanded and fell onto the storm. Abicel saw the scene and frowned before she stopped firing her arrows in vain. She placed her magical bow onto the ground as she pulled a flute. Although the surface was wooden in material, the glowing green light that emitted from the engravements betrayed its general appearance. Using her pinkish lip, she blew her soft breaths into the flute and began her musical performance. The mysterious yet soothing sounds echoed the forest as the engravements on it shone ever so brightly. The tone and pace were relaxing and joyful, filling the atmosphere of life and death with the tranquil of the afterlife. The joyous soundtrack stirred the surrounding trees, swaying them with the melody of nature, controlling their movement. With one thought, Abicel commanded them to uproot themselves from the ground and extend their branches and leaves to obstruct the couple. The toughness of the wood could never contend with the magical property of the black weapons, and so Forus sliced them apart as if it was just a jelly. However, after having their body ripped in half, the trees did not care and continued to assault Ocelia. In only a moment, the branches had already filled the gap and restored its body to the peak condition. With the extraordinary regeneration, the trees threw themselves into the pathway of the copper coin, delaying its arrival as well as weakening its momentum by getting suppressed and using its power. Forus could only stop his assault and focusing on restoring his lost sorcery energy. Instead of producing more weapons from Death Aura, he took a deep breath and channelled his sorcery energy, collecting the Elements in the surrounding. Because of the chaotic formation, the circulation of Elements had turned unstable, making it harder to direct their current. Recalling the exotic experience, Forus performed a feminine gesture, covering his aura with a hint of elegance. His hair fluttered as his long robe swayed with the wind, exposing the air of noble pride. Little by little, Fire Element began to gather in his palm, forming a sphere of flame. Noticing the scene, Ocelia trembled in excitement as she watched her husband performing his gestures. She thought about their first experience, recalling the very moment she found her purpose. Because this was the first time Forus had tried to manipulate Fire Element to replicate the black weapons, the rate of production was only half of what he could do. However, as time passed, he began to familiarize himself with the process, gaining experience while increasing his proficiency. The blazing spear pieced onto the chest of a walking tree, slicing it apart while leaving specks of flame that continued to devour its wood content. No matter how it tried to regenerate, it could only delay its inevitable demise. The same scene happened to other trees, making Forus smiled as he poured more sorcery energy into making the flaming spears. Although their quality was inferior to both Fire Spirits and the black weapons, they could turn the tide with their quantity. Given enough time, the couple would be able to destroy all the trees and broke the tempest-like formation. Although there were many trees in the wildness, to avoid causing a commotion, Abicel could not use the trees outside the isolation barrier. As the last tree screamed in pain and burned into ashes, Forus also ceased his action and stopped manipulating the Fire Element. He had expended most of his remaining sorcery energy to create the flaming spears. If not for the experience left from the swapping with Ocelia, he would never be able to use Fire Element this efficient. While his body was trembling, he forced himself to stand while waiting for the counter-attack from Glacies and Abicel. However, despite preparing to take all the strikes, there were none in his way. Although the elegant robe could conceal her curve, it could not hide the aftereffect of overusing the flute. Abicel's skin turned greenish as leaves and flowers blossomed all over her body. Vines emerged from her bones and made their way into the outside world, covering her smooth figure with its nature-tender. By borrowing the power of nature, Abicel touched upon the essence of it, accumulating its power within her to increase her affection with it. However, by having too much of it, her body unintentionally changed to be more compatible with it, causing the tree-like conversion. On her head, a giant transparent flower afloat, missing one of its petals. If Abicel dared to use the flute once more, she would cause said flower to fully blossom, and that would be the completion of her alteration. From that moment onwards, she would change from a human sorcerer into a nature fairy. As she struggled to retreat, Abicel held an orb-like stone in her hand and crushed it, causing the liquid inside to leak out. It glowed in colourful light as the content seeped into her body, healing her injury while slowly revert her change. The Leaning Tower of Flame pressed onto the tempest, creating a loud echo every time they clashed. Although the Leaning Tower did not sustain any damage from the clash, it had lost parts of its momentum. However, in combination with the Underworld Copper Coin, it had exerted a large amount of pressure onto Glacies. Blood trickling down from his mouth, Glacies gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stay focused, gripping onto his icy cane harder than ever. Although his mind was in disarray, he did not vent his anger and frustration at Avidas. Instead, he chose to let his servant work without any disturbance and tried his best to hold it out. In the end, the deciding factor of this battle lied in whether Ocelia would succeed in her contest or Avidas would complete his formation. As long as there was hope in defeating Ocelia and Forus as well as snatching their rewards from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, Glacies and Avidas would never let go of their struggle. Watching the lotus-like treasure lost all of its petals and slowly withered, Glacies felt a sharp pain stabbing into his heart. If he had known that Forus and Ocelia would gain this much in their trail, he would never agree to fight them. As he felt a hind of regret in his heart, the tempest trembled as a loud crack echoed the wildness. Little by little, the storm lost its drive and slowly dissipated into the surrounding, turning from the chaotic whirlwind into a cool breeze. "I, the successor of the Ninguis Family, shall never fall under the hand of you!" Shouting in desperation, Glacies knocked his cane onto the ground once more, shattering it into pieces. Although he had already spent all of his sorcery energy, Glacies managed to force the destruction of the cane, using his will to live as the trigger. With his unwillingness, he exerted himself to the utmost as he displayed his unyielding stance fitted with his status. The broken cane disassembled into various icy shapes, forming a formation that rotated around Glacies and Avidas, protecting them from Ocelia's assault. They also occasionally glowed in blue light, causing the snow-filled ground to shake, forming many snowy monsters. If Ocelia wanted the rewards from Avidas and Glacies, she would have to stop her Leaning Tower from squashing the two into death and let the Fire Spirits did their work. However, seeing that Forus had already exhausted himself, she could only feel the urge to drop everything else and hug him tightly. So, she mercilessly let the Tower clashed onto the shield, which created a clamorous impact that brought upon the strong winds. Although the icy shapes were smaller than the tempest, its power was a lot more condensed and harder to destroy. Before Ocelia could force another clash, a sudden earthquake hit the ground, causing everyone to lose their balance and snapped out from their focused state. The blood stance on the ground shone in crimson light as Avidas stood motionlessly at the centre of the sinister formation. In contrast to his timid personality, his face expressed a wide grin that echoed unease into even his young master.

Two groups of people stood opposite of each other, saying nothing as they observed both the surrounding and the reaction of their enemies. After fighting their way into this stage, every opponent would have to be at least skilful and full of trump cards, or worse, having the unparallel strength that overthrew all plannings. Usually, just like the previous round, Mabilis would have already retreated to set up his usual rune array, letting Iracia protect him and stall for time to ensure victory. However, using his sorcery energy and his strange spell to check for the powerset of his opponents, he found that he could not reach the depth of the others, deducing that they would at least be as powerful as him. With no doubt, if he decided to leave Iracia alone to stall for time, she would quickly get overwhelmed and finished off, dying under the combined might of the two, and even if he could get the array ready, he did not have the confidence to say that he would be able to defeat the two of them with himself. In an instant, everyone within the room developed a hazy understanding over their opponents, and they all knew that others also did so. The situation gradually developed into a strange deadlock where neither side dared to attack first. "Ocelia, you retreat backwards and watch their movement closely. When the opportunity arises, be sure to seize it well." The voice Ocelia held dear in her heart echoed beside her ears as Forus kneeled onto the ground and tossed potions of different liquids forwards. Some of them exploded while still floating in the air while others broke into pieces when they hit the ground, leaking in mystic liquids that began their magic. Some caused walls of frost and flame while others created vines and flowers to emit fragrance and generated fogs. With their combination, a fortress emerged from within, defending Forus from all possible distraction. With all things set up, Forus began drawing runes upon runes onto the ground, creating many mini-arrays that would integrate into a larger, grander whole. The Elements within the surrounding slowly drifted towards Forus, getting devoured by the formations that he was creating. The moment Forus kneeled and began to paint the runes onto the floor, the stalemate which maintained itself for minutes broke into chaos spontaneously. At first, there was nothing that could force Mabilis and Iracia to act, so they kept their guard up and prepared to counter-attack when weaknesses appeared. However, with Forus creating the mysterious formation, the two had no choices but to take the initiative and began the assault. If they were stubborn and did not try to attack first, allowing Forus to finish the array, the suppression from the runes would prove to be fatal for them. If fighting straightforwardly would let them have some chance at winning, then with the support of the formation, Forus and Ocelia could easily control the tempo of the battle and had an easier time winning. Like always, Iracia rushed forwards, pulling out her Heart Blade and Eyes Shield while sliding through the wall of thorns. Her slender figure and smooth movement allowed her to dodge most of the defensive mechanism and slip through the man-eating flowers. At first, Abicel would always wear her long, beautiful dress with tails of ribbons attached to it to enhance her elegant demeanour. With lots of gemstones and accessories, her body would glow in multicoloured glitter when light decided to reflect upon her body. However, after arriving at the Fleeting Emotions Ruin and advanced deep into the realm of the labyrinth, she quickly found her critical weakness that was her clothing. With the elegant and grand dress, her body would have a much difficult time at dodging and moving sideways. In the end, she decided to abandon her robe and wore a new set of cloth, changing from an elegant dress to a slim, revealing bodysuit-like clothing. As for her hair, she did not cut them but instead tied them into a braid. Although it was long, it would not restrict her vision and obstruct her movement. Although the change caused her to lose the glittering and glow look on her body, it increased her battle power and also enhanced her beauty. Without the exterior of the dress to conceal her figure, the suggestive curves would expose its charm every time her slim silhouette moved. Coupled with her black bodysuit, the darker hue of colour began to heighten her mysterious grace, suggesting the onlookers to lock their eyes at her, hoping to see more of it. After gaining the demonic bloodline, her hair colour turned into darker green as to match with the tone of her wings and tail, and her eyes also became sharper, looking more confident and imposing. Flapping her wings once, Iracia jumped and flew towards the greater height as she bypassed the wall of flame, closing in on Forus from above. Her vision narrowed as she exerted force into the Heart Blade, moving it downwards onto Forus' figure. Mabilis also sprung into action as he placed his hand onto the ground before him, at the place where Iracia once stood. Channelling his sorcery energy into his third eye, he felt surges of heat as he chanted in a low voice. The image of a golden eye symbol appeared on Iracia's back, engraving on her delicate skin, glowing in soft golden light as it began its work. However, before Heart Blade could reach Forus, the seemingly incompleted formation began rotating as icy spikes shot out from the ground, piercing through Iracia's stomach as blood gushed out from it. After the glaciers, rays of light also manifested from the formation, shotting towards Iracia. In Forus' vision, he saw the black puppet's body penetrated by the sharp ices as black goo leaked out of it, staining his face as some of them slipped into his mouth, tasting its sweetness. Before the light could decimate her body, Mabilis coughed out blood as he gestured his hand into different symbols, draining bits of sorcery energy every time he did so. Until the last rune, the eye on Iracia's back shone as her body disintegrated into particles of light and reappeared before Mabilis. She heavily panted as her face distorted in pain, turning pale in the presence of death. As a sorcerer, she felt disgraced as she lost her rationale and moved forwards mindlessly because of her arrogant, not considering that Forus might be setting up traps. If she stopped and reflected on her thought, she would not fall into the trap and wasted Mabilis' sorcery energy. In truth, the ice spikes would never penetrate her Eyes Shield if she could block it, but, under the threat of time and the lack of information about Forus, she made a stupid decision and jumped across the wall of flame, ridding herself of something to manoeuvre when she remained in the air. Forus caught her off-guard and almost finished her off, if not for Mabilis discern the trap and saved her. Before she could catch her breath and calm herself, a dark shadow approached her and rapidly enlarged under her. Mabilis and Iracia only needed an instant to know what was going on and moved out of the place, narrowly avoiding the impact of the Leaning Tower of Flame. While rolling backwards, Mabilis sent strings of white light towards Ocelia, forcing her to jump away, not being able to cast another spell, gaining them a precious break to compose their thoughts. However, the Leaning Tower of Flame did not stop. It sent out the Fire Spirits, rushing towards Mabilis and Iracia, spewing fireballs as they moved closer. Although their power was only at the peak of the second-layered sorcerer apprentice, the fireballs could still graze Mabilis, burning his skin and creating shallow wounds. If he disregarded them, their overwhelming number would quickly prove to be fatal, burning his body alive. With quantity led to quality, tens of fireballs from the apprentices could kill a weakened first-ranked sorcerer. Although he could easily dodge one, avoiding swamps of flame was not an easy task. On the other hand, Iracia used her demonic wings to shield herself, ignoring the fireballs with the toughness of her greenish skin. She let the Heart Blade absorb her blood as she struck at the group of Fire Spirits, creating an illusionary image of the blade, cutting most of the Fire Spirits in half. Using her attack to break the encirclement, Iracia changed her wings from defending herself to open up, revealing her seductive figure, and willed them to flutter as she jumped. The dark green demoness bypassed the group of Fire Spirits as her body flew past them, casting her long shadow over their silhouettes. Landing onto the floor, Iracia prepared to dash forwards, but suddenly changed her mind and jumped backwards, giving herself some distance from the original landing place. The temperature surrounding the place that Iracia previously landed heated up, turning the area around it reddish. The wall of flame erupted from the floor as the marble tiles broke into a crater, showing red magma as the heat emitted from them, distorting the vision of the surrounding. Seeing a similar situation, Iracia did not try to go in blindly, but instead, she pulled out her remaining potions, throwing the one with the blue liquid towards the flame. As soon as the heat reached the maximum threshold, the material broke down into fragments, letting the stored fluid leaked out into the air. The blue liquid began dissipating into the air, generating a frost breeze that dragged the air down to approach the freezing point. With the clash between two extremes, they nullified each other with their opposite polar of temperature, regaining the surrounding its original cool yet warm wind. However, if she could think about modifying her plan, Forus also could do so. As soon as the flame faded, a figure whose right hand engulfed in a blazing black fire moved towards her, sending his fist towards her, catching Iracia off-guard again. Although Forus had a great body that he tempered with Death Aura, he could not leave unscathed from the wall of blazing flame. However, with the unintentional help from Iracia, he only needed to pass through a thin layer of fire before getting help from the icy liquid, considerably reduced his injury. Despite getting caught in a trap, Iracia learnt from her past mistake and kept her Eyes Shield up. Using the gap between her and Forus, she expanded her sorcery energy into the shield and also let it devoured her blood, making her face turned a little pale each passing moment. The powerful impact echoed as Forus jumped back, landing steadily on the floor before moving forwards again. A part of his right hand fell onto the floor as the rotten smell permeated into the air, mixing with the fragrance of burnt skin as they disintegrated into ashes. Iracia suffered no external wounds, but her face turned pale from the massive loss of blood. The Eyes Shield had a tiny crack on it as it defended against the strike that was beyond its defensive threshold, draining much more blood than usual. With Forus utilising the impact to fly backwards, he gave Iracia no time to swing her Heart Blade in retaliation. Mabilis intended to move forward to help Iracia, but before he could do anything, a flaming sword slashed towards him, forcing him to dodge and defend for his life. With Ocelia and Forus cooperating, they broke the formation of Mabilis and Iracia, forcing them to divide into two battle, halving the enemy's battle power while retaining theirs. At the heart of the battle, Forus and Ocelia stood back to back separating Mabilis and Iracia at the opposite end. They could freely reposition while rotating their focus to deal with each side as well as suppressing the overall tempo of the battle. As time passed, Mabilis and Iracia continued to weaken as their mental concentration turned dull. The two had to deal with two types of attacks, one from Ocelia and one from Forus while trying to break the current flow to regroup. However, if any one of the couple fell into a stalemate, the other would rotate to assist and suppressed the situation, creating a deathlock that would require an extraordinary tactic to break.

Holding a beating heart in his hand, Mabilis carefully examined it as he felt the mysterious aura around it. The dark air surrounding it had reminded him of Iracia, whose power explosively raised after she fused herself with the bloodline of the demon. Although the great body of the demon had gained his interest, Mabilis still threw it towards Iracia as she also sent a hand watch flying to him, exchanging their spoils mid-air. Compare to the treasure in his hand, the blood of the demon was far more inferior in his eyes. Two different sorcerers that had secrets would not fall out at this moment, and they also knew that their partner had a different priority than themselves. Although the hand watch was the best treasure Mabilis could get, the beating heart of the demon was far more essential for Iracia and her demonic body. Before the two could agree on how to split the loot that they got from killing the guardian of the vault, the realm of the forest suddenly trembled faintly, showing a slight instability in its circulation of Elements. As the quake took place, the sky rapidly fluctuated between day and night as if the mystical method that controlled the time of the day got damaged. "I reckon that the end is nigh. After those two inherit the last rewards of the Door of Hope, the Fleeting Emotions Ruin would close itself once again." Mabilis spoke in his soft tone as a small light seeped out of his Third Eye, emitting the ancient and mysterious aura of time. "We should only take the important parts of the guardian before picking up treasures within the vault. I propose that we went to the Gate of Choice after this to avoid getting kicked out unexpectedly." Iracia added in with her opinion. After cooperating with Mabilis for so long, she had naturally known that his predictive ability was top-notch, vastly exceeding her in term of calculative scheming. Mabilis also agreed to leave quickly, not desiring for the unique treasures or hoping for even more valuable legacy hiding within the vault. They both knew that the Fleeting Emotions Ruin was fair, and it would not reward someone for more than what they overcame. If they fought against something that they almost had no chance of winning and managed to defeat it, they would get an extraordinary legacy that could directly promote them to advance a small stage within their rank. However, Iracia and Mabilis did not feel any sense of threat from the guardian, and they did not have any unexpected moment where it could threaten their lives. So, when they finally defeated the guardian without any real danger, their rewards would not be too extraordinary. The chance of having legacy inside the vault would be as close as zero. Instead of taking more uncertainty to explore the world and risking having thrown out of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin at the critical moment, Mabilis and Iracia would prefer to prepare themselves to enter the Gate of Choice and accept some rewards before leaving. ... "What do you mean by the Taboo Existences?" Forus frowned as he heard the mutter of the Witch, stopping his assault for a moment before yelling out the question. Although he had no intention to attack at the moment, his body still positioned itself in an aggressive stance that would leap out to swing his black blade at a moment's notice. The Witch paused for a moment before she conjured speculation within her mind. Not only did she not answer Forus, but she also attacked him with her icy spikes. Forus naturally prepared himself and deflected one of the spikes and leapt backwards, landing further behind the Witch as he flung his blade towards her, creating a ripple of wind that traversed at speed faster than sound. Although Forus had thrown many black weapons towards the Witch, they could not compare themselves to the black blade that Forus had just fired. The black weapons that he quickly created did not possess the condensed quality of the said black blade he carefully created. After landing onto the target, the average Death Aura weaponry would dissipate in pure Death Aura. However, the black blade would remain steady and deal more penetration force than them. The Witch knew about this simple concept of having higher grade weaponry as the essential one, and she would not take the direct hit from it without risking herself getting injured by its annoying decaying power. Although abruptly moving would cause her sealed wounds to rip open, it was far better than having another large hole on her body. As the Witch rolled to evade the trajectory of the black blade, a black shadow suddenly descended from the sky and becoming bigger beneath her. Every passing second, the Witch could sense a suffocating air above her as she felt the dreadful aura weighting on her mind, threatening to ruin her. Without any hesitation, she gritted her teeth and coughed out her blood. However, the colour of said blood was blue and glowing, containing some essence of Ice Element and her sorcery energy. As soon as the blood vanished into thin air, a giant pillar of ice broke out from the ground as it pushed the fragile body of the Witch out of the radius of the dark shadow and stood tall to resist the impact. The great tremble echoed outwards, and not long after, the freezing winds also followed its path and touched upon everything within the surrounding. Although the ice pillar was not anything special and thus could not withstand the impact against the Leaning Tower of Frost, it had already fulfilled its mission by gaining a tiny gap for the Witch to leap away from the point of impact. If the state of the Witch before the leap was like a terminal illness patient who could not recover, then at this point, she had already half-stepped into the coffin without any chance of prolonging her life. The damage from the blow of the giant pillar, which was as wide as multiple adults, was overwhelming. It had broken some of her bones, causing many internal bleeding as well as external injuries. Coupled with the rampaging will-infused Elements and the devouring Death Aura, the Witch's body was in the state of utter chaos. Sensing her condition, the Witch did not resign and use her index finger to gently tap the location of her heart in her chest. After she used the secret spell on herself, she softly chanted as her body turned as white as a frozen corpse, devoided of blood and life. Together with her black blood and a part of her sorcery mastery, the Witch of the Scarlet Snow vomited out a considerable amount of messy substance, losing some of her sorcery energy and life force in the process. After using her last bit of strength, the Witch collapsed onto the floor as her body became warm once again. Her sorcery mastery had degraded once again into the realm of upper-stage first-ranked sorcerers. However, all of the invading Elements, as well as terrifying Death Aura, had left her body together with a part of her sorcery mastery, saving her from the fate of dying in pain and despair. Now, the chance of winning for the couple had risen to a great height, having the confidence to defeat the Witch without using the same delay tactic. With Ocelia's explosive strikes and Forus' continuous assaults, the Witch would get pressured to death without any chance of turning the tide. However, that was if the Witch did not have any more treasures or life-saving secrets like the one she had just demonstrated. The depth and story of a peak-stage second-ranked sorcerer were vast and unending, having withstood the passage of time and confronted many struggles and schemes. This wariness against the unknown caused Forus and Ocelia to take a safer path of wearing down the Witch slowly, not wanting to take any unnecessary risk. Although this would result in having a long-spun battle, it would be better than getting wounded while trying to finish off a desperate sorcerer. As the Witch had to evade Forus' strike, the assaults on Ocelia also had to cease, letting her focus on the creation of the Leaning Tower of Frost once more. However, this time, she intentionally divided her mental focus on condensing the floors and controlling the Ice Spirits. By the will of their mistress, the Ice Spirits formed an encirclement formation that surrounded the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, using their Ice Element to produce icy darts of various sizes before raining them down in bulk. Although one single dart would only create a superficial pain and maybe a slight wound for a first-ranked sorcerer, rains of darts would still cause massive injuries as well as profound bleeding if the sorcerer did not do anything. While the Witch managed to sustain herself from dying a quick death, she could not find a way to break the encirclement quickly without using her trump card or sacrificing a part of her sorcery mastery. Although she could manage to block the rains of icy darts and counter-attack by picking off some of the Ice Spirits, Ocelia would stop her condensation and replace the perished Ice Spirits almost immediately. After a moment of struggle, a faint fluctuation of Elements within the surrounding echoed as the silvery mist emerged within the air, covering the entire floor of the Tower of Succession with its ice-cold temperature. By back-tracking the flow of Ice Element, the Witch found that the origin of the silver mist was from a formation array that Forus had been creating while he did not engage in a battle with the Ice Spirits. While Ocelia and the Ice Spirits were distracting the Witch, Forus took his time to complete his arrangement to increase their probability of winning. As if something had thrown her into a narrow dark space, the Witch suddenly lost her ability to survey her surrounding when the silvery mist got thicker. When she could only see the faint silhouettes of the Ice Spirits, she could not sense their aura with her sorcery energy anymore. With the layer of concealment provided by Forus, the mental burden on the Witch suddenly intensified multiple folds, keeping her on the state of high alerts at all time. While she could remain guard and block the icy darts in time, she could not help but become anxious about Forus' black weapons as well as Ocelia's Leaning Tower. Although time passed only so little, the Witch felt as if she had aged for another hundred years. All the problems she was dealing with was very stressful for her, whose power had fallen to the lowest depth in her past hundreds of years. Couple with her exhausted mentality after escaping the death traps of her nemesis, the Witch of the Scarlet Snow was at her most vulnerable state right now. Just about when the Witch was going to get desperate, a flash of white radiance appeared from the edge of the mist. A giant cross of light moved towards her at an astonishing speed, creating ripples of winds outwards. The holy sensation caused the silvery mist to retreat as they made ways for it to enter the centre of the formation. The Witch moved within an instant to complete her spell, creating a giant pillar of ice that shot towards the cross, creating an explosion of Ice and Light Elements, generating a turbulent flow of Elements that disrupted the natural orders of things. However, as soon as the Witch finished her incarnation, the ground beneath her suddenly trembled as two greenish vines broke through the floor and shot straight towards her arms, warping around her body to restain her movement. With their magical property, they caused the flow of sorcery energy within the Witch's body to slow down, increasing the time to channel her spells or use her treasures. Not waiting for the Witch to have any time to respond, the temperature of the surrounding raise rapidly as a silhouette of a tower emerged from the void, having a similar design as the Leaning Tower of Frost. It would not take long before the Leaning Tower of Flame to finish condensing. Although the Witch of the Scarlet Snow wanted to resist and dodge the deadly blow, she could not get rid of the vines. Without any choice, she could only use her last trump card.

With a single slide of her icy sword, Ocelia cut apart the neck of the black puppet, causing the black substance to spew out and dirty her clothing. With the death of the last member of the group, the tensed atmosphere began to die down. The soft impact echoed as the lifeless puppet collapsed onto the ground, disintegrating into black goo and forming a dark pool of liquid. Forus rushed towards Ocelia without any regard for his injury, catching her before she dropped onto the floor. Although the leaking blood tainted Ocelia's appearance, she could not be more beautiful in his eyes. The crimson shades on her face enhanced her facial expression, giving a little colour for her pale face. Forus also reached his limit, collapsing on the floor while hugging Ocelia, using his body as a shield to protect his love from dropping onto the ground. A gentle thump resounded the chamber as two figures laid onto the red carpet. After the battle ended, the faint sound of violins and other musical instruments manifested within the hall, giving a soothing lullaby for the winners to listen while unwinding their mind, giving a mental massage through the songs that transcended the language barrier. As Ocelia was resting with her eyes closed, her hair's colours fluctuated between red and blue, changing with her emotions and mental state. She subconsciously clutched onto Forus' robe as she slowly moved closer to him, grazing his cold body with her warm skin. Every puff of warm air when Ocelia exhaled touched Forus' chest lightly, creating a tickling sensation. With every passing moment, Forus began to regret not having his eyes to witness the imaginary scene and the beauty of his wife. However, the thought of having her near him dispelled his disappointment and filled him with happiness. Although he could not see her, he could sense the delicate figure, leaning onto his body as her breaths touched his skin. Although it would be good for him to stop time this instant and enjoy the moment, he could not and did not intend to do so. Her well-being was his goal. Her happiness was his promise. For her, he traded his third chance at life to save her. His soul became the property of the devil for her survival. Although he was still alive, he knew that his sole existence was for her. The couple continued to intertwine their body before Ocelia slowly shifted her sleeping posture as her mind became lucid. After resting for a while, the fatigue that grasped onto her soul began to dissipate away, allowing her to regain control over her body. As she opened her eyes, the two bottomless abysses stared right back at her, seemingly trying to suck her soul away with each passing moment. The hallow pits remained unmoving as she reached out her hand towards them. A hint of sadness manifested every time she reminded herself of the pain and suffering of losing their vision. Although the empty void on Forus' eye sockets was terrifying for others, Ocelia dearly wished for them to never disappear from her view. With her hand caressing the soft cheeks of her husband, she struggled to remain indifferent on her face. If she cried, she would make him worry, and she would not allow that to happen. His pain was her pain. His happiness was her happiness. The sensation was there since the beginning and only continued to develop as time passed. When she realised about it, it had already blossomed into something majestic, awe-inspiring and eternal. Although she knew that it would inevitably lead her to her end, she could not stop it, and she did not intend to do so. When Death gazed towards him, she would block it with her body, shield it with her soul, exchanged it with her life. When danger from above came, she would block it with her hands. When death came, she would hold it with her body. If she died, she would do so with him in her arms. "How long do you intend to sleep? Although I am by your side, this is still an ancient ruin." A hand extended towards her cheek and lightly pinched it, stretching her face. The subtle itchy sensation shocked Ocelia out of her zealous train of thought, causing her to moan as she attempted to brush away the hand. Anger came and transformed into embarrassment as she heard her moan. She quickly stood up and walked towards the next Door of Hope while facing her back at him, hiding her expression from him. Although he could not see, she was so embarrassed that she could not meet him head-on. "Forus, you jerk. Why did I even think about saving him?" Muttering under her breath, she continued to calm herself down before returning to her usual indifference expression. Although her face still had a hint of redness on it, Forus didn't have any way of perceiving it. "All failed, yet two remained, and at the bottom of the abyss, they fought to eat each other." Without any intention for Forus to tease her more, Ocelia spoke the new line on the Door of Hope as she looked back, watching Forus as he fell into deep thought. ... The figure stared deeply into the ancient pocket watch as she pondered in her mind. The time on the clock was only ten minutes before eleven, nearly reaching the next circle. However, the hands on the clock were slow, not moving at the constant rate and would even regress when extraordinary circumstances occurred. Beside her were whirlwinds of distorted images, showing erratic visions of incomprehensible events, playing in random sequences and mixed with darkness and void in between. The space around her extended towards infinity, showing no bound and no change, eternal beyond mortality. The loose purple cloak on her body moved with her posture, concealing her alluring figure while exposing her exalted disposition. The golden lines of ancient runes on her robe shone in delight as natural energy leaked out of them, enhancing her extreme beauty as well as showcasing her mystical power over sorcery. Her long, azure hair flustered with her gesture, giving a little touch of cool breeze when it went past through her purple cloak, brightening the golden lines of runes as they lit themselves to greet their owner in her presence, filling the empty, dark void with ever-increasing golden comfort. Her dull, dim purple eyes would occasionally flash in golden light as they took a long, reoccurring look at the watch, seemingly engulfed her soul in memory of the ancient time, reminding her of the one whom she treasured. Since so long, so far away, the days they spent together were heart-warming, full of happiness and life. Now, only she remained, old and tired. Although she was powerful, and with one thought of her, she could undoubtedly move out of this place and travelled towards where her memory slumbered, she knew that it was not worth it. Only until the time was right, could she reunite with her treasured one. "Just a little more, and you would be free. I'm sorry that I couldn't prevent it, but, I couldn't let you go." Thinking about that face, she felt sorrow surged as the urge to manifest in the real world magnified thousands of folds. However, as soon as the urge rose, it died down immediately, diluting into black threads before diffusing into the void, becoming another facet of the eternal, unchanging landscape of infinity. "Wounds echoed in time, closing its entrance yet leaving its marks. They represented the proof of your story, and with them, I shall forever recall the day you existed." Although she did not move her mouth, her remorse voice resounded from the deep void, filling the space with her remark, endlessly echoing each other, continuing from past, to present, then to the future. The hand of forgiveness never reached her, for her mind rejected such haven of false promise. Only from that person, could she free herself from the misery. ... "What do you have to say, Avidas?" Glacies frowned as he looked at his servant. Avidas had never said anything other than some superficial praises and boot-licking and always did as he commanded so he would not punish such a capable servant for something as insignificant like this. If it was any other servants, depending on his mood, he could go as far as directly sliced their neck open with his power. "Young Master, although we didn't pass the test, it seems that our score is quite high that we each got something good. This servant knows that his master would also get to choose the good rewards if even this one gets them." Although the tone was still as respectful as ever, no one could notice the concealed experienced demeanour that Avidas intentionally displayed. After knowing that none of the two was anything special, and was focusing on his obvious praises, Avidas began to speak after pausing for a moment, dictating the flow of the conversation smoothly without anyone noticing it. "Although this servant had the choice to take the conventional prizes like the sorcery treasures, this one understood that it would be better to acquire a supporting item that could help his master. So, in the end, your slave chooses this scroll of knowledge." As soon as Avidas finished his speech, he pulled out a scroll, showing it to both Glacies and Abicel. However, Avidas did not extend his hand outwards, but merely hovering in front of him, making Glacies and Abicel take their initiative and move closer to view its content. Upon the closer inspection, Glacies could not conceal his smile and laughed out loud, feeling extremely pleased to himself before remembering that Abicel was right beside him. He stared at his servant profoundly before he returned his face to its former cold expression. "Good, very good! Avidas, when we get back, I shall personally reward you." Seeing that Abicel did not say anything to obstruct his thought, he said a few words to his servant, promising some superficial benefits before committing all of the detail within the scroll to his mind. Although the information within the scroll was very elementary and irrelevant, there were clues to many secrets of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, hiding within plain sight. If Glacies could deduce the puzzle, he could potentially know everything about this training ground. If he knew about how to enter and exit this place at will, he would surely soar towards the peak with the help of the training ground, getting all of the exceptional rewards and clearing the different realms of their resource, becoming wealthy and powerful in an instant. Looking at Abicel, Glacies shook his head internally and dropped the killing intent that emerged within his mind. If he could think about this, she would too, considering her powerset and rational mind, she would not easily fall if he tried to eliminate her to silence the witness. Instead, by using the secret, he could become as her partner to help each other in controlling the secret and clearing the realms. After experiencing the difficulty of the realm, as well as the ability that Abicel could use, he certainly wanted to gain her as an ally. If he was alone, there was no way to ensure that he could pass the test alive and uninjured. However, if there was someone to stand by his side to support him, he could drastically lower the chance of dying within one of the harder realms with regret and grievance. Looking into each other's eyes, two smart people came into a tactical understanding, nodding at each other before shifting their attention at the last person within the group. "Mister Glacies, we ought to take a closer look at the scroll for further inspection." Abicel also had the same thought as Glacies. With the Ninguis Family backing him, she would have a hard time escaping if she ever tried to kill the young master. "Young master, Miss Abicel, don't worry. This one will be the one who preserves the scroll. Your servant swears to never lose it, even if it would cost this one's his life!" With absolute royalty, Avidas offered himself to carry the scroll to impress his young master. Hearing such words, Glacies and Abicel nodded at each other before smiling. They could not trust each other enough to let any one of them carried the scroll. After all, if they escaped, thee would be no salvation to the other. Although they intended to finish off Avidas to protect the secret, letting him live for a little while would not hurt them. After they exhausted his potential, it would be the time to silence the last witness.

The land stretched across the horizon as only one building was visible and stood out. Without the presence of the star, the light came from the pure white firmament which had no end, staring downwards to the insignificant sorcerers who caught its attention. The building remained tall and static without any sign of decay. Its crystal surface reflected the dim light of the day, showing various symbols which got engraved onto it. Two figures were walking towards the tower while checking for every little change within the area. The female sorceress was holding onto her husband, sitting on his back and surveying the tower. Her reddish hair with a hint of blueness on its tip danced with the atmosphere, turning transparent with every passing moment. She would occasionally tell her companion about what she saw, letting him follow her train of thoughts. The man with hollow eye sockets was carrying his love, unconditionally walking towards the direction she told her. His tattered cloth would fly whenever winds blew, showing his muscular figure to the world. His hand grasped gently onto the girl's fingers, covering the Ring of Recollection with his palm, preventing the dust to touch it. Every time he walked, the bronze coin embalmed on his necklace would make a little bump, jumping around elegantly. Because of the absence of both life and natural landscape, the two slowed their pace and began to pay extra attention to their surrounding. Except for the crystal tower, Forus and Ocelia could not see anything else other than the greyish wasteland devoid of any scenery. Whenever Ocelia looked upon the tower, sense of suffocation would overwhelm her, pressing onto her lungs and heart, suppressing their activity. She could only look at it directly for a couple of minutes before her face would turn pale due to lack of breaths. The closer the two were towards the tower, the more the suppression became, affecting her concentration and rate of recovery. Its aura didn't make any exception to anything like everything that came into its radius would get ruthlessly repressed, forcing the Elements to escape from this area, forming a death zone for it. Within its boundary, there would be no Elements in the air, making the current of the air stagnated. Stopping exactly one hundred steps away from the tower, Ocelia observed the line of a magical array on the ground. The patterns formed an invisible membrane that shot towards the sky, protecting everything from going forward without its permission. Because of the lack of Elements in the air, the presence of Elements in the said array stood out from the rest, making the two discovered it. Before her eyes, the symbols emerged from the ground and assembled themselves into sentences, engraving onto her mind automatically. Although she did not know the language and its origin, the telepathic message seemed to directly insert its intention into her brain, making her understand its content. As Ocelia received the communication, Forus also got it too. "We welcome the Chosen Ones. Standing before you is the Tower of Succession, where your destiny awaits. However, you must first pass the qualification test first, which is right in front of you, before anything else." As soon as the voice died down, the desert trembled as the ground inside the array collapsed onto itself, forming a ladder that reached into the underground. Strangely, the tower gently descended downwards without any hint of impact when it touched the earth. However, the moment it landed, the tower continued to sink, submerging itself inside the ground, turning from the towering building into an underworld dungeon. Because of the sudden collapse of the soil, mysterious gas kept leaking from the cracks between the ladders, covering the area with white mist. As if the crumble of the desert signified something, the array around it glowed dimming as the symbols produced faint glimmer that lingered around the thin membrane, showcasing its beauty and design. Without any pillar to support the sky, the firmament from above began to fade to blackness as night inevitably approach the world, covering them with eternal darkness. Looking outwards, Ocelia saw several crimson eyes gazing back at her, eyeing for opportunities to drag the fleshy mortals into the darkness and feasted upon their souls. However, due to the presence of the array and magical light, the creatures of the night could do nothing other than waiting in the blackness. "Mind Burial Lane shall test your inner self and your control of it or lack thereof. This test has no time limit and will remain here until you succumb to your desires." The voice continued after the activation of the test. After its introduction had ended, the thin membrane moved away from Forus and Ocelia, opening a path that led towards the ever-changing mist. Observing the crimson eyes in the dark, Ocelia noticed that the monsters never had any intentions to attack them under the protection of the array and began to relax. The two then processed to try a few tricks to prob the mist, making sure to find as many clues as possible to help them pass the test. However, after a moment of failure to do anything, the two slowly stopped their pointless action. Now that the land had embraced the night, they couldn't explore this world any longer as the creatures of the night would be more than happy to devour their souls. Even if they could get out, they would still have nowhere to go. "Although it is dangerous, we should still enter it and try to pass the test. The longer we stay here, the more your body would change. The Fleeting Emotions Ruin would never send someone to die in vain, wouldn't it?" Forus spoke his mind before helping Ocelia down, laying her onto the ground. Without her feet, she could hardly travel alone and could only crawl if she wanted to move. "This would hurt a little. Please, bear with it for a moment." Sensing that Ocelia pulled his cloth, signifying her permission, he used his sorcery energy to create Ice Element, sending it into her legs. The Ice Element went into her bloodstream, assimilating with her blood and formed a balance inside of it. The increase in Ice Element in her body excited the Snowflake, making it focused its energy into her feet. It pushed the blood on her legs towards where her feet should be and melted it down, turning the blood into pure spiritual energy. Because Forus injected only Ice Element into her body, her newly-created feet didn't turn fleshy or crystal-red. Instead, bits and bits of her feet started to emerge from thin air. Like dew in the night, the Ice Element in her body moved to the tip of her legs and arranged itself, condensing itself into a solid blue crystal. As time passed, the said crystal began to take the shape of her previous feet, becoming more azure and smooth. Although it lacked the feature of the living beings, its reflective surface compensated its shortcoming, making it beautiful and elegant like a scripture. Forus extended his hand and wiped tiny drops of sweat on his lover's face, making her pale face turned red before she brushed his hand away. Ocelia didn't have Forus' impossible physique and didn't experience anything that could hold a candle to him, making her having less endurance than Forus. She panted softly on his lap, gazing into his hollow eyes, wondering what was in his head. "Although late, this will be your dower. Will you accept it?" Smiling, Forus grabbed a white wooden cane and moved it in front of Ocelia, letting her inspected his handiwork. Due to the material being the dead trees along the way, the said cane would give off the ghastly aura. While journeying towards the tower, Forus would sit and design the cane when Ocelia was resting to relax his mind. He planned to give it to her after escaping from this grey hell. However, seeing the Mind Burial Lane ahead of him, he had a feeling that it would be an individual test, which would surely separate him and her. So, he decided to accelerate the rate of conversion on her body to indirectly make the Snowflake created her a new pair of feet. Coupled with the cane, Ocelia would have no problem walking by herself and supporting her body. Forus would also not have to worry about her when they got split from each other, stopping the anxiety from breaking his concentration when dealing with the illusions and mind tricks. Helping Ocelia stood up, he observed her feel-good expression as she walked by herself, occasionally stumbled as it was harder to control her spiritual body than the fleshy one she had been using for years. Before long, with the help of the cane, she managed to adjust her balance and could walk effortlessly without tripping again. Ocelia walked towards Forus and pressed her cherry lip on his cheek before hugging him. He also hugged back, pinching her cheek as he released her, making her face a momentary chubby. She made an annoyed face and walked away from him, stomping her tiny feet towards the fog. "Then, see you on the other side." Speaking practically at the same time, Ocelia and Forus surprised each other. "Why dower? You wouldn't leave me so soon, would you?" Muttered in her breath, she waved at him before she remembered that Forus couldn't see her. Embarrassed, she silently lowered her head and rushed straight into the mist. Thus, the little girl began her journey down the memory lane. Sensing that Ocelia had already entered the mist, Forus channelled his sorcery energy, trying to detect the movement of his little sorcery energy inside the Ring of Recollection. However, no matter how he tried to sense it, everything inside the mist would obstruct his spell. In the end, he could only give up and accepted his fate. Not long after Ocelia had begun her test, Forus walked into the fog after he convinced himself that nothing was going to happen to her. The mist was like a thin membrane, pressing against his body lightly as he submerged into it. After detecting his presence, the layer of cloud dissipated and let him passed before moving in to form the blockage again. Stepping into the mist, Forus could not sense anything other than himself. When he tried to walk forwards, the next step of the descending did not appear. Instead, he landed on the same-levelled ground. After repeating his actions for a while, he began to notice that the mist around him was retreating from him. Without the fog, he could send the sorcery energy inside his body to cover the surrounding, making him partially aware of his surrounding. Strangely, he opened his non-existence eyes and surprised himself in the process. Before he could observe his body condition, the familiarity in the surrounding captured his focus first. In front of him, Forus saw a small wooden hut, paving its roof with the fray to block the rain from leaking in. Under the porch, an absent-minded kid was watching the birds flying in a circle, singing its songs with each other. Another older boy was watering the little garden, tending it for it to grow and bear fruits. Their mundane life was peaceful and quiet, devoided of violence and tragedy. Suddenly, faint sounds of shouting came from far away, turning louder and louder. A group of thugs were fast approaching their house, wanting to vent their frustration. Many of them had tattoos of all kind of nasty things on their body, giving off an immoral aura. Judging from their face, they must have killed some people before. "Hey, guys! There are some kids over here. What do you think about this?" One of them licked their mouth, thinking about how much money they would get from selling these skinny kids for the nobles. "The younger one looks especially weak. At least the big brother has some figure." Without any disagreement, the group slowly approached the kids, frightening them into shivering. However, because of their simple mind, they could not control themselves and run away. Instead, they stood still, waiting to get beaten.

As Ocelia opened her eyes, she felt light-headed and relax. Although she didn't experience any dream, her mind had recovered from the exhaustion. The non-stop tests in the Mind Burial Lane and the forceful inheritance of the Guardian had hugely weakened her rational mind. Any more of the stressful condition might negatively impact her body. In her half-woke state, Ocelia tried to find the light to indicate the passage of time. However, as the candles were unlit, everything she perceived was utter darkness. Before long, her lone stare into the void abruptly stopped when she realised her current situation. In an unknown place, Ocelia had succumbed into a deep slumber after receiving the mask of the Guardian. She had no way of knowing that if the hall was safe, and it was not a great turn of event that she had fainted. If anything or anyone wished to do her harm, she would have no way of detecting it. As the maiden slowly rose from her elegant sleeping posture, the sea of dawn and dusk rippled outwards, creating waves of swaying hair. After acquiring the mask, her already white skin had turned snow-like, pure and untainted. In the darkness, her exposed skin would be the gathering point of the attention of the onlookers. Once the maiden stood up, the colour of her ever-changing hair began to slow down. After steadying her body condition, her hair became azure at its root and crimson at its tip, swaying according to her every movement. The reflection on the thread of her hair did not lose out to the beauty of her skin. As if the hall was always watching, the moment Ocelia moved, the grand chamber silently welcomed the successor of the Guardian by lighting the candles and illuminated the room, then followed by faint orchestral music to relax her mind. As she inspected her surrounding, her gaze landed on another figure that lay motionless on the ground in a corner, seemingly in their sleep, and from his uncomfortable posture, she could know that he didn't intend to fall asleep, yet the fatigue on his mind was too much. In the end, the body of the mortal would naturally enter asleep on its own after they had reached their limit. Sensing the stare, Forus instantly woke from his rest and channelled his sorcery energy, getting ready for an unexpected event. However, as soon as the delicate hand touched his forehead, he quietly dropped his guard and let the familiar fingers slid through his face, reminding him of the days they travelled with each other. Tranquil and peace enveloped his mind, cleansing him from the guilt he felt. Although the scar remained, the pain had already subsided. When Forus could still remember the face of Meria, he would feel the pain, but, he would also know his goal and weakness. With Ocelia, he could overcome the impossible. Maybe, the pair might work things out in the end, and his dream might become a reality. "Dear, you don't need to do anything. Just rest well and let me protect you, just like when you protect me." Her eyes, when blinked, would leak out the gentleness from the pupils, allowing the reflection of her lover to reflect onto them. The windows of the soul previously had the colour of the fiery flame, showcasing her dominance disposition and hot-bloodedness. However, after fusing with the mask of the Guardian, her body gradually began to change, becoming stronger and more elegant as time past. The eyes had spilt into two colours within one, diffusing between the crimson-sun and the azure-moon. Like an obedient servant, as soon as Ocelia expressed her desire, the hall immediately carried out her command. The room began to cool down and turn dimmer than before, to the point where the light would not interfere with the one would wish to rest. The majestic music originated from nowhere also tuned their melody down, becoming more relax and chill. The goddess of sun and moon sat quietly, letting her husband laid onto her lap, enveloping his sense of self with kindness. The fragrance emitted from her body was like that of the myriad flowers, calming Forus and eased his worry. Although his hollow eyesockets were terrifying for others, Ocelia could stare into them for days without blinking, feeling the bottomless dark pit inside Forus, engraving every moment of their existence into her soul. After she noticed that Forus' breathing had turned stable, Ocelia finally stopped annoying her lover and closed her eyes, observing the subtle yet total change inside her body. Although she could not control the change brought forth by the inheritance of the Guardian, Ocelia could still check for the lasting effect as well as benefits from the unique rewards from the Mind Burial Lane. As soon as she willed her mind, the mask inside her soul began to vibrated, pouring out formless, transparent energy. The energy processed to fuse with her soul, becoming one with it and sharing the data inside of their respective particle. However, to prevent her soul from overloaded with data and became confused, she could only question in her mind before the answer would appear. For the information to become her memory, her soul would gradually absorb it for a long time. From the information she obtained, Ocelia became aware of the identity of the mask. Mask of Sun and Moon was one of the secret treasures of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. With its ability resembled the ever-changing disposition of the sun and the moon, it could change the flow of time. However, due to Ocelia just inherited the treasure, she could not completely control it, making it not being able to reach its potential peak. The Pale World was one of the Chosen Worlds, created for the sole purpose of testing the Chosen Ones and having them gained experience. However, there was no information about the requirements to become the Chosen Ones. The rewards for completion of the Tower of Succession and the methods to achieve the best grade also didn't exist within the Mask. After sorting out her memory, Ocelia finally laid her concentration onto another corner of her realm of consciousness. The Leaning Tower of Flame was sitting still with the Fire Spirits moving among the stories. Only the highest floor didn't have any wandering Fire Spirits as the mighty Fire Spirit was resting inside, deterring everyone else away. Ocelia channelled her sorcery energy and sent them flowing into the Leaning Tower of Flame, moving along the destinated path to enhance the quality of the tower as well as improving the strength of the Fire Spirits. Every time Ocelia completed the circulation, she would have to convert her sorcery energy into Fire Element then moved them around to merge them with the structure, strengthening their toughness. However, after completing the first circulation, Ocelia didn't continue to convert the sorcery energy to Fire Element. Instead, she began to transform her sorcery energy into Ice Element and processed to channel them in the same manner as the Fire Element. Because of the lack of foundation, the circulation lasted only for a moment before dissipating. Ocelia had already expected such reaction because it was the same as when she first practised creating the Leaning Tower of Fire. Since she had received the gift of twin Elements, she had been dreaming about creating another Leaning Tower with the Ice Element and combined them to achieve the stronger version of the Tower. Although creating the Leaning Tower from Ice Element was not the equivalent to build it from Fire Element, the underlying principle was still the same. Ocelia only had to change a few crucial steps and formulated a slightly different path of circulation to make it work. With the knowledge from the Mask of Sun and Moon, it was as easy as drinking and eating. Time silently passed by as Ocelia entered her deep-focused state, making it seemed as if she was dozing off while remained vigilance to the surrounding. However, her worry didn't become real as the hallway was safe, and even if anything appeared, Forus would have detected it as he had laid several detection arrays in case. Before long, the foundation of the Leaning Tower emerged within Ocelia's realm of consciousness. The first floor became corporeal while the rest was in the state of a vague silhouette. The cold wind flowed within it, forming a cycle of cool breeze around the Tower. As the inside of the Tower was full of Ice Element, the Ice Spirits slowly formed within the floor. However, before she could make another circulation with her Ice Element, Forus raised his head from her lap and sat near her, waking from his short rest. As soon as he woke up from his dream, the candles lit themselves and brightened the hall, and the music began playing its majestic atmosphere for the pair to enjoy. The liveliness of the chamber returned as fast as it left. "Ocelia, I have something to tell you." Facing Ocelia, Forus spoke with a hint of grief within his voice, causing the air around the two to tense up. Since the two had travelled together after the nightmare incident, Forus had never shown Ocelia such solemness and seriousness about anything before. Ocelia knew in her heart that it was about the content concerning his confession before his dissolution. Although the two travelled together for quite a while, as Forus never mentioned about it, Ocelia also didn't pursue it. She understood that Forus needed time for himself, and he would never do anything to harm her. The sense of security when she was around Forus, although it was baseless, Ocelia could feel that it originated from somewhere deep inside her mind as if she privately knew about his life, his personality, and his struggle. The feeling of assurance had already been there since she swapped her body with Forus, and continued to intensify after they spent times trying to kill each other ironically. "My name is Forus Ander, and my first love is Meria Ander. It will never change." Although Ocelia had prepared herself for that answer, she still bit herself in frustration upon the mentioned of his first wife. She then began to wonder about how could her current self compared to this Meria, wishing to know more about her. The nature of love, of both the sorcerers and the mortals, would remain unchanged and the same throughout the time. The mention of Meria was like a challenge for Ocelia, telling her that if she could not do at least as good as Meria in the role of a faithful wife, who knew if Forus would gradually fade away? In reality, Forus would likely to be with Ocelia as long as she remained faithful. However, she could not stop herself from worrying, even though the odd was one in a billionth. No matter mortals or sorcerers, the role of a wife did not require strength, but commitment. You could cover the sky with your hand but if you could not devote your time to your family, what good could those strengths do? "Together with Meria, we have a daughter, named Matia..." Forus narrated the story of his family and the tragedy that befell them. From since the day he could remember to the day he watched as his daughter got kidnapped by those sorcerers. As the story progressed, Forus began to express an extreme range of emotions, showing pain, joy, anger, sadness, and others. However, the most dominant feeling he showed happened when he talked about the last birthday party he had for his daughter. The sense of helplessness and grief overflew his words and gesture, gushing outwards in all direction. Ocelia silently listened to the end, without interrupting him for a second. She feared that she could send her lover out from his recollection, forcefully stopped him from experiencing his past joyous occasion. However, Ocelia almost burst out in anger when Forus described the tragedy, wishing to be there and comforted him in the past. Like an old man telling a fantasy mixed with the past decades of life that he had experienced, Forus spoke endlessly about his hope and dream. Like an excited child who usually visited her grandfather to listen to a story, Ocelia sat beside him without any complaints, listening to every word he spoke. In the hall of peacefulness, Forus subconsciously leaned onto Ocelia, letting her become the pillar that supported his body, mind, and soul.

The interior of the castle was full of spark as every bit of light would get reflected on the mirror-like surface of the building, creating the flashy dot that would, in turn, continue the cycle. As the entire realm was full of reflective material, the source of light was only some dimly-lit candles that hang above the glass lantern. On the floor, a man suddenly jointed awake and screamed in pain. However, before he could do anything dangerous, two more figures quickly moved in and restained his body. Only after a minute of consultation and reassurance could the man finally calmed down and stopped his action. "So, we didn't die, did we? Damn, this test is outrageous! How can we even defeat those puppets?" Thinking about how the dark figure broke his prized treasure with only one punch, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed in frustration. Although he knew that his treasure wouldn't last long against a first-ranked sorcerer, it could still stall them for three moves or so. However, that black flame betrayed his expectation and broke his gauntlet in only one hit. To think that his style of facing attack with another attack would backfire so hard. "I don't know about you, but that female puppet is the worst, defeats us so fast we didn't even have time to take out our treasures." The water-based sorcerer complained. He fell for the Fire Spirits disguising as fireballs and got overwhelmed immediately, dying without any chance to show his true capability. "Hey, cheer up. Even if we lose, we still have some hope left. After all, she is still in there. I even sacrifice myself to gain her some time to finish her array. With her summoning formation completed and a little luck, I think she could score us a kill." Boasting about his heroic death, he waited for his friends to praise him. However, they remained silent and only scoffed at him. The man and the array master were in love, and the two knew about it long ago. After all, all of them were childhood friends and played with each other for so long. If not, then they wouldn't form a group that centre around the array master, as she might abandon them when danger arose. Thinking about the power of the summoning array, which could overwhelm even a weakened first-ranked sorcerer if left unchecked, the two regained some hope and sat together with the man. They would wait for the array master before doing anything else. Not long after, the girl snapped open her eyes and sprang up from her sleep. As soon as her eyes caught the man's silhouette, tears began to rain down upon her face. Before he could react, she threw herself onto him and cried a great deal, not caring about the other two who had to cough fakely to remind them. ... "Those puppets, I think there is something strange about them." After a long while, Ocelia spoke while watching Forus studying the black substance. After accidentally touching them, the liquid got absorb into Forus' body, healing his wounds and replenishing his sorcery energy. Not only that, but they also seemed to raise his sorcery mastery a little bit. Although it was so negligible that it might as well be nothing, a small thing would become bigger when one added them together. "That should be the case, and judging from their reaction, it's either that the puppets have something controlling them or they are a type of living creatures." Although Forus said that it could be one of the two, both Ocelia and he believed that it would be the latter. However, witnessing the scene where gauntlet-user puppet jumped in to block the attack for the array-master, as well as the agitated reaction when the array-master saw the destruction of the gauntlet-user, Forus deduced that they might be a group of living beings. The thoughts of killing others didn't stir his mind. It would be his and Ocelia's death or their death, and Forus would never place the lives of strangers above those whom he cared. He would even slaughter an entire city merely to kill those who tried to harm his family. After absorbing most of the black substance and collected the rest as a sample, Forus and Ocelia continued to walk through the chamber. The structure of the hall was the same as the previous one, having the same decoration and design. Not only that, at the end of the hallway, the same Door of Hope also appeared before the two. "The first play ended, and so shall the second. Moving downwards, endlessly, mindlessly." The runes on the surface of the Door of Hope changed, and so, Ocelia translated it for Forus. Without any hesitation, Forus exerted his strength to push open the second gate, revealing the next chamber. ... Stepping through the Door of Hope, Mabilis began to observe the surrounding while Iracia stood guard in front of him. In term of power, after gaining some rewards from the realm of forests, Iracia became stronger and more aggressive while Mabilis turned more scheming and devious. The chamber behind the Door of hope had the majestic design, showcasing how much power and resource the powerhouse that stood behind the construction of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. With the help of torches along the walls, the closed chamber did not give off the suffocating sensation. Instead, due to its deliberate decoration, the place looked wide and spacious. "Mister Mabilis, from your previous display of knowledge, did you perhaps know something about this place?" Iracia questioned without hiding her intention. If Mabilis had some ideas about this place, this would be the best time to share with his partner and joined together to overcome the obstacles. However, despite her expectation, Mabilis merely shook his head and continued to meditate, using his power to deduce something else he had in mind. With the new ability that he had received, Mabilis could surmise many things from the clues he had. The more he knew, the more he learnt, and the more he understood, the easier the test became. As Mabilis was making use of his skill, Iracia moved around to observe the walls of the chamber. She found that although there was no trace of any cleaning spells or any living creatures within this room, there was no dirt or dust that would accumulate within the abandoned place. The discovery raised her guard, and Iracia didn't explore further. Instead, she retreated towards Mabilis and stood before him. The distance would allow her to move in to intercept any ambush as well as dodge the unnecessary strikes. As soon as Iracia were in front of Mabilis, he quickly opened his eyes and stood up. Before Iracia could ask about the result of the deduction, he gestured at her and signalled to let her know. Seeing the usual signal, Iracia stopped questioning him and took out a blade and a shield. "I found that if we want to advance further, we need to pass the test first, and from the structure of the hallway, this would be a battlefield. We need to show our strength. Get ready. I can sense a fluctuation of sorcery energy." Mabilis spoke while taking out many talismans. He threw them into the air and watched as they disintegrated into nothing, releasing a ray of magical light. The light started arranging itself into the shape of a star, turning into runes that would activate with a single thought from Mabilis. With the preparation completed, Mabilis took out his usual staff and stood behind Iracia, letting her took the role of the initiator while he supported her from behind. Iracia proudly stood upright as the demonic dark-green wings behind her flapped according to her will, generating a weak breeze that swayed her artistic hair, dancing with the voice of nature. Her dark fleshly tail waved its pointy tip, sometimes messing her clothing and exposing her body curve as it moved. Although her previous temperament was elegant and mild, after acquiring the demonic wings and tail, changing her fate as an ordinary mortal to a half-demon, her body became slimmer and curve, igniting both male and female's heart with desire. The black blade had a pulsating heart in the middle of its handle, extending its veins to connect to Iracia's hand and exchanging both sorcery energy and blood through them. The dark shield's many eyes continuously shifted their focus and alerted her of the change within her surrounding. With two cursed weapons in her hand, she would be able to control the tempo of the battle. A faint tremble echoed the hall as a portal tore through space and opened the pathway towards the void, connecting two far away land together. Within the darkness of the void, three puppets stepped forth and entered the room, exerting their aura that tensed the peaceful surrounding of the chamber. One had a female body, and others had the structure of a male. Although their surface was pitch-black, it could not hide the alluring figure of the female puppet or the suppressing aura of the man. However, the last one was the weakest of them all, and it did not have any unique quality that could make Mabilis wary of it. Without any noisy taunts and complaints, Iracia moved and swang her blade at the strongest of them all, the male puppet. With a flap of her wings, she shot towards him at the speed of sound, reaching him in an instant before she struck downwards. As her strike approached, the master puppet knocked its golden cane, creating a transparent barrier of ice, blocking the blade and redirecting its course. Although it could not stop the blow and broke after making contact, it gained him an instant to reap away while casting spell mid-air, avoiding the danger while counter-attacking at the same time. The pieces of ice flew into the air after the impact. Some continued to float while others fell onto the ground, creating a path of ice and cooling the temperature of the surrounding. As soon as the master puppet finished casting the spell, the floating ice melted into the freezing fog and merged into a cloud of snow, raining ice shades and causing a small-scale blizzard. While Iracia was retreating and using her Eyes Shield to block the ice shades, Mabilis willed and sent one of his rune towards the storm. It was magical in nature and thus incorporeal, phasing through the danger before arriving at the cloud. Although the master puppet tried to obstruct its path, he got blocked by Iracia using her earth magic. However, because the storm was furious in nature and large in scale, Mabilis needed to expend most of his mental focus, unknowingly creating a hole in his defence. The female puppet saw the opportunity and seized it masterfully. She pulled the string on her bow and transferred a part of her sorcery energy into the bow and released it. The sorcery energy moved into the bow and conjured a blurry arrow, flashing in red light and emitting burning heat. The arrow travelled outwards, unrestricted by the snowy storm as it transformed its shape into a snake, hissing aloud as it drove head-first towards Mabilis. Iracia shifted a part of her attention towards the snake as she channelled her sorcery and flapped her wings, generating a strong wind to disrupt the trajectory of the snake and lowering its destructive power. However, as if it was a living being, capable of thinking complex thoughts, the snake sensed the oncoming wind and hissed again, shotting towards the side as it changed its course and narrowly avoided the wind. The one who defended would fall into the passive state while the one who attacked would gain the upper hand, let alone the one who divided their attention towards others. The master puppet boosted his power with the excessive usage of sorcery energy and shot a giant icy spear, burning in the blue flame that absorbed heat and released cold. The snake and the spear shot towards Iracia as she fell into a predicament. If she avoided both of them, the spear would run into Mabilis and interrupted him, causing their effort at dissipating the storm to go in vain. However, she could not block both of them without any injury either. Gritting her teeth, she warped her wings around her body as she generated a wall of dirt to cover her body. With the Eyes Shield up front, she bit her tongue and spat out blood, letting it absorb her vitality and strengthened its defence at the cost of her lifeforce.

The Witch of the Scarlet Snow smiled as she suddenly felt lightheaded and carefree. After knowing that Forus and Ocelia would accept her deal, she had already done her best with everything she had. In the end, she decided to lift the mountain of stress off her back and placed her little, sparkling hope onto the mystical couple in front of her. Although her thoughts process seemed stupid and shallow, letting the wills of the others decided the fate of her fellow members of the Icy Scorpion Sect, she felt that what she did was the correct way. As if something was subtly reassuring her, the faint familiar air around the couple almost dragged her into her memory, when she first met that man. Forus and Ocelia before her were like the younger, more energetic version of herself and him. When she and he were the first-ranked sorcerers, they would travel together with carefree heart and tranquil soul, exploring ancient ruins and braving through dangers to get the excitement and treasures. With the Icy Scorpion Bloodline running through her veins, she had naturally developed a cold look and sharp eyes, deterring other men away while attracting the animosity of other females. Fortunately, with her pure bloodline, her power soared above others, gaining her rightful position as a powerful first-ranked sorcerer, roaming the land without any care for danger. Only when she got trapped inside an unnamed ruin would she meet him. His blurry figure had already become a distant silhouette in her mind, forever losing his appearance due to the unending corrosion of time. His tattered clothes on him reminded her of any ordinary mortal, fooling around with their life without any goal, living in vain and dying a shallow death. Although mortal, he had a wise and unique mind, successfully answering the riddle and, with her cooperation, could get both of them out alive, escaping the hidden trap and getting the inheritance of the owner of the ruin. While they braved through danger, the Witch began to ponder about the motive of this mortal, whose life was treading on a thin line where one wrong step would lead to death. Only when they reached the tomb where the legacy located in was the man told her about his motivation to brave through the danger beyond mortality. He wished to learn the way of the sorcery, hoping to become one of the exalted sorcerers and roaming unhindered under heaven and above the earth. Unfortunately, his body wasn't suitable for sorcery cultivation, having no talent and a cripple body that could not absorb any Elements. Many mortals also suffered this fate, having no chance to grasp at the opportunity to change their destiny. Because of his dream, he set out to enter the ruins of the sorcerers in the hope to find a way to change his talent and let him absorb Elements. Without any Elements, he could not produce sorcery energy, and without sorcery energy, he could not do anything. Listening to his hope and dream, the Witch felt emotional, having a seed of feeling planted inside her mind. His nonchalant yet determined personality resonated with her, causing her to feel closer and more intimate to him than any others. Naturally, she gave him a chance to take the inheritance. To change one's talent was to change one's soul, which was very difficult and nigh-impossible for any ordinary sorcerers. Without any extraordinary luck, the man did not manage to gain anything about the soul or a way to create potential out of thin air. Only the legacy of the third-ranked sorcerer might have such heavenly method. Nevertheless, his smile remained within his face, letting only a sigh before thanking the Witch for her kindness and walked away. However, how could the bearer of the Ice Scorpion Bloodline, whose heart had already left herself, allow such a wonderful person to move out of her life? With the excuse of wanting to make use of his wisdom, she managed to force him to move from ruin to ruin with her, slowly developing their relationship under the constant threats of death. Under various struggles, their mutual feeling started to intertwine, forming an unbreakable bond that would last for the rest of their life. Gradually, the two started influencing the other, and her goal changed from enjoying the exploration to savouring his company, and his goal also changed from finding a way to master sorcery to gaining her love and trust. Time was merciless and cold, showing no love or hate. Years passed by, going from an instance to tens of years. With his soul and mind, he started to age, becoming old and weak, having no energy to leave with his wife to explore the ruins, and without his company, she also lost her interest in the emotionless journey. In the end, she accompanied the last year of his life, sitting next to his deathbed as she still looked no older than when she first met him. Although she tried every way to prolong his life, her first-ranked sorcery mastery could not do anything regarding the subject of the soul and longevity. Any methods she knew could not help him as he was just a mortal, having a weak mind and body. By watching his soul drifted out of his body and disappeared into the void, she had experienced a lifetime worth of emotions, having myriad profounds feeling rushing through her body, enhancing her soul and mind, achieving a grief-filled breakthrough that advanced her towards the second-ranked sorcery mastery. Left alone and emotionless, the Witch could only treasure what she had left, keeping them to remind her of her love. In the end, she returned to her Icy Scorpion Sect to become an elder and to keep guard his cold body. After an instant of remembrance, the Witch shook her head lightly before raising her hand, pointing her finger at her chest. With her sharp nail cutting downward, a soft noise echoed out as dark-blue blood began seeping out of the wound. Using the same hand, she inserted her slender fingers into the wound and widened it, peering into her inside with them and tightly grabbed at a beating heart, feeling its pulse as she exerted herself, pulling it out of her chest, causing her face to turn even paler than before. A water-splashing sound occurred when she pulled her heart out, followed by many cracking noises as her body increasingly trembled as she began to drop in her sorcery mastery, losing her most important foundation, the essence of Icy Scorpion Bloodline. "My life, my sweat, my effort. They all came into fruition for this moment." A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she held her heart in her hand, caressing it as if it was her lover's heart. Before long, she coughed again and experienced another drop in sorcery mastery. Only until then did she reluctantly extend her hand outwards, showing the heart to Ocelia and Forus, beckoning them to accept her offer and free her of her burden. Knowing her lover's intention, Ocelia weakly stood up and released her hand that had been tightly gripping at Forus'. She took her soft steps forwards, heading towards the Witch. The suffocating atmosphere that pressured her body and mind had already ceased to exist. With only the strange tranquil remained, Ocelia could easily drag her weakened body towards the Witch. However, as she walked past Forus, he abruptly grasped her hand, pulling her back to him. Because of his unexpected action, as well as her dependence on him, Ocelia let her body crumble onto him, landing softly on his muscular body, submerging herself on his manly scent as the comfort sensation of security warped around her mind. With his hand roping around Ocelia's frail body, Forus smiled as he fearlessly moved forward, holding Ocelia on his arm as he quickly appeared in front of the Witch. "What a lovely couple." The Witch complimented. However, it was not clear if she was saying to the two or the projection of her and him, or both. Although Forus could not see, he could still feel the condensed aura that the heart was radiating, sharing its location with its power. In the absolute void that was the lack of vision, the said heart was like a brightly-lit lamp in the middle of the night. Without any hesitation, Forus extended his other hand and held the heart, feeling its extreme cold seeping into his bloodstream and skin, causing them to turn pale as everything in the area froze into a halt. Observing his action, the Witch frowned but decided not to do anything. Although she thought that Forus would let Ocelia take the heart, it was not her business anymore. She only needed to make sure that one of them took her power and fulfilled their agreement. "Close your eyes and concentrate. This opportunity would be very uncommon to come by again." Feeling the immense power within the heart, Forus spoke to Ocelia softly. Although she would not complain if Forus decided to take it for himself, Forus did not intend to do so. As she closed her eyes, Ocelia saw Forus moving the heart closer to himself, letting it connect with his flesh and skin, absorbing the bloodline of the Icy Scorpion as well as the essence of the Witch of the Scarlet Snow. With that information in her mind, she became confused about Forus' earlier words. Suddenly, she thought of a possibility that caused her face to turn pinkish-red, having her heart rapidly beating while blood rushing all over her body. With her breathing quickened, she tightly closed her eyes in anticipant, feeling hot and eager for Forus to do it. After closing her eyes, her body turned weak from emotions as she subconsciously leaned forward, tilting her head towards Forus' lip. As the pain continued to assault him, Forus commanded with his mind, skillfully controlled a thin thread of whiteness that extended out of his grey soul, moving outwards as it exited his realm of consciousness. Like a magnet, after entering the physical world, it sensed another one of its kind and shot towards it. Piecing through the barrier between the realm of consciousness and the physical world, the String of Fate intertwined with each other as the connection established itself under the will and command of Forus as well as the approval of Ocelia. Within that instant, the couple became one and shared their sensation, both having controlled over two bodies as well as knowing the thought process of the other. With their shared mind, Forus became aware of Ocelia's wishful thinking, and his male body faintly smiled as the female body blushed in embarrassment. However, Ocelia did not give up and wait patiently for Forus. Sensing his wife's cute action, Forus did not wait and placed his lip on top of her, letting both of them savouring the sweet taste of the saliva as well as the warmness of their body, exchanging comfort and happiness as they experienced both ends of the process at once. However, before Ocelia's mind became cloudly and tried to do anything inappropriate, the Witch coughed softly to remind her and him. Although she did not know what had happened to Ocelia and Forus, she did not want to see the two started making out in front of her as it reminded her of him whom she could never meet again. After getting forced out of her heaven, Ocelia began to absorb the unique information that rushed into her mind posthaste. The String of Fate allowed Forus and Ocelia to share consciousness, letting Ocelia having the benefits as well as enabling Forus to be the one who endured the pain of assimilating a vigorous heart of a second-ranked sorcerer. With Forus' grey soul, he used its control over Death Aura to reject the Icy Scorpion Bloodline and direct its flow towards Ocelia. Fearing the destruction caused by Death Aura, the bloodline gladly moved along the path to escape to Ocelia, and with Ocelia's inheritance, the Mask of Sun and Moon, she could easily accept the Icy Scorpion Bloodline as well as the essence of the Witch's sorcery mastery. Without any pause, Ocelia's power soared, and with the accumulation from the essence of the Witch, her sorcery mastery directly broke through the barrier of cultivation and advanced into the realm of the middle-stage first-ranked sorcery mastery.

The world turned into whiteness and became dimmed once again. The scenery recreated itself into the perfect replica of Forus' memory. He kept standing still while observing the same scene unfolded. Despite overcoming multiple perilous events and having exceptional control over his body condition, Forus nevertheless let his sentiments broke out when witnessing the scene. As the gentle wind breezed passed his carriage, the young Forus poked his head out from it and started admiring the landscape. He saw birds flying and playing its songs, occasionally stopped on a swaying tree to rest. On one of the branches of the tree, Forus noticed a big pink flower at the tip of it. The flower danced with the wind as butterflies hovered near it, waiting for the right time to drink its nectar. Suddenly, the wind became too violent for the little pink flower and separated it from the branch, making it floated into the distance. Forus was bored, so he decided to keep his eyes on the wondering flower, wasting his time to see where it would land. The pinkie flower continued to float further from the carriage, moving away from him, making him focusing more of his attention on it. As the petals were moving across the horizon, an object appeared before Forus and blocked his view. Because of it, Forus lost the sight of the flower, so he decided to shift his attention towards what was blacking him. The sound of wooden wheels kicking the rocks travelled into his ears as he landed his gaze onto the moving carriage beside his. Because he focused all of his attention at the flower, Forus failed to detect the approaching carriage before it entered his centre of attention. The black wooden compartment of the carriage enhanced its elegant design, drawing more attention towards the pink curtain that was attached to the inner side of the carriage's windows. Compared to his, the black one was unquestionably superior in quality and design. At the centre of the window, a maiden was staring into the distance. She dressed in a white dress paired with black gloves and a black bonnet. As her back was facing Forus, he could fully admire her pale arms that exposed itself beneath the thin layer of clothing. Although the dress was covering most of her body, it was nevertheless very revealing at some parts. As she felt the sharp stare, the maiden turned her head and met her innocent gaze with Forus'. To which he snapped out of his disrespectful manner and bowed his head to show his respect and politely retracted his gaze from her soft arms. When Forus raised his head, he saw that the lady had smiled at him and waved her gloved hand lightly. He saw her moved her mouth to speak, but because they were in a different carriage, he could not hear her words. "Have a safe journey, mister. Let's hope that we'll meet again." He could barely make out the words she was saying. "Miss, my name is Forus Ander. Could you please tell me your name?" He moved his mouth slowly so that the maiden could have an easier time to read his mouth. "Nice to meet you, mister Forus. My name is Meria Marcet." The lady bowed her head to show her respect. However, before Forus could return his greeting, the black carriage had already speeded up and ran past him. The world froze as the scene crumbled into ashes, turning into white mist. This time, instead of the display repeating itself, the real Forus snapped open his eyes, gazing at the surrounding. With a hint of confusion and remorse in his eyes, Forus stepped forwards and entered another illusion. He watched as his past flashed before his eyes once again. ... Sliding his hand on the surface of the massive black door, Mabilis frowned before stepping back towards where Iracia was standing. The two just traversed through the forest full of breasts and man-eating plants before they ran into the unknown area where the Elements in the air slowly moved towards the unknown origin. As the two found the first clue about the secret, they immediately began their trailing along with the flow of the Elements. "Miss Iracia, the Door of hope is its name. Usually, it is where the ancient sorcerers test their disciples." As Mabilis was the promising descendants of the sorcerer family, he naturally had access to the ancient knowledge and language from the past. He only needed to tell some superficial information to Iracia to make it looked like he was doing her a favour. "Do you know how to open it?" Iracia asked as she felt the thrilling sensation jolted in her newly-acquired pair of wings. The bloodline of the said wings screamed in joy and subtly told her that something inside the door would greatly help her improve her cultivation. "Usually, the disciples would have to clear the tests before they could enter the Door of Hope." Mabilis shook his head, expressing his apology. However, his words were implying that they would have to eliminate the monsters around the door before they could get into it. "No problems. Let us quickly clear up and leave this place. I have a bad feeling about it." Iracia and Mabilis didn't talk to each other after the conversation ended. They locked their eyes towards the opposite side of them. A silhouette of a giant obelisk-like creature appeared before them as many spider-like monsters crept out from holes on its body. The beast had various vines attached to its bottom that twisted in an orderly manner to move around. The spiders had six legs attached to its body and three lance-like tails that connected to its back. A giant mouth constantly let out grumbling sound as its tongue was wiggling around, trying to find preys to consume. ... The weather was cloudy and windy. The green leaves were swirling with the wind as the orangish light reflected on their surface. The sound of carriage's wheels bumping onto the chips and dirt were rhythmic and consistent. "Young Mistress, we are almost at the Flamedouse City. This servant shall go and contact the family to announce your arrival." A calm voice echoed the inside of the carriage, sounding respectful to the Young Mistress. A man covering in ordinary grey robe slowly retreated from the carriage towards the outside. His line of sight was at his feet at all time, not daring to raise his head to look at the beauty who seated in the carriage. After the servant left the carriage, making the atmosphere turned silent and peaceful, the maiden slowly opened her eyes and looked towards the window beside her. Her short orange hair moved ever so slightly with the sorcery energy that she emitted, enhancing her elegant demeanour. Not long after the man left, the carriage came to a halt. Servants began to gather around Young Mistress' carriage, forming a welcoming formation to both greet her and protect her from the unexpected danger. Although they could not fight, she could still use them as meat shields. "Let us go meet my father at once." A lovely voice came out when her cherry lip moved. The servants bowed respectfully toward her before they rushed to arrange a brand new carriage for her. In less than a minute, a new carriage whose design exuded the unreal fairy-like aura appeared before her. The material that the craftsmen used to create the masterpiece was top-notch, showing the wealth of Coruscare Family. As she stepped towards the carriage, her heart froze before sending out an electric shock throughout her body. At that moment, she felt a pain bursting out from her chest like a rain of blood when someone stabbed her with an axe. The painful moment came crushing onto her soul before turning into something else. With her breath quicken, she turned her head towards the unknown direction her heart had given to her. Somehow, her gaze penetrated all the bushes and landed onto a figure coated in a long robe. Their eyes came into contact in a split-second, flashing in colourful light as soundless gasp travelled out from the figure. The sparkle in Ocelia's eyes intensified as she decided to capture him, waving her hand as she did so. Soon, the leaning tower inside her mind trembled, signalling all of the fire spirits inside of it to pray for their owner. The heat around them rapidly expanded and condensed into a ray of light, disappearing out into the physical world. Sensing that someone was amiss, the figure immediately retreated into the wildness, disappearing into the darkness. However, the ray of light managed to hit his brow before his departure, causing him to stumble into the wildness while trying to suppress his unstable condition. "You have such a great pair of eyes. Just wait, I shall add you in my collection soon." Seeing that the target escaped, Ocelia did not pursue but merely muttered out a remark. The meeting with her father was much more important than her usual hobby. Suddenly, the world crumbled into ashes. The white mist began to manifest into existence as the real Ocelia opened her eyes, gazing onto the area in front of her. No matter how she sensed the location of her body, she could not feel the limit of the downward spiral of the Mind Burial Lane. However, from her memory, this was the last step. She had been watching her past self for one hundred times, and the next step would take her out from this place and into the Tower of Succession. Unsure, she slowly lifted her foot and take a light step forward. Landing on something firm, the vision in her eyes blurred for a moment before turning from whiteness into the land of colour. As if the thick layer of clothing had gone away, Ocelia could finally sense the condition of her surrounding. The previous descending staircase had disappeared from her view. As if something had shifted her body into another location, she suddenly found herself inside a large hall. The walls would reflect the dim light of the flickering candles that illuminated the shadowy pathway. Although there was no trace of any instrument, the quiet sound of orchestra band was humming their song in the background, enhancing the majestic of the hall. "Congratulation, Chosen One. You are the first to complete the examination. Therefore, you shall receive the special rewards exclusive only for the first victor." The emotionless voice echoed her mind as the hall became brighter, covering in the powerful sense of happiness and joyous mood. "As the Guardian of the Pale World adored you, you shall receive its inheritance, and we shall guide your process." The lady-like voice whispered in her ears. The loveliness of the voice slowly engulfed Ocelia, relaxing her body and mind. Although Ocelia tried to resist, the overwhelming power of the Tower ignored all of her attempts. Before her, a white figure appeared from a distorted portal, bring with her the fragrance of Fire and Ice Element. However, unlike before, the white light didn't hide the face of the figure but opened up for Ocelia to observe. The face of the Guardian was not fleshy. Instead, it had a two-sided mask attached to its front. The left half was that of the moon, emitting icy cold wind while showing a gentle, elegant face. The right half of the mask was that of the sun, burning out waves of heat while displaying an unyielding, hot-blooded face. The humanoid body of the Guardian was pale-white, devoid of colours. However, there were many traces of bluish and reddish runes on it, releasing corresponding Elements. The Guardian resembled a living mannequin, having a crystalline body as well as showing no expression of emotions. "Child, the fate is yours to grasp. Take my legacy and remember us, you who possessed the curse of time." The Guardian's smooth marble fingers caressed Ocelia's face, and it spoke some unknown mutter before using its hand to grab onto its face. Little by little, the mask began to peel off. The outer membrane of the Guardian fell off as they tried to resist the force of the hand. However, the Guardian remained unfazed by her attempt at destroying herself and continued to rip the mask off.

Time moved ruthlessly, not caring about anyone. The noisy sound of weapons hitting ones another echoed the chamber as four figures continued to battle, with Forus and Ocelia stepping side by side, Iracia and Mabilis were trying their best to regroup and turned the tide of the battle. Sensing that the sorcery energy inside her body had dropped more than half, Iracia began to feel desperate and unease. With many battles came and went, Mabilis and Iracia never lost and always won with confidence. Supreme confidence built from extraordinary achievements. With every win, Iracia began enforcing her heroic aura as she battled fearlessly and improved with each passing strike. The higher one surged, the broader one could see. However, the more one ascended, the more the dark clouds emerged. Once they got careless, lightning of arrogance would strike them, shattering their illusion of power. The more pride one had, the stronger its impact upon shattering. Gritting her teeth, Iracia did not succumb to the pressure as she fought more aggressively and displayed her art of the blade. Each strike aimed to kill or break the tempo, causing Ocelia and Forus to help each other more often. However, the more frustrated she had, the more rigid her movement became. Openings would appear more frequently, making the numbers of wounds on her body rapidly increased. Although her body had the bloodline of the demon and could regenerate faster than normal humans, it was not something miracle enough to sustain her injury. On Mabilis' side, the situation was not any different. Although Forus and Ocelia moved in rotation every once in a while, they still had their target. While Iracia fought with Ocelia, Mabilis had to deal with Forus. Although Ocelia had higher sorcery mastery than Forus, her tactic was elegant and hard to counter, but in the face of Forus' cruel fighting style, Mabilis faced far greater suppression from him. With continuous strikes from the collections of potions ranging from mildly-obstructing mist to metal-corroding liquid, Mabilis had to exert his mental focus to the extreme to avoid getting direct hit by them while defending against Forus' suicide punches. While Ocelia advanced slyly and struck to disrupt Iracia's pace, Forus did the opposite. He moved forwards bravely as his fist darted straight towards Mabilis, giving him a chance to either suffer some injury from the wall of fire, poisonous mist, and pit of ice spikes to avoid the assault or to defend against the punch with his might. In term of fighting, Ocelia would try to wear down her enemy little by a little while staying at the peak condition to deal with any unexpected situation such as the last desperate attempt in the survival of the victim. However, Forus would use the most cost-effective method of fighting, going head-to-head, injuring himself to inflict a great deal of injury on his opponent, aiming to take their life while sacrificing a little of his blood. If he could kill Mabilis with one blow in exchange for losing his hand, he would do it without a hint of hesitation. After every impact, Forus would create a distance by jumping away while shooting out more Elements to obstruct Mabilis' advance, forcing him into a defensive position while wasting away his sorcery energy. Before long, Mabilis would be spending his sorcery energy with the Fire Spirits while Forus was preparing for his next strike. As the mist obstructed his view, the pressure from invisible Forus that did not strike would weight onto Mabilis, forcing him to divide his attention from destroying the Fire Spirits alone to guard against the sudden assault from the hidden enemy. With some simple arrays, Forus could create a mental pressure that caused Mabilis to frown deeply. He delayed his attacks with the help fo the spell formations, conjuring false information for Mabilis to miscalculate, thinking that Forus was in the position where the ice spears flew out. Although Forus could not finish-off Mabilis in one strike, making his plan failed, the new factor of uncertainty caused the stress on Mabilis to intensify. From that moment, Mabilis had to doubt the possibility of the location of Forus while fighting against the Fire Spirits. To add into the unpredictability, Forus would sometimes shift his position with Ocelia, causing the balance to flip and surprise both Mabilis and Iracia. A loud noise echoed the chamber as a feminine figure flew towards the wall before slamming into it and fell onto the floor. Iracia coughed out blood as her inner organs got injured, enduring the pain as she quickly sprung up to dodge the next punch. However, as she rolled sideways to avoid the assault, she felt a wave of burning heat on her side. Before she could stop herself from moving further, the blazing flame engulfed her body as she screamed in pain. Despite her scream, she did not stop her track, but instead, she chose to move forwards, arriving at the other side. Most of her white skin had already turned pitch-black, having burnt marks and cutting wounds all over the place. Fortunately, the heat of the flame had already stopped the blood flow and sealed the wounds. Her stylish hair became messy as Forus and Ocelia had grazed it multiple times with their weapons. Her bodysuit clothing had become only pieces of fabric that only concealed the private parts on her body. However, looking at the burnt body and bloody skin, her beauty was no more. Although she could use her demonic wings to move upwards to avoid the punch, Forus also could set traps and follow up with a plan. However, by hurting herself and phased through the blazing flame, Iracia injured herself considerably, and that did not occur within Forus' expectation. He got stunned for a moment before falling back, unable to reverse the situation. Behind the wall of flame, Mabilis was fighting against Ocelia, slowly approaching his last breath as Ocelia kept him within a safe distance while increasing the intensity of the Fire Spirits' power. However, as soon as Iracia reached the other side, she immediately darted into the encirclement and started assisting Mabilis without any regard in her body condition. She also did not consider finishing off Ocelia as Forus was trying to come over. All of them knew that none had exposed their trump cards yet, and none would attack mindlessly while not knowing the true extent of their enemies. If Iracia and Mabilis tried to take Ocelia down, they might not succeed as Mabilis was not by her side, and the two did not know if Ocelia had anything powerful. The fact remained that Mabilis and Iracia had already exposed their rewards in the battle. Although it was not all of their trump cards, the demonic bloodline and the third eye were their strongest asset. However, looking at Forus and Ocelia, both of them had not displayed their rewards yet. The path of life remained filled with the darkness of the unknown. Only with the touch of wisdom that created from the fuel of knowledge, could one traverse it freely, avoiding the danger of predicament and benefitting from fortunes. "Till the end, all things crumbled. The Light of Salvation shall purify us all. Only by creating more sins, shall one receive more attention from it." Accompanied by her unknown chanting, Iracia used her Heart Blade to stab into her chest, directly penetrated her heart, causing the centre on the blade to fuse with her. As the Heart Blade implanted itself onto her body, becoming a part of her, the Eyes Shield trembled in excitement as the eyes on it snapped into multiple directions, expressing insanity beyond reasoning. After a shrill scream, the shield broke into pieces, becoming floating pupils that moved in to attach themselves on Iracia. Her burnt-black skin slowly transformed into rigid scales that shone in metallic lustre as candles' light reflected onto it. Her human-like pupils turned sharp like a crescent moon, instilling darkness of demonic aura into the mind of the onlookers. Three spiral horns emerged from her forehead, branching away in three directions, two to the side while the last one to the front. Seeing the transformation, Forus and Ocelia decided to back away while Mabilis sat down, revealing a glimmer of determination as he tapped onto her forehead lightly, channelling his focus and sorcery energy onto the third eye, causing them to slowly open, leaking out in piecing golden light. "String of Fate weaved all things. Destinies dictated all futures. Only through wisdom, could one trick fate, and with endurance, could one change their destiny." Mabilis' remaining pupils glowed in golden radiance as an invisible network fo web slowly extended outwards, touching upon the immediate futures, deducing the movement of destiny. In the state of trance, Mabilis' hands moved in coordination as he drew many runes in the air, finishing them in a flash as they floated around him, protecting him as well as providing support for Iracia. As their sorcery energy decreased more than half, if they did not use their trump cards, they might not get the next chance to overturn the situation. No matter how much treasures ones had, if they got killed before they could realise, none of the wealth they obtained would change the outcome. Four runes gathered above Mabilis before a violent impact resounded, generating a powerful surge of wind that disrupted the melody of the battle. The Leaning Tower of Flame got blocked by the symbols, making it unable to smash the immobilized Mabilis into meat paste. Although Ocelia could repeatedly use the tower to crush the enemies, she must channel her spell for a long time before she could move it once, and it would consume too much of her sorcery energy. After knowing that her assault did not succeed, Ocelia commanded the Fire Spirits to come out and fought with Mabilis, trying to upset his formation. However, before Ocelia could rush in to fight, a chill cry resounded as a black figure dove towards her from the height, using its sharp claws to stab her heart. With the two demonic wings, it traversed through air unhindered, ignoring the traps Forus had set as it headed towards Ocelia. Iracia laughed in amusement as she used her hand to grab at the incoming icy sword and broke it in half. After her transformation, the bloodthirsty feeling inside her soul rapidly intensified her hunger for blood rose, causing the negative emotions and thoughts to manifest in her mind. Although her battle tactic became mindless and inflexible from the change, the demonic bloodline strengthened the toughness of her body, becoming more dominant than Forus and could quickly regenerate from the small wounds. Her claw grazed Ocelia's face, causing blood to seep out, permeating the surrounding with the murderous fragrance. As Iracia saw blood, her pupils turned crimson-blood as her body trembled in extreme pleasure, threatening to lose herself within the frenzy dance of the slaughterer. After narrowly avoided the strike, Ocelia used her hand to touch Iracia's chest gently, and she immediately exerted her strength and channelled her sorcery energy at the same time. Both Fire and Ice Element moved out from her hand and mixed with the other, creating an explosion that separated Ocelia from Iracia. By creating an explosion at her hand, Ocelia suffered a burnt injury as her hand and arm turned black, leaking in blood and wounds. On the other hand, Iracia howled in anger as she could not experience the sensation of ripping through raw flesh with her claws and the pleasure of bathing in the blood of the opponent. The explosion did nothing to her body other than a mild annoyance and numerous wounds that quickly sealed itself. Before Iracia could move again, groups of black weapons flew towards her, aiming at her vital points. She snorted in displeasure as she used her wings to envelop her body, shielding them from danger. After the enhancement, they had strengthened themselves into another level, greatly surpassed her body. At the same time, Mabilis finally finished drawing the last rune and gestured his hand, willing the formation to change its shape according to his posture.

The hallway was spacious, enough for tens of people to walk side by side. Although the torches on the walls were bright, they could not illuminate the entirety of the chamber itself. Due to this, the giant lanterns that hang from the ceiling became the actual source of light that illumined the room. Forus and Ocelia stood before a large gate, which was taller than their height combined. On its surface were many runes, different in style and position, seemingly portraying the meaning behind the closed door. Its marble exterior was devoid of dust, reflecting the orange light that originated from the candles upon the lanterns. "Before the Door of Hope, everyone is equal. Behind the Door of Hope, everyone is different." Ocelia said lightly after glaring at the runes. After the fusion with the Mask of Sun and Moon, much knowledge about the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, as well as the knowledge about the ancient language, became available to her as if she had been born with them. "Then, dear, let hope they store something good for us. However, please be careful. No matter how good the treasures are, you have to be alive to use it. Remember, this is not just for your sake, but for mine and your daughter's too." Before Forus could grasp at the handle of the door, Ocelia extended her hand to gasped at his and said in her worry. "No worry, Ocelia. I won't leave you easily. Until I met my daughter, I won't die." His calming voice was like a breeze of refreshing wind, passing through Ocelia's heart, slowing down her heartbeat and relieved her of the stress. With his strength as a first-ranked sorcerer, coupled with his unique method of sorcery cultivation, he could easily beat any other ordinary first-ranked sorcerer in a physical contest, except only the sorcerers trained in the physical body. So, when he exerted himself, the door quickly gave in to him and began moving, emitting noise of friction between the gate and the floor. Once he pulled apart the door, a veil of white fog appeared before his view, blocking the content beyond the door from the outsiders. Although Forus could not see, he could still send out his sorcery energy to probe the surrounding area around him, and the curtain of mist was blocking his sorcery energy. "That mist is the mechanism of the Tower of Succession. It acts as a checkpoint and the barrier between the tests, just like the mist at the Mind Burial Lane." Sensing Forus' confusion, Ocelia quickly looked through her memory and found the relevant knowledge regarding the language of the ancient time. Seeing that Ocelia did not continue to explain about the tests, Forus knew that she didn't have any information about them and did not pursue further. He then walked forwards and let Ocelia stay behind him in case something unexpected happened. Upon contact, the mist felt like a thin layer of floating water and could not obstruct the path of Forus. His body forced the film to dissipated and made ways for him to travel through without any after effect, and as Forus passed to the other side, the fog recovered to its original state and continued to separate the two worlds apart. Seeing that Forus disappeared into nothingness, cutting away the connection between him and Ocelia, she immediately rushed into the mist as well, not caring if there were any traps hidden within or not. Like before, Ocelia passed through with no problem, and she regained the connection between her and Forus right after she entered the other side. "Why are you so reckless? What if there is a trap in there? Please don't do this again." Although she knew that there would be no traps or at least the life-threatening ones within the Tower of Succession, she still could not stop her worried heart from rapidly pounding after she could not sense his location. After all, if there was a death trap within the inheritance ground, then what would be the point of the place? "To think that you would be so emotional, I'm glad. However, it is you that is reckless. Even if there are traps, my body is much stronger than yours and could survive with minimal injury." Forus felt a sense of warmness rushed through his heart when he saw her alarmed face. Although Ocelia was a smart girl, sometimes emotions could get in the way of rationality. After a brief quarrel, the couple began to cool down and started observing their surrounding, furthermore, because nothing of harm had happened, there was no reason for them to be arguing about the hypothetical scenario. The room resembled the previous hallway where Forus poured out his heart and laid it open for Ocelia to feel and experience. The white walls that stretched across the room were almost the exact copy of the first one. However, the length of the chamber decreased, and its width became even broader, changing from its long-winded structure into a more compact one. Before the two could walk towards the end of the hall, the brightness of the room reduced and the warming atmosphere became colder, as well as the loudness of the orchestral music. As soon as the Tower of Succession set the stage of the play, the mechanism of the tests ran into motion. The darkness around the corner of the room gathered together and fused into four spherical balls of blackness. The shapeless darkness did not wait for Forus and Ocelia to react before extending its tentacles out, forming five limbs. The limbs then stretched outwards, forming two arms, two legs, and one head as the core. As the darkness built its shape, it transformed its liquid state into the solid one, from the black substance to the metallic surface. The exterior of the puppets was pitch-black, swallowing all light that came into contact with it, distorting space around its body. Four metallic humanoid figures stood in the arrow formation and stared at Forus and Ocelia, moving backwards as they slowly increased the distance between the two. The final puppet behind the other three began to draw strange runes onto the ground, using its sorcery energy every time a rune engraved itself onto the marble floor. As soon as Forus sensed the fluctuation in sorcery energy, he sprinted into action and gestured his hand, sending a series of lances towards the group. The spears created by different Elements created howling wind in the air as they descended onto the formation master. As Forus became the first-ranked sorcerer, his sorcery energy manipulation mastery advanced, making him had an easier time detecting fluctuation of sorcery within the surrounding as well as enhancing the destructive power of the Elemental spells. The different Elements that produced the spears would help raise the devastating ability of the spells upon their contact, creating a bigger blast when they banded together. After Forus made sure that the group of puppets only consisted of third-layered sorcerer-apprentices, he began his assault first to break the circle and headed straight towards the formation master to prevent him from using his unknown array. Although a sorcerer-apprentice could never touch a first-ranked sorcerer, four sorcerer-apprentices with a prepared killing formation might be able to harm the unprepared, arrogant sorcerer. Anyone could underestimate others would fall first, even for the strong sorcerers. Two of the puppets moved towards the front of the spears and used their prepared spells to block them, letting the last one stood guarded before the array master, not allowing Forus getting near the runes. The combination of a water barrier and a wall of thorns blocked off a majority of the spears. However, the last fiery spear broke their defence and exploded, sending them back a few steps before holding their ground. The black flame erupted on Forus' hand as he closed his fingers to form a fist and punched forwards at the last puppet. It then responded with its fist. However, as soon as they closed in, a faint silhouette of a giant gauntlet manifested into existence and imposed onto the puppet's hand, shining in golden as its power rapidly raised. A loud bang travelled outwards as Forus took a step back from the impact before immediately threw out some potions towards the direction of the puppet. The puppet stood on its track as it coughed out black oil, but, its treasure, the golden gauntlet, broke into pieces. The physical strength of Forus was much higher than any ordinary sorcerer. Coupled with the empowerment of the Death Aura, any weak sorcerer-apprentice would turn into dust upon contact. The fact that the sorcerer-apprentice didn't die showed that the gauntlet was one of the great treasure, being able to block one hit from a sorcerer at Forus' level. The puppet didn't dare to dodge the potions as the array master was still behind it. One punch from the man before it almost took its life, and it was the most durable one out of its group, training in defensive spells and manoeuvre. The potions exploded upon contact and cooked its surface, opening gaps for the black substance to flow outwards. By using the force of the explosion, the puppet regained some distance from Forus and pulled out a small transparent orb before crushing it. The lingering light within it merged into its surface and healed the wounds, renewing its condition to its peak. The remaining two puppets didn't rush to help but instead kept circling Ocelia, retreating closer towards Forus, bidding their opportunity to make a clean strike. However, Ocelia would never allow her husband to be in any danger. She shot out a series of fireballs and conjured an icy blade before grabbing it and rushed forwards. Every step that she took, the path would either become frozen of heat in flame, forming a very contrast environment. The drastic difference in temperature could confuse one's mind and slowed their body. Knowing the nature of the fireballs and its power when firing from the first-ranked sorcerer, the two rolled to the side to avoid their trajectory, separating from each other as the fireballs shot between them. Seeing the opportunity, Ocelia rushed towards the slower one and slashed her blade downwards, aiming at their head. Before the other puppet could cast a supporting spell, one of the fireballs exploded mid-air, changing the trajectory of the remaining fireballs towards him. However, because of the explosion, the fireballs lost parts of its power and became weakened. Not having any choice, the puppet decided to shield itself first. However, as the fireballs grew nearer, they started shivering and changed their shape. From a simple ball into a golem-like structure, their change was abrupt and unexpected. The fireballs were the Fire Spirits disguised as a simple offensive spell! Getting swamped by a group of Fire Spirits, the water shield got broken down promptly and the puppet burned into ashes soon after. These Fire Spirits were from the fifth floor and had the power of the peak second-layered sorcerer-apprentice. Although the puppet had some treasures that could save its life, it got caught unprepared and died an unexpected death, not having time to activate its trump cards. The other puppet dodged Ocelia's slash and got its arm severed instead of its head. By utilising the break between the strike, it shouted an unknown language, and the ground beneath Ocelia trembled. Followed by the earthquake, Ocelia did a backflip and avoided a sharp stony spike. Ocelia resolutely used her icy blade to cut her hand and sprayed the blood towards the puppet. The floating blood dissipated into a crimson shower before turning bluish and solid. The red fog quickly expanded and became a rain of small icy spikes. As the oncoming rain of death rushed towards it, the puppet clapped its hand, and a large mirror assembled itself in front of him, covering its body with its size, letting out blinding light that could engulf the shower of spikes. However, before it could do anything, Ocelia tossed out a copper coin and let it shot towards the mirror. The Underworld Copper Coin landed onto the mirror and emitted an ancient aura, sealing its ability and regressing the treasure into an ordinary mirror, crushing it under the coin's weight and broke it into pieces. Without anything to defence itself, the puppet could only accept its fate and let the spikes penetrated its body before collapsing into a pool of black substance.

Forus frowned as he witnessed the one-sided beating. Instead of helping the kids, he looked around once more, trying to prove his conjunction. The scenery began to grow blurry as the landscape outside of the house faded into whiteness. The white mist magically appeared to block his view, telling him to focus on the central part of the event. "Be obedient and come with us!" The Thugs yelled before landing their fists onto the Big Bro, knocking him onto the ground before stomping onto his leg. Their smile widened as the kid screamed, savouring in their dominating way of bullying. However, seeing that the kid curled his body into a ball, not begging for help or retaliating, the thugs quickly lost their interest as they hit his head, knocking him unconscious. "The kid sure is weak. He would break before we even have our fun!" The group casually walked towards the Younger Bro. He was rushing into his house, crying for help. However, because of their weak hut, the thugs easily knocked down the door and went in for the kid. Several seconds later, the thugs carried kids while licking their lip, thinking about how much money they could make after selling them. Seeing the scene, Forus frowned even stronger. He looked into the direction of the kid-selling thugs and waved his hand. According to his will, dense Ice Element condensed into a spear of ice, hovering above his head. As he swiped his hand downwards, the icy spear shot towards the group of thugs, piercing into the head of a blad thug. His head shattered like a melon, spilling brain matter and internal fluid everywhere, sending out foul smell into all directions. All of the organs on his face either popped like the balloons or froze into ice scripture before falling onto the ground, breaking into pieces. The body became instantly frozen before it could react, becoming a work of art where crimson and blue blended in naturally. However, before the thugs could admire the art, the spear that impaled the ground exploded into ice spikes, stabbing everyone in the surrounding. Their figures turned into beehives as holes were visible for all to see. Blood gushed out like when one squished a wet sponge, shooting high to the sky. Descending from the sky, Forus walked into the piles of corpses, looking at the two kids who managed to survive the ordeal. The Younger Bro was holding the Big Bro who was unconscious, crying while bleeding all over his body. He was the one who shielded his brother when the ices stabbed his back. However, because there were thugs behind them, they naturally became the meatshield for the two, allowing them to survive. "Mister, thank you for helping us." While stumbling, the Younger Bro looked at the silhouette in front of him. His eyes faintly glowed as he silently admired the supernatural power of Forus. There was no fear in his eyes. However, Forus didn't say anything and instead shifted his attention towards the faint Big Bro. He raised his hand and sent out a tiny bit of sorcery energy, healing the wounds of the two. Not only that, but he also created a drop of liquified Ice Element and implanted it into the kids as a protective measure. Before the Little Bro could recover from his shock and say anything, Forus had already disappeared from his view. However, not only did he feel disappointed, his admiration instead grew greater as well as his yearning for power. Looking at his Big Bro, he slowly dragged him back into the house. Suddenly, the scene distorted and turned white, filling Forus' vision with nothingness and covered all of his perceptions. Forus began to shake violently as much new information forcefully injected into his head. His bones snapped as he kneeled onto the ground, coughing out blood. Viens inside his body started popping, creating a cracking sound all over his body. Fortunately, after advancing, his body had become much stronger than his previous state and could withstand the pressure. Coupled with the abundant sorcery energy, Forus didn't suffer any internal or lasting injury. He saw a future that didn't exist. Like a dream, the world played out as usual. However, in this dream-like memory, Intor became much more muscular and stronger than him, training his physical body every day after the incident. The initial phase of his life was still the same, other than the fact that Intor didn't get to enrol to the faraway school. Instead, Intor took on and displayed his talents in swordsmanship and arts of combat, successfully becoming an imperial knight. With his younger brother's connection, Forus became an influential scholar. With their effort, the two were the founder of their Ander Family, a noble family. In the future, Intor fell in love with a female scholar and started his family, where he got two sons. Without any elements of supernatural, the Ander Family lived happily under their ignorance. However, after becoming a scholar, Forus never met Meria and didn't have any love in his life. In the end, he died peacefully alone with only Intor to accompany him. His last words were that he felt like he had forgotten something important. Nevertheless, no matter how he tried to recall it, he could not remember anything. Processing the information, Forus sweated as he understood the nature of this impossible test. Opening his eyes again, Forus found that the same scenery appeared once again, detailing the same landscape and weather. Not only did the action of the kids the same, everything that he could remember matched perfectly. Smiling faintly, Forus decided to take his time and try every idea he could think off. ... "Who are you...?" An Elder of the Ninguis Family dropped down in front of Ocelia, uttering his last words before fading into a corpse. Behind him, remains of many youngsters from the Ninguis Family piled up, burning into ashes by the flame. Despite the damage, there was no trace of alarm from the outside as if the slaughter had never happened. Gazing at the perfectly intact building, Ocelia stepped towards it. With a light touch from her finger, the door crumbled into dust from the intense heat. The invisible array manifested itself and trembled under her presence before releasing icy glow towards her, aiming to repel the intruder from entering the restricted area. Unfazed, Ocelia waved her hand, creating an incorporeal leaning tower using her Fire Element. Within its first moment, the said tower began increasing in size before it became slightly smaller than the hall. The enormous tower slammed itself onto the array, breaking it into pieces. Without its protector, the hall dimmed down and degraded from its magical appearance into an ordinary one, allowing Ocelia to walk in without any concern. She strolled towards the dome of Ice Element, unafraid of its destructiveness. When the Ice Element contacted her skin, it would melt away before it could do anything. Inside of the hall was rolls of bookshelves, containing details about political secrets and sorcery cultivation methods. Although most of them were only the external matter that didn't worth much for Ocelia who was at the first-ranked sorcerer stage, the information would have an impact on Ninguis Family when Coruscare Family used it carefully. Seeing that there was no danger presented, Ocelia signalled for a figure to come out of her hiding place, and walked into the hall. Despite her fierce-looking eyes and fair hair, her expressionless face gave off the aura of aloofness and coldness. With her elegant demeanour, the girl disregarded the disgusting remains of the deads and walked into the building without any pity for them. Watching her younger self, Ocelia could easily see the large gap in their personality. Before meeting Forus, she would remain ruthless and unfeeling, not caring for anyone other than her father and the ancient ancestors, which was because of their unchallengeable authority within the family. As everything faded into whiteness, Ocelia gripped her chest as she endured the injection of new memory silently. However, because she had suffered this type of torture for many times before, she could easily pass through it without much trouble. Compared to the first time, Ocelia almost fainted from the unexpected information. In this fake world, Ocelia quickly became the favourite successor of Coruscare without any equal. Due to her merits in obtaining secrets from Ninguis Family, her father personally requested the ancestors to guide Ocelia in her sorcery. The story ended when the timeline reached the present, which was when fake Ocelia advanced into a second-ranked sorcerer and replaced her father as the Family Head. However, in this reality, Ocelia never met Forus, resulting in her aloof demeanour to continue its existence. Later, she developed into a heartless person who enjoyed torturing powerless sorcerers. From collecting eyes because of their beauty to abusing people for their screams, everyone in the family began to fear her. Even the ancestors started to disapprove her behaviour. As Ocelia watched the scenery unfolded again, she didn't do anything and let them processed as it should be. In the end, the young Ocelia walked out with the agreement in engaging with Glacies Ninguis. As soon as young Ocelia walked out from the area, the scenery crumbled into nothingness, turning from vivid vision to a blurry one. As soon as the illusion got broken, Ocelia opened her eyes to see the original reality, which existed as the exact timeline that followed all details of her memory. Although the mist had covered every bit of the ladders, Ocelia could instinctively know that she was at the twentieth step of the Mind Burial Lane. Silently, Ocelia took one more step forward, landing on the twenty-first step. Like usual, her eyes became clouded as her consciousness got dragged into a perfect illusion, showing her a regret of her past, letting her decide if she wished to change it or harden her mind and allowed it to continue as it was. Either she succeeded in letting go of her regrets, calming her mind and silently moved on, or failed to endure the deep wounds from her heart, forever trapped within the illusion of a glorious future. Without any care, Ocelia continued to manipulate her past to gain more knowledge about the futures in the hope to find the best way for both her and her husband to survive from this world. Any bit of sorcery and experience about strange phenomenon would hugely increase their safety against them. ... Despite without any source of light other than the dimly-lit touches, Glacies Ninguis and his companions could see through the darkness without any problems. The sorcerers had numerous spells to counter the unpredictable events that could happen within the ruins. Seeing the end of the long hallway, Glacies raised his hand and waved it in a strange motion, leaving afterimages along the way despite not moving fast. The afterimages glowed as they slowly dissipated into the air, attracting the gazes of the two behind him. The trio stopped in their place and observed the door before them. It took almost all of the surface of the wall, leaving only the edge of the wall to hold it in place. The surface of the door was a special material that absorbed all of the light that reflected onto it, making it appeared twisted and black, giving off the feeling of isolation and strangeness. "Avidas, go open that door." Sensing something amiss, Glacies ordered his servant to test the water first. Although he knew that the place should have no more traps after several usages of the trap-checking spell, the ruin was unpredictable. He didn't want to bet his life on his arrogant. Avidas cursed in his mind before slowly walking towards the door, keeping his hand on the silver disk that he acquired from the ruin. If anything happened, he would immediately activate its transportation ability and move to safety. Reaching the door, Avidas caressed its surface, feeling its toughness while trying to see any hidden meanings. However, the engravement that was on the door was unreadable to his knowledge of ancient languages. "Young master, Miss Abicel, this Avidas has already checked the surrounding and found that there was no trap hidden within it." He shouted and gave the signal for the other two to follow suit.

Inside the carriage, two puzzling figures sat opposite of each other, gazing at the windows, peering into the scenery while analysing about the future. "Time, precious beyond all worth, isn't it?" Turning around and looked at Forus Ander, Ocelia Coruscare gradually spoke the sentence in his mind. "It is also your worst nightmare, having no way to escape its doing." Hearing Ocelia's question, Forus fell into dazes. Her mind wandered into the endless loop of memories, creating from her fragmented recollection. Seeing Forus fell into her dazes, Ocelia used the opportunity to take a good stare at Forus, marvelling at her facial expression. Although Ocelia was observing the facial expression that belonged to Ocelia previously, seeing it now with the enhancement from the merged charisma and disposition exerted by Forus, her beauty seemed to magnify itself, charming even the previous owner of the body. Suddenly, Forus faintly shivered before abruptly covered her mouth with her delicate, pale hand. Her face turned pinkish as her eyes tried their best not to let the liquid of sadness and grief loose. From the elegant lady to the pitiful maiden, her demeanour had changed instantly, causing Ocelia to become alarmed. "Why is this happening? How is this possible? Why? How? Their faces became blurred. How is this possible?" Choking in her tears, Forus kept muttering senselessly, as if she had lost her mind, turning demented. "Forus, answer me! What is happening?" Ocelia immediately released various detections and curse-lifting spells, defending Forus from all the possible ambush and intervention. The benefits of overtaking the body of someone else was immense, just thinking about it would make one's mouth watered. From gaining that person's physique and elemental affection to overtake said person memory, personality, disposition and physical features, any of the stated advantages would drive the sorcerers mad with greed. However, not everything about overtaking a body was good. Since the day Forus had taken the risk to swap bodies with Ocelia, their memory had merged and fused, forming an equilibrium. This balance between remembrances had caused some of their recollection to fade, withering into an insignificant impression. For others, they might tolerate the loss of those unremarkable features and memories. However, for Forus, the memory of her past was almost the entire purpose of her existence, the sole force that kept pushing her off out the darkness, holding her wills together for her to continue her quest. The quest to accomplish her promises and ended her worries. Now that the appearance of those Forus treasured the most had started to blur, it had caused her to burst out with the suppressed emotions and gone uncontrolled for a moment. However, due to her mentality and disposition, Forus soon calmed her mind, dispelling the ripples that troubled her mind. Her face gradually averted back to its original state of pale-white, showing the cold demeanour of the elegant mistress. The most shocking thing wasn't the fact that Forus had forgotten her beloved, but that the face of her late wife, Meria Ander, had been replaced, occupied and became that of Ocelia Coruscare as if Forus had indeed wedded Ocelia as her deceased wife before she had suffered her first tragedy. Forus quickly suppressed her shock before regaining her calm. The more she knew about the after effect of taking over someone else's body, the more she wanted to return to her previous figure, which was superior to this current body. Forus also decided to bring Ocelia with her for this reason, going into the ancient ruin that would open soon together, into the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. If the chance presented itself, Forus Ander would, without any hesitation, swap back to her previous body and tried to make Ocelia Coruscare bowed to him, becoming his forever. According to the intel provided by Coruscare Family, the remains got found by the ancient ancestors of Coruscare Family and Ninguis Family, leading to both of them taking over the wreck, allowing their youths to train themselves and get some treasures from the remains. They set a price for the outsiders to enter the ruin, because of this none of the external power could come and find any excuse to band together and attacked them. Hearing the name of the ruin for the first time, Forus instantly thought about the mysterious words from Lord Phasma, speaking about the Thought Domain, the origin of the Ring of Recollection. Because of those reasons, Forus had decided to risk her life once more. If she didn't do anything and practised her sorcery as any ordinary sorcerers would, she would lose the chance to take back her previous body. Even until this moment, the hibernating spiritual seed was still waiting for the moment to burst out again, continually reminding Forus and Ocelia of the mysterious sorcerer Forus had once offended, nearly killing her disciple. Both of them knew that the mentor of the righteous sorcerer would come for Ocelia, who resided within Forus' body, capturing him to help her traumatised disciple overcame the shadow that Forus had previously cast onto her soul and mind, weakening her sorcery cultivation. With everything in her mind, Forus could deduce that her future of retrieving her body back would be full of calamity and crisis, however, for the sake of her survival and above all else, to find a way to restore her memory and became stronger, enough to travel the world to see her family for one last time. "Thank you, dear. I only thought about the nightmare from the past." Looking into the pair of worried eyes, Forus smiled gracefully before turning her head outwards, setting her sight at the scenery and fell into her thoughts. Ocelia could only helplessly watch Forus as he didn't know what to say to console her. He knew that Forus was hiding something extraordinary, however, probing too much into the matter could cause their intimate relationship to worsen, which was not something Ocelia wanted. ... At the same time as the Coruscare Family sent out their carriage towards the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, other families also had their plans and sent out their carts as well. Inside one of the fancy carriage that didn't look any worse than Coruscare Family's carriage, three figures were sitting on the seats quietly, doing their things respectively. The grey-robed servant was keeping his eyes out for the possible change. After gaining the position of the personal servant of Glacies Ninguis, his sorcery cultivation also had risen, reaching the peak of the third-layered sorcerer apprentice. The young master of the servant was reading the reports, occasionally frowned as he scanned them. After his humiliating loss at the Steel Cauldron, Glacies had directed his fury at Falsus Nomen, instead of being angry at Ocelia due to his blind affection. The last figure was a graceful maiden, looking out into the wildness while revising a particular scene in her head, trying her best to find fault and mistakes she did during the event, resulting in her loss. Although Abicel felt frustrated towards her defeat, after calming herself and looked at the situation subjectively, she found that the failure was nothing much, and instead gained several foreign ideas and tricks that she could use to improve her art of alchemy. "Avidas, what do you think about the matter between Ocelia and Falsus?" Glacies suddenly spoke up, glaring at the servant in grey intensely, not concealing any jealous that occupied his eyes. "Young master, this one thinks that Falsus must have something that attracted the attention of the mistress of the Coruscare Family. Otherwise, there was no way that the ordinary commoner could get her attention." Avidas tactically replied, avoid offending both the Ninguis Family and the Coruscare Family. "Mister Glacies, I think that the extraordinary power and talent that he displayed during the recruitment event have captured the attention of Miss Ocelia. Maybe she noticed the mysterious techniques Falsus used during the concoction method." Abicel randomly voiced her thought. Although she was talented and had remarkable standing in the Steel Cauldron, the group was huge and had many stars. They couldn't afford to nurture all the geniuses they had. Because of the appearance of Falsus Nomen, the monstrous prodigy that suppressed her in term of talents, Abicel would undoubtedly get less resource than she would have if Falsus didn't exist. She also wanted to have more connection, allowing her to expand her network to decrease the difficulty in getting the desired rare components. With all things considered, Abicel decided to work with the Ninguis Family, getting into their favoured list. That way, she could receive both the resource from the Steel Cauldron and the Ninguis Family, benefitting even more than before. As long as she didn't meddle with the political scene, she wouldn't encounter any trouble. "Don't worry, young master. The Fleeting Emotions Ruin was without any surveillance. If anything happened inside the ruin, no one would be able to find the cause of the incident." Avidas whispered into Glacies' ears, telling several reasons why the ruin was the isolated ground, igniting the flame of hatred inside his mind. If Abicel paid her attention and heard what Avidas was trying to do, she would, without any hesitation, objected the plan and tried her best to stop this foolish idea. However, Avidas also knew about this. He kept the conversation to only his young master, and intentionally lowered his voice. ... A lady sat alone, looking at the blooming flowers, marvelling in their freshness. Her mind was floating in the sky, reminiscing about the shocking event that almost caused her to faint. Iracia Chlora was waiting for someone to arrive. After a while, another figure walked right towards her in a constant and relaxing rhythm. The silhouette wore a reddish cloak that fluttered with the movement of the wind, giving off the collected air. The man in red looked at his surrounding before sitting in front of Iracia, looking straight into her eyes. To his surprise, the lady didn't evade his gaze, but instead, she used her sharp eyes to bite him back. "What do you think about my proposal?" After a longspun eyes contact, Mabilis was the one who couldn't endure it and spoke first, breaking the eyes contact as he did so. "Two is always better than one. Don't you think so?" Iracia casually spoke while raising her hand in front of Mabilis, waiting for him to respond. Although Mabilis could tell from the start that Iracia would agree to his plan, he still couldn't control his facial expression and lightly smile in the end. With the background of Iracia, the daughter of an elder from the Steel Cauldron, she could effortlessly gain access to the information about the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. "Yes, milady." Feeling playful, Mabilis decided to play along, extending his hand to hold her hand gently before helping the lady stood up. Because of their actions, the ordinary sorcerer apprentices around them began to set their sight on the two, trying to prob out their relationship. However, the two seemed unfazed. The man continued to hold the lady's hand and escorted her to view the scenery. Despite the lovely atmosphere between the two, they naturally didn't have any intimate feelings towards each other. Their alliance was for the mutual benefits and could crumble down at any moment, not like the pact between Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, where they got bound by the oath of the World Will and the unforgettable feeling of affection between their soul. ... Inside the room full of dust and moss, the entangled webs, which continuously changed their shape, silently sent out a cloudy glow that illuminated the room. Suddenly, numerous lines of webs abruptly stopped their motion before slowly changing their shape into something vague and obscure, becoming more and more life-like. The process of changing their shape had caused the room to shake uncontrollably, alerting the guardians of the chamber. Sensing the commotion, the sorcerers swiftly opened the gate before pressing his finger onto the empty air, producing a small rift in space and sent out a shadowy crane into the void. Not long after the wait, the trembling of the room intensified, causing the guarding sorcerers to panic. However, without their knowledge, space before them began to distort, twisting violently before breaking apart, revealing a mysterious figure. Seeing the figure, the first-ranked sorcerers kneeled onto the ground and paid their respect before telling the person about the change. For the first-ranked sorcerers to revere a person, that person must be at least the second-ranked sorcerer. "So soon? Very well, the faster we go, the higher the chance our plan succeed." The figure said calmly before waving his hand, sending out magical signals to other higher-ups, notifying them about the situation. "Big brother, I shall avenge your death myself." Intor Ander whispered his wish while his body was melting into transparent particles, merging with space and disappearing into the void.

The quiet sound of carriages echoed the narrow passageway, filling the stillness of the tranquil forest with the light vibration, sending rhythms outwards, tickling the ears of the living creatures. The sound waves travelled forth and bounced the leaves and petals, shaking them from their imprisoned state of frozen motion, producing the unique yet harmonious sounds, repeating the same process endlessly, each time with lower and lower sound level. However, not long after the first wave of sound travelled outwards into the surrounding reality, they came into contact with the impassable obstacle, standing tall and high, blocking the advancement of the sound waves. Each wave of sounds would meet the same depressing fate, coming out into the beautiful world then died down immediately afterwards. The obstacle seemed to blend in with the surrounding vines and plants, despite not having the same colour spectrum like the forest, merging with the silent world, never to come out to the warm, delusional reality. Coming out of the carriage, Forus, whose soul had taken controlled over Ocelia's body, was greeted by the calming landscape and the refreshing breeze of the wildness. The servants had already waited for their masters and mistresses in front of their respective carriages. They skillfully bowed before their masters and arranged a group of guards to escort the distinguished people to the destination. Near the mysterious ruin of Fleeting Emotions, the world grew darker the more ones approached the ruins. The world grew twisted as the elemental essence grew chaotic, flowing from one place to another without any clear patterns. The disordered element would disturb the order of nature, creating chaos and corroding the rationality of the mortals and lowly beasts. After passing a certain point, the chaotic force would be too much for any ordinary living creatures to handle, making them lost their mind turned into senseless puppets, powered by their primitive desires. The sorcerers would need to get out of their carriages and walked towards the ruins by themselves. Because of this, the magical plants that could withstand the chaotic force emitted the Fleeting Emotions Ruin would almost never get eaten or picked by the wandering mortals and beasts, making the scenery increasingly beautiful and mystical the more one got closer to the ruin. The sorcerers and their apprentices wouldn't pick these magical plants as they were worthless for them, having very little element property and also got diluted by the chaotic force. Only the magical beasts that these plants attracted would get hunted and captured by the sorcerers, indirectly helped increase the chance for the plants to survive. Along the way, Forus and Ocelia had seen various types of sorcerers, making their way towards the ruin. Each of them would have the shiny emblem on them, signifying their qualification to enter the remains. The sorcerers with no background would have to buy them from the sorcerer-bloodline families to gain access to the remains while the noble-blood would have them gifted from their upper-echelons. Forus and Ocelia also had these emblems themselves, showing to others that they also had the qualification to enter. However, even without the symbols, if someone saw them, they would associate the iconic red fairy hair and the feminine appearance of the sorceress with the powerhouse of the Flamedouse City, the Coruscare Family. Because of the easily discernible characteristics, Forus had cloaked herself with the regular yellow robe, concealing herself as an ordinary sorceress, risking her life for an opportunity in the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. Falsus also had quite a reputation, becoming one of the raising geniuses of the Steel Cauldron, filling his surrounding with ears and eyes. Because of this, Ocelia also disguised himself as the partner of the lady-in-yellow, wearing an unremarkable orange robe. Walking along the road while viewing the scenery, time passed as fast as lightning and thunder. Before long, the couple had already arrived at the outpost that guarded the entrance of the ruin, checking for the qualification and preventing the unlawful sorcerers from getting in. The station was also a lab created by the sorcerers from the sorcerer-bloodline families, using it as the temporary site for conducting experiments and observing the change regarding the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. "Your emblems, please." The lovely couple stopped before the guards, pulling out their emblems before showing them to the guards. After the guards touched the emblems, a tiny spark of glow emerged from the symbols on top of the badge, floating above the marks, orbiting around them. The manner of the guards turned respectful after the extraordinary phenomenon, bowing before the two while signalling others to prepare them the welcoming ceremony. However, the female sorceress only waved her hand to stop the guards' actions, not intending to create the commotion. After seeing that the sorceress from the Coruscare Family didn't wish to have any ceremony, the guards could only accept it and asked for someone to escort them to the entrance of the ruin. With this, no one except for the guards of the outpost would know that the Coruscare Family had sent people to the ruins, much less knowing that the eldest mistress of the family, accompanied by the prodigy of the Steel Cauldron, went inside the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. Following the guides, Forus, in her feminine figure, allowed Ocelia, in his handsome features, to lead her towards the historic remains. Because of their intention to not cause any disturbance, the escort group was small and efficient, not attracting the eyes of the onlookers or creating an uproar. Arriving at the centre of the outpost, the scenery that greeted the warming couple was that of the wasteland, raking of death and decay. The tall artificial mountain that got surrounded by various formation arrays, using numerous types of sorcery to investigate the exterior of the mountain. The ancient remain had withstood the corrosion of time for countless ages, gathering the intense feeling of decay and destruction, yet still stood tall without any sign of collapsing. The prospect of gaining such unbelievable sorcery had driven every sorcerer families mad with greed, banding together to build the outpost surrounding it, trying to reverse engineer the magic. Time passed, and as they expected, the sorcery spells from the ancient time were too much for them to try to comprehend. Left with no choice, they decided to enter the wrecks to gain understanding over the remains. However, since the first second-ranked sorcerer forcefully entered the ruins through his sorcery spells, he had never come out, installing fear and dread into the sorcerers' heart. The event led the sorcerers to only eyeing the mountain hungrily, waiting for some chance to understand the mechanism of the remains somehow. Since then, they only knew that the hill was just the surface of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. The interior of the summit was the small realm in itself, containing numerous overlapping space, each with a different property. The place seemed to be some kinds of training ground for the ancient sorcerers, using as the area for the sorcerers in the broad range of capability to temper their mind and increased their experience. If one could endure the challenges the mountain created, at the end of the floor, the mountain would reward them with various things. However, the realms within the mountain were endless. With no knowledge regarding how the Fleeting Emotions Ruin selected the challenges for their targets, the sorcerers could predict where they would end up. No one could prepare beforehand. Although it sounded hellish, the ruin also wouldn't send the trainees into their death with no chance of surviving, filling the sorcerers with a glimpse of hope. Maybe if they were lucky, they might get the legendary treasures. Not only that, after a while, there would be a stationary portal appearing at random. If one sensed that they couldn't finish the challenges, they could use the gate to get out of the realm. Even though the region would punish the deserters by draining some of their sorcery cultivation, it would still be better than dying in the remains. Reciting the information about the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, Forus found herself standing in front of the large design, spanning across hundreds of meters in diameter. She saw a faint glow emitted from the mystical runes, constantly gathering the chaotic elemental essence. However, none of them could bother Forus Ander. She gazed deeply into the formation array for a moment before letting out a faint smile. She turned her vision towards Ocelia before raising her hand forwards, waiting for the gentleman to take her hand. Seeing Forus' elegant action, Ocelia also couldn't control himself and extended his hand out, holding the soft fingers of the maiden gently, caressing it weakly to feel the sensation of affection. Ocelia then looked into Forus' eyes, seemingly captivated by the refined flaming-crystals of vision. Forus also stared right at Ocelia's eyes, one with the sky as the colour and one with the dark hollow abyss as the colour. Their mental-selves entangled with each other, communicating with the unique language created by pure emotions. Finally, they slowly retrieved their mind into their body, walking toward the array. With both of their hands interlinked, the two entered the formation, prepared to face the numerous challenges, using love as the motivation to succeed. Following their echoed chants, the chaotic flowing of element speeded up, causing the wind of disorder element to flow faster. However, the symbols of the array also started to shine brighter, greedily swallowing the elemental particles, using them to power the sorcery formation. Multi-coloured lights flashed as the space around the hand-holding couple broke apart as they enveloped the two gently, shielding the darling of the world from all possible harm. Numerous runes glowed, illuminating the whole area, chasing off the dark aura of decay and destruction. Finally, the last symbol on the array had finished devouring the chaotic particles. The symbols then got united by a faint light, forming the complex shape with the heart-warming couple at the centre. Numerous soundless cheering and blessing of the invisible particles echoed the warped space as the array sent the two to their journey, passing the exterior of the mountain into the wonder of the world. ... The orb was floating in the endless void, flowing with the undetectable current of nothingness, forever travelling inside the river of space. The unknown orb was inactive for countless aeons, remained motionless without any response, silently waiting for some requirement to meet before finally activating itself. Around the orb, various rays of light flew along with the current of nothingness, progressively approaching closer and closer towards the sphere before fusing with it, transmitting the information it was carrying into the orb for it to collect. Each ray of light would carry the rough information about everyone who entered the Fleeting Emotions Ruin through the array, keeping track of their relative sorcery cultivation and speciality, using it as the base to deduce the perfect place for them to train. Not only that, but the light would also act as the guards who oversaw the mountain, not letting anyone breaking in without permission. However, at the moment, the light that carried the information about a couple of destiny, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, had fused with the orb and transmitted its data for the sphere to see. After receiving the information about the couple, the globe let out the pinkish light, brightening the dark void with its lovely atmosphere and generated warming breeze that travelled across space, chasing every cold dark void away. After becoming active once more, the orb immediately sent out various commands to the light, sending them into a frenzy. The sphere had already prepared the exceptional realm for the potential couple, waiting to see their performance before deciding the next course of action. The orb that was once an empty sphere had turned pink, filling itself with the seductive feeling of affection, causing every onlooker to feel the sensation of love. The orb shone once again, projecting various scenes of Ocelia and Forus, since the start where they got into the outpost until the point they got sent into the mountain. However, after numerous repeats, the scene turned shorter and shorter, until the last remaining scene emerged from the vision. The vision of the couple, looking at each other's eyes lovingly. They had interlinked their hands.

Although the depressing atmosphere of the death-still world was not pleasant, the loving couple would still prefer it more than the lively but dangerous world of darkness that they had experienced a little while ago. They remained motionless and silently appreciated the restored peace that had left them since the start of the nightmare period. The quiet howling of the wind would occasionally breeze across their figures, enveloping them in the cool puff that reminded them of their memory before coming to the lifeless world. Although their body seemed relaxed and unguarded, their mind was very attentive to their surrounding, eyeing for every minute change that would threaten them in their weakened state, hoping to prevent the crisis before it did them any harm. However, the most important reason why they didn't relax their guard was that the presence of the dark hand that still floated rigidly, struggling at the edge of the rift in space that connected the world of the unknown to the world of the dull colour. The world of darkness gradually dragged the black hand back to its origin, commanding the creatures of corruption to hide from the light. The silhouette trembled furiously as its prays were about to escape its hunt because of their luck and wits, not willing to go back to its region. The soundless roar that expressed its anger travelled forth into the foggy surrounding, showing the world the wrath of the monster. Its shout created a faint shockwave that corrupted the surrounding into the black matter, turning its dull appearance into the disgusting appearance before causing the natural trees and rocks to disintegrate into the black fluid, leaving behind the corrupted waste that no realm wanted. Suddenly, the world of dullness ceased its movement, along with the abrupt stop of the dark hand's motion. In the stillness that shocked the couple, the white mist slowly made way for the glowing shape of a slim, feminine figure that had no facial appearance. The person turned her head towards the dark hand, causing it to shiver in terror as it stopped resisting the suppression force of the rift and rushed into it without any hesitation. The figure raised its hand and pointed towards the closing rift, disrupting the power from the void to interfere, stopping the crack from closing onto itself and pulling the fleeing hand out from its hiding place, smashing it onto the ground. The shockwave created from the impact caused the ground to tremble, collapsing onto itself as the remaining force from the collision pulled a part of the earth out from its mother's embrace, sending it flying all over the ground. A spectacular scene of a descending calamity revealed itself as the contaminated elemental particles went chaotic and surged with frenzy, popping into existence and annihilated each other on the impact, releasing energy into the surrounding and producing coloured lights, tainting the vast yet dull world with a tiny yet colourful light. The force left behind from the collision caused the large branch of the majestic tree that shielded the couple from the cruel rain to collapse, clearing a route for rainfall to flow into, soaking the area as a result. The humid from the storm also extinguished the icy bonfire, ending its process of consuming heat. After the hand had suffered the impact, it quickly rose from the ground and tried its best to flee from its nightmare, ignoring the severe injuries it had. Its originally flawless hand had turned rubbish and ruined, leaking out the unknown black liquid that resembled the blood of the ordinary humans. Various parts of its hand had fallen onto the ground, exposing its twisted flesh of blackness that hid inside its shell. However, before such a formidable being, its feeble attempt at survival was fruitless and wasteful. The moment the dust from the impact rose above the sky, the lady of whiteness muttered a phase of an unknown language, which only transmitted through the sorcery energy and not through sound, making the normal persons not be able to hear them unless they monitored the movement of the elemental particles in the area. Accompanied by the unpronounceable phase, the white expanse that stretched towards the dazed height of the unknown achromatism vibrated as the multi-coloured light descended from the endless slope, covering the area around the dark hand and the crater originated from the impact of the collision. The overwhelming descension of the stream of vivid light continuously produced waves of sound and energy that cleared the surrounding fog and mist, dispelling the hazy cloud that blocked the dull scenery from the naked eyes. The blinding light instantly filled the area, showering the world with strange and obscure symbols. They continuously arranged themselves in new ways, manipulating the natural elemental particles as they did so, creating ripples of sorcery that suppressed the weakened hand. Because the mystical spell expelled an enormous amount of elemental particles, the neighbouring landscape turned chaotic as the overflowing sorcery energy started to affect its surrounding. The unchanging sky rapidly shifted its colour into a combination of newer shade, from white to red to blue to green and so on. The chaotic and flooding lightning elemental particles broke the balance of the world, attracting lightning and thunder from the depressing cloud, striking the earth with its unpredictable destruction. The temperature of the region suddenly dropped then heated up in a blink of an eye, causing the air pressure to turn unstable, generating strong winds and frenzied storms, further agitating the rainstorm. Sensing the changes, Ocelia tightly held Forus onto her hand as she and he stumbled towards one of the natural shelter formed by the pale tree. They both then used this opportunity to absorb the crazed sorcery energy and elemental particles to refill their body. Because of the power of the feminine figure, both Forus and Ocelia could use the waste produced by the female silhouette as its purity was more than their hard-earned one. With it, Ocelia could feel that her sorcery cultivation was slowly advancing, trying it best to breakthrough into the middle stage of the first-ranked sorceress. However, knowing the situation, Ocelia decided to abandon the precious opportunity and forcefully stopped her advancement, and instead, she used them to fasten her rate of recovery to heal most of her external injuries and suppressed her troublesome internal injuries. She knew that in this uncertain moment, abandoning her safety to break through was only a painful way of suicide. Forus also didn't laze around as he silently contemplated his next objectives. He, who had lost both of his eyes and one of his hand, needed to find a way to compensate his weaknesses before the unknown danger in this realm could exploit it and ended him. Forus was perfectly fine with having no eyes as he could still use his other senses to pinpoint his enemy, as well as connecting himself with Ocelia to temporary use her point of view. However, having only one hand would make his mobility and versatility fall at the abyssal rate, reducing most of his cards and weakening most of his ability to use wits to clear the obstacle. If he didn't fix it quick, the spiritual seed that was currently hibernating might wake up and used its roots to prevent him from ever recovered his hand ever again. Outside of the shelter, the ever-changing phenomenon began to subside as the feminine goddess of white erased the evil hand from existence, destroying even the faintest presence of its being as it had violated the supreme laws of the dull and senseless world. The remaining reason for the strange peace and stability between the day and night was such rules. After the keeper of rules had passed her judgement to the outlaw of the night, she turned her attention towards the pitiful lovers, laying onto the ground as they both tried their best to absorb the waste of her spell, using them to speed up their healing and refilling their empty body with sorcery energy. She waved her white hand, creating strange motion that transmitted the incomprehensible command towards the ever-changing symbols, causing them to stop their transformation to receive the order of their creator respectfully. Upon translating the edict of their creator, the symbols began to vibrate, spreading itself into the distance, towards the natural shelter that the recovering couple was resting in. The symbols slowed their speed before silently circling the house, probing said shelter with its sorcery power to observe the living creatures that resided in it. Noticing that the commotion from the outside had abruptly stopped, the two spontaneously raised their guard as they slowly moved their hands, forming the silent formations that could slow the enemies to give the couple enough time to plan. However, the unsurpassable difference in strength had shattered the hopeful thinking of the two, breaking and scattering every bit of their resistance. The symbols undeviatingly bypassed most of the weaker formations and directly ignored each of the all-out attacks and spells threw by both of them, absorbing them like how a sponge swallowed the water into it, not feeling anything. One of the symbols rushed towards Ocelia and imprinted itself onto her chest, turning into the bluish tattoo that took the shape of a snowflake, slowly fusing with Ocelia's body and becoming a part of her. Another symbol also inscribed itself onto Forus, merging with his skin and changing its shape into a greyish skull, emitting dark, depressing aura towards the surrounding. Before Ocelia could do anything, Forus held her hand back as he shook his head, signalling her to calm down and not to do anything rashly. He knew that the entity with such overwhelming power would be able to kill them both without any effort. Submitting to such a monster would give them a better chance to survive. Realising her lover's intention, Ocelia stopped her action and began to observe the surrounding as well as the general landscape that previously got blocked by the dusty mist. At the distant land, a towering structure had attracted her attention with its white, reflective and smooth surface. Its height had made it the pillar between the earth and the endless sky, making it remarkably noticeable if not for the fuzzy environment to conceal it. After one glare, the scenery of it immediately captivated her feminine mind, calling her to come towards it. However, at the thought of her partner and how he lost both of his eyes, her desire slowly vanished, and instead, making her felt sadness for her life-long companion. Before long, Ocelia set her sight at the white figure that single-handedly annihilated the hand that toyed with both of their life, observing every bit of the figure's characteristic before looking back at herself, sensing the movement in the blue tattoo. The figure looked at Ocelia, staring into her soul through the windows of her soul, making her felt comfortable. However, after a moment, the lady in white shifted her vision onto the blind man, studying him for a while, shorter than when she was observing Ocelia. Seeing that the order had restored itself, the keeper of laws waved her white hand, sucking the chaotic elemental particles that caused the rampaging change around the landscape into her body, forcefully terminating all of the shift in the world. Along with the withdrawal of the sorcery energy, the instantaneous shift in temperature returned to its icy yet peaceful state, ending the creation of strong winds and frenzy storms. The mist that got expelled by the previously expanding light began to return to its original state, covering the world from the onlookers to see its majestic view again. With one wave of her hand, the entire world became silent, returning to its dull and emotionless state. Because of her excellent strength, the chaotic environment became as tame as a house pet, following every command coming from her. Finally, the enclosing mist covered her silhouette before obstructing the view of Ocelia. After the fog subsided, the figure was gone, leaving behind nothing that could indicate that such a powerful being had descended onto this realm. The world was silent and cold, chilling to the point of freezing, leaving only two living, breathing humans, silently consulting each other. However, unbeknownst to Forus Ander, inside of Ocelia Coruscare's mind, her soul was burning with great desire to become strong, as strong as the figure that appeared and disappeared at will, covering the world with one hand and changing the fate of the insignificant beings at will. At the moment, the tattoo started to show its effect.

Although the world around him was chaotic, Forus didn't let any of the distracting noises clouded his mind. Only the faint sound of his heartbeats and the cracking noise of the crumbling realm of consciousness remained within his mind. His emotionless face gave off the feeling of stability that could withstand everything. "Don't worry. Everything is going to to be fine." Whispering into Ocelia's ear, Forus pinched her cheek for one last time before walking towards the origin of corruption. With every step he took, the infernals would step back and made way for him. They would continually surround him, sneering at his bravery. However, they would never get close to his body, as if something inside of him had frightened their existence. If that power erupted, they were sure that they would crumble and return to the origin of all. The pinkish mist that surrounded Forus and Ocelia began to group up. Strangely, they willingly moved away from Forus and instead gathering around Ocelia, shielding her tattered appearance from the onlookers. Faintly, the symbol of love that was on their hand dimmed down as their distance widened. Ocelia naturally tried to move her body and grasped his hand. Nevertheless, all of her energy had depleted, and with Forus' comforting voice, tiredness began to manifest within her mind, soothing her eyelids and singing a lullaby for her to relax. As a result, her mind turned muddled and couldn't think clearly. She could not guess the decision Forus had made during their sweet moment. Thinking about the past, Ocelia unconsciously gripped her hand and repeatedly rubbed the Ring of Recollection on her finger. Every time she did so, she could relieve herself of worry and let her submerge into the sea of happiness, thinking about their future. After a dozen steps, Forus arrived at the edge of the crack in space, standing at the boundary between space and void. One step forwards would mean the abyss, and one step backwards would mean the dull world. Even if darkness was the only thing his vision could perceive, he could still sense the majestic yet wicked aura of the ruler of the abyss. If the suppression from the white figure was akin to the weight of a mountain, then the pressure from the entity would be the colossal earth, completely transcended that of the said white figure. Forus could feel the vibration of every part of his body. They tensed up and trying their best to hold their ground, refused to break into fragments for the mere presence of the abyssal monster. The longer he stood there, the more his skin cracked open and the deeper the earth beneath his feet sank. Despite the ground-sinking pressure that Forus experienced, he felt that if he took a step forward, the stress would multiply by an unknown margin. Without a doubt, taking a step forwards would crush him. The air around Forus thickened as black, filthy mist generated itself into the dull world, surrounding both Forus and the evil entity. As soon as the fog covered all front, disconnecting the outside world from peering into the inner region, it transformed into a dark energy field that destroyed everything that came into contact with it. Not even the pinkish mist could penetrate said barrier. Ocelia began to panic as her faint connection with Forus became fainter and fainter before finally disappeared after the mist covered his figure. However, with her absolute trust in her husband, Ocelia quickly calmed her mind before holding her hand closer to her face, rubbing the ring with her cheek gently. In the end, she closed her eyes and began to pray for his safety. As time passed, the mist inside the inner world also solidified. Finally, it covered every inch within the area. Now, Forus became utterly disconnected from the world as he could not sense anything outside of his body, even with his enhanced senses and the help of sorcery energy. His direction and depth perception turned distorted as the distance between two points shrank and expanded as time passed. "Mortal, we meet again at last. In a short span of my attention, you have already peeked into the realm of the true sorcerer. However, in your current condition, you wouldn't be able to ascend and open the gate of truth. Pitiful indeed." The blue-robed sorcerer spoke as he descended onto the ground, staring at Forus. With his arrival, a hint of coldness penetrated the surrounding, freezing everything that touched it. Hearing the ever so familiar voice, Forus shuddered as his mind began to scream at him the memory he wished so dearly for it to disappear. He could faintly hear his scream echoed the torture chamber as dissect blades went into his body, trying to force Death Aura out from his body. Tens of years of pain and suffering that he almost forgot bombarded him, sending him back in time to experience it once again. "That time, you managed to foil my plan and offer a bargain with the evil being, gaining a second chance in life. However, this time, what could you do?" Sneering at him, the blue-robed sorcerer amplified the coldness of his aura, freezing Forus' the outermost layer of skin before breaking it into pieces. Although Forus felt enormous pain from the coldness, he discovered that his skin didn't break and the coldness was not real. "Mortal should stay mortal. With your limited strength, nevermind killing me, finding my location would be impossible for you. However, do not worry. I will take care of your daughter for you. Instead, you should go accompanied your wife in the afterlife." The green-robed figure walked towards Forus. With every step he took, plants and flowers would grow from seeds into saplings. Soon, the flowers released various fragrances that lightened the atmosphere. Like lightning, his words struck Forus deeply, opening the wound from the past. In the darkness he saw, the record of his daughter's birthday began to play inside his mind once more. However, before he could do anything, leafy vines came crushing onto him, binding his body in place. Without any way of breaking free, he could only watch as the event played out. "Not knowing what good for your life. How dare you harm my disciple? The next time we meet shall be the end of you." The cracking sound emerged from the void as space bent out of shape and broke into a rift, creating a gateway for a female sorcerer to travel through. Behind her back stood the giant flower, rotating ever so slowly as it released a refreshing fragrance. However, in the darkness that concealed her face, lines of tears were raining from her dull, lifeless eyes, turning bloodier every passing second. Her face only contained the hopeless and sadness as she gazed at the man in front of her. With every passing moment, the spiritual seed deep inside his realm of consciousness began to vibrate, awaking from the resonance with its owner. Fortunately, due to the lack of commands from its owner, it instinctively tried to survive and use its roots to hold the collapsing realm together. "Great One, this one wish to make a trade with you again." Gritting his teeth, Forus slowly kneeled on the ground and lowered his head, letting it touched the earth. With every word coming out from his mouth, more and more blood also came along with them. Although the previous pain was just an illusion, the mental stress was real and severely affected his mind. Suddenly, a pair of hands warped around his chest like the weight of a person pressed against his back. Forus could feel the familiar, intimating warmth spread across his back, radiating into his body. As if everything was a dream, Forus felt light-headed and carefree. He could still remember the warmth of this hug, the weight of her body that pressed against his body every day in the past. "Interesting, my dear, last time you took advantage of that mage and managed to get a second chance. However, you have nothing precious enough to trade for another chance. What could you do?" Although her manner of speech and her voice were the same as he knew them, Forus couldn't bring himself to turn around and face her. Even though he knew that she wasn't real, he still couldn't do it. "I don't want another chance in life. All I wanted is to let Ocelia live through this." As that sentence came out, he unconsciously sighed and tightly gripped his chest. However, contrasted to the usual regret people would have, his face was full of relief and acceptance. He had already planned to bargain for this from the start. A series of footsteps echoed as someone was running towards Forus. After the figure came to a stop in front of Forus, she pulled his cloth slightly, asking for him to give her some attention. She continued to hum her favourite song as she did so, giving Forus a faint shiver as he recognised the voice. "Dad, you must know that everything you had is, in the end, given to you by us. Your body and your power all belong to us. What can you give us then?" The lovely voice betrayed the content of the conversation. Although her voice gave a youthful vibe, there was something that felt odd and out of place in her voice. "Forus, you could use the ring that you gave me as a bargaining chip. Gave us the proof of your marriage and we shall ensure the survival of Ocelia for you. How is it? A fair trade, isn't it?" Ocelia smiled as she stood beside him, touching her forehead that he had just kissed repeatedly. Her giggles would occasionally land onto his ears. "You could also give us your memory in exchange for your new love. Let us part our way and end this worthless pursuit." Meria and Matia spoke at the same time, making their voice integrated with others and sounded unnatural. The quality of temptation in their voice multiplied by an unknown margin, inviting Forus to accept the deal quickly. Despite the gravity of the situation, Forus remained unmoving and didn't let out any sound. His lowered head stayed motionless as various thoughts ran through his head, trying to find the best way to accept the deal. He couldn't bear to let the Ring of Recollection go and also couldn't allow the memory of his past disappear too. "My soul, take it. Use it to ensure that Ocelia would live through this calamity." Raising his head, Forus looked at the direction of the centre of the rift with his hollow eye sockets. He finally decided to sacrifice himself for Ocelia. He knew that she had paid too much for him and wished to repay her one day. This way, Ocelia would have proof of his existence, and he would get to go accompanied his wife in the afterlife. Although he still couldn't see his daughter for one last time, he trusted that his quick-witted Matia would soar to the sky and become successful. Under this restricting circumstance, he could only do so much. The instant Forus said his condition, the figures of those in his memory shattered into fragments of glasses, disintegrating into nothingness. The chaotic flow of black mist suddenly came to a halt as well as everything else within the inner world. Not only that, but the flow of Elements of the outer world also stopped. Followed by the freezing of time and space, everything ceased their movement as they remained motionless and unchanging. The crumbling of Forus' realm of consciousness stopped, and the pressure from the liquified Elements also disappeared as they too also stopped in their tracks. Only Forus Ander and the mysterious entity remained aware of their surrounding under the complete blockage of the river of time. The distorted laughter echoed the world as they penetrated every bit of space, letting every existence submerged in its wickedness and unholiness. Extending across the limitation of laws, invisible explosions rang out as the waves of laughter move upwards and downwards the river of time. Everything that existed or shall exist had heard the ominous noise, and tremble as they did so.

Looking up at the sky, Mabilis gazed towards a specific direction, peering into the unknown void towards the origin of the previous abrupt shaking of the realm. His eyes flashed the golden light before they immediately dimmed down, regaining their usual appearance. Feeling the numbness on his forehead, Mabilis touched the middle of his forehead. The heat emitted from the hidden part of his body gradually cooled down. He needed some time to adjust his control over it as he had just acquired it. The area around him was one a beautiful forest where all kinds of animals existed. Many exotic and never-seen-before plants with unusual characteristics were residing peacefully in this place. Even after the quake, the soft fragrance of the multi-coloured flowers still lingered in the air. Beside him, a beauty was sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed, freely letting Mabilis observe her features and guarded her. However, despite her elegant figure, a pair of fleshy dark green wings occasionally moved. The size of said wings was as same as her height, towering behind her body readied to shield her from all possible danger. "Let's go. I sense that something big had happened and we should hurry our step." Mabilis softly spoke as he watched Iracia opened her eyes and nodded to him. Her eyes had an inviting quality as they had the shape of the demon's eyes, with the sharp vertical pupils. ... Despite the sudden quake, the labyrinth didn't sustain any significant damage as only some insignificant parts fell and crashed onto the ground. Some touches got extinguished under the shock, turning parts of the maze dim and dark. As a result, the monsters inside the world died from the dropping blocks, making it easier for the group to traverse to the end. Some traps also got destroyed as a side effect, collapsing some rooms and walls which made the layout of the labyrinth more unclear than before. Fortunately, the ceiling which held the underground world together didn't collapse under its weight. Three different sounds of footsteps echoed the chamber as the figures walked across it. They slowly advanced as to avoid the possible hidden traps, which had almost taken one of their members previously. With one woman walked at the middle between two other men, they formed a defensive and offensive line which could advance and retreat at any point in time. "Abicel, the explosion just now seems unusual. I reckon that we should hurry our pace and get out of here." With a white cane which had a golden orb on its handle, Glacies walked forwards fearlessly. The staff was something he obtained inside this maze after completing one of its mysterious riddles. Not only Glacies but both Abicel and Avidas also got precious treasures from this journey. With the help of their rewards, their power gradually rose higher as they continued to advance forwards. If they had times to digest their gain, their strength would sky-rocketed more than before. Activating their aura of a first-ranked sorcerer, they maintained their vigilance as they moved towards the end of the chamber. ... Retreating from the abode, the disciples of the Flying Green Garden looked back in awe for one last time before hurry off towards their destination. Inside the abode, Little Florie was quietly meditating. A stream of greenish Element continuously flowed into her body as it slowly merged with her skin. The absorbed Element would cycle through her body once before ending in her heart, generating a peaceful sensation in every part it travelled through. Sensing a familiar aura, she opened her eyes to see her mentor sitting in her usual place. However, her mentor usually wouldn't interrupt her routine mediation, until this day, she had never seen her teacher coming to the abode during her training. Matia laid her eyes on her pupil, losing in her thought. She walked towards her disciple and patted her on the head. The white skin reflected the light and entered her eyes, ridding her of the dull vision she had. "Little Florie, our Garden shall move towards the Mountain Union in the next three days. Even though we are going there for another reason, you and I will be visiting that man to collect his debt." Upon mentioning the past, Little Florie frowned as her face turned a little pale. She was still afraid of his monstrous form. "Yes, mentor. This time, I will be the one who defeats him and corrects his mindset." Although with the help of her mentor, she had reached the stage of a pseudo-first-ranked sorcerer, she was still far away from the actual first-ranked sorcerer. If she couldn't get rid of the shadow of Forus in her mind, she wouldn't be able to break through and become a first-ranked sorcerer. After seeing the confidence in her pupil, Matia smiled as she gracefully gestured her hand, motioning the vines nearby her abode to move. They formed a ball of green plants in front of Little Florie before disintegrating into dust, revealing the content inside. The object was a necklace with a flower-shaped green gem. The treasure would continually inject Wood Element into Little Florie, boosting her rate of recovering sorcery energy and her spell damage. The Flower also dimly shone as it suppressed the great power inside of it, readied to unleash it upon its owner's command. "Florie, this necklace contains three functions. First, it will help you with your spell casting and Element absorption. Second, it carries three full-powered strikes of mine, by which you could use offensively and defensively. Lastly, whenever it detected great power that could take your life, it would instantly transfer you to me." Seeing her pupil smiled as she put on the necklace, Matia explained the usage of it to her. Even if Forus advanced and became a first-ranked sorcerer, he still couldn't take Little Florie down in an ambush easily. Gaining a new necklace, Florie stopped her daily mediation and tried to test its capability. She knew that such a great treasure would be a powerful trump card that could save her life and turn the table. Although she wished to defeat Forus with her ability alone, she still knew her limit and prepared for the worst. After all, background support and connection were also a part of one's strength. ... The majestic golden light finally disappeared out from this dull world, making the surrounding colourless again. Its mere appearance had caused the said world to shake and its edges to crumble, messing the laws of the region. The section around Forus became burnt and decayed with many ruins from the collapses of the landscapes. However, even though the light had already left, the quake persisted. Its massive power generated storms and rains, causing floods and destroying much beautiful and exotic scenery. The wind its created blew away the mist, dissipating them into dust and cloud, clearing them from the surface of the world. Without the mist covering the world, its beauty of greyness began to show itself. The white trees that didn't topple down stood proudly as they seemingly looked down onto their fallen comrades. The grey dirt that resembled a desert gave off the lonely feeling. The constant rain and storm also enhanced the effect of natural beauty. Once the quake subsided, Forus regained his focus and awakened from his absent-minded state. He quickly checked his inner realm of consciousness and his external physical body. Although the appearance of his body was still the same, he knew that the hardness and flexibility of his body had exceeded that of his previous self. He could easily exert the strength that his former self couldn't hope to achieve. Inside the realm of consciousness, traces of the chaotic environment had disappeared and replaced by the quiet and orderly flow of sorcery energy. His soul compressed itself into a black dot, floating in the middle of the space. Its presence distorted space around it, preventing other things from coming near it. The Death Aura that continually leaked out from it would revolve around it, forming another layer of black mist, concealing the black dot. Without mist covering the world, light shone down from the sky and reflected off his smooth skin, revealing its tenderness. The touch of life enhanced his appearance, contrast to the world of static dullness. The first thing Forus did was not checking his new-found power, but instead, he quickly rushed towards where Ocelia was laying. Although he didn't know why the evil entity allowed him to live and help him break through, his worry for his wife still outweighed his curiosity. The wind gently passed through his cloth, playfully teasing them. However, his clothing had mostly disintegrated into dust, leaving behind only tattered pieces, making him not as graceful and elegant as he should be. Nevertheless, Forus didn't mind any of this as he raced towards Ocelia. The figure of a man encompassed Ocelia's vision, covering her from the danger outside. With every footstep, the distance between them lessened. Time seemed to slow down as they approached one another, exchanging their pended up emotions. At this moment, there was no alchemy genius Forus and Mistress of the Coruscare Family Ocelia, but only a worried husband and a caring wife. "Don't worry. I'm here. Everything's going to be fine." Kneeling in front of Ocelia, Forus consoled her without telling her about the deal which he made. She didn't need to suffer any more of his selfishness. "We should get going. The golden light would probably attract the attention of the others." Using his newly-replenished sorcery energy, he helped her healing the damaged organs and curing her wounds, easing her pain and lessened her stress. After most of her injuries got healed, Forus let Ocelia climbed his back and allowed her to be the guide and told him where to go as well as what to avoid. Although sorcery energy could accelerate the recovery rate of the body, it could not regrow important organs and limbs. While Forus could be legs, Ocelia also contributed as the eyes. With the clear sky, she could easily see the silhouette of the towering skyscraper in her vision. If the gate and the mission of this realm existed in a specific place, other than the unknown hidden ruins, the most eye-catching tower would be the best place to go. Only when the two started travelling that Forus thought about why the entity helped him outside of the deal. The only reason that could be the truth was that there would be something stored for him, making him struggled against the odd, further amusing them. This speculation would fit the last sentence of the mysterious being. While dashing through the lifeless world, the two quietly felt each other's skin, sensing the faintest touch in every movement. Every time Forus moved his body, he would feel Ocelia's weight pressing onto his back. Savouring the sensation of something soft pressing on his back, he involuntarily relaxed his mind. During the time of the journey, the couple treated it as a date where nobody could disturb them. They mostly spent their time walking and would occasionally stop to rest on each other's back. As Ocelia gazed towards the greyish scenery, she would speak all the detail she could remember, telling the story for Forus to imagine it in his mind as he could not see. After the great quake, the laws of the world had gotten severely damaged, making the rules dictated the realm unstable. The couple knew that they had travelled for a long time, yet there was not a single sigh of darkness or dawn. The sky would always send down the light, brightening the world at all time. The omnipresent mist that previously existed in every corner of the world also disappeared, not regenerating as it should. Without the obstructing fog and the creatures from the night and darkness, the world became peaceful and static. Because of the absolute lack of life, the pair didn't encounter any resistance or danger during their rest, further telling them that they were alone in this world. However, despite how alluring desire kept calling them, the two only suppressed their feeling and did not do anything shameful. The lack of any life made the two uncomfortable, wishing to leave this place as soon as possible. They also wanted to have a formal wedding before doing anything that crossed the border. The days went on without anything extraordinary happened.

The faint cracking sound of the crumbling realm of consciousness echoed within his soul, radiating pain that chilled to the bone. However, none of these mattered to Forus. He felt no pain nor joy, only emptiness awaited in his emotions. Feeling the warmth emitted from her body, Forus wished to stay there forever. He felt like his eyes had grown back and he was staring at his alternate life, living peacefully with her. However, deep down inside his soon-to-stop heart, he knew that it was impossible. He didn't deserve her. Upon seeing his face, Ocelia instinctively stopped her meaningless attempt at crawling towards him. The distance between them seemingly shrank from the boundless ocean to a small hand-reaching gap. Nonetheless, no matter how hard she tried, her hand nor her voice could reach out to him. In a blink of an eye, the two which were worlds apart broke the barrier with their pure emotion and arrived within the embracing distance. With his sheer will power, Forus raised his skeleton hand, which was devoid of flesh, and extended it towards Ocelia. The arm moved slowly and took, for what it felt like, an eternity for it to reached and touched her hair. The soundless thunderous sound echoed inside Ocelia. As if that hand was the hand of the almighty God, it had shattered the invisible barrier that separated Ocelia from Forus, closing the small yet impassable distance and arrived at her heart, occupying a spot that would stay inside her permanently. The crude feeling of the skeleton hand was disgusting and uncomfortable as if she had rubbed her head on the solid rock. However, for Ocelia, it felt like all-encompassing heaven had descended onto her, letting her into its magical wonderland where all hope and dream prevailed. Like the power of the omnipotent, time slowed down and waited for her to savour the moment of fantasy. When the hand retracted itself back, the heaven crumbled into dust, turning into a depressing void with no emotions resided in, only the endless darkness and despair with no end in sight. Likewise, time seemed to fasten and leave Ocelia without any chance to grasp the last opportunity. Her body felt weak as the sense of isolation covered her heart. The disappearance of said hand had brought with it a part of her heart which can never grow back. Faster and faster, the rate of conversion from flesh into spiritual accelerated alongside her command. Using her unyielding will and pure love, she wished to sacrifice her mortal body and potential for her loved one. "Ocelia, you can stop now. It doesn't matter anymore. You have done your best." A dull voice transmitted into her ears, numbing her body and melting her heart. At that moment, she felt a warming sensation rushing through her blood vessels, loosening her body and telling her to lay down and sleep away the worry. "I am grateful for your help. It means a world to me. You would always support me through my dark time. Even now, you still continue to do so. "For an unknown person like me, why are you willing to forgive me for what I have done? Why did you trust a man who cheated everything from you? Why?! "You don't know me, yet you say you love me. You don't even know anything about my past! Did you know that I already have a wife? Did you know that I have a daughter? Her name is Metia. Did you know any of this? "I am disgusting and selfish. I played with your feeling. I kept everything to myself. How come can you still... forgive me?" Abruptly, Forus froze on spot. A pair of delicate arms warped around his existence, filling his raging mind with a breeze of affection. Quietly, he fell onto the embrace of a maiden, sobbing soundlessly on her lap. In his blindness, he could not see the expression of his lover. She tried her best to speak. Because of her destroyed vocal cord, she could only produce a breath. From the movement of her lips, one could guess what she was saying. "Please... No more." Tears upon tears rained down from her face. Like the blessing of heaven, every drop of tear would wash away the corruption on the ground and gave life to the dull world. Her spiritual-like hand ran through his body. When it touched his body, the warmth from it would go from one vein to another, filling Forus with happiness and ridding him of the injustice in his mind. Gradually, his dull sobbing sound turned more life-like and louder, carrying a hint of sadness and tiredness. At that moment, their role reversed, as Forus turned powerless, Ocelia became the pillar of support. What had run through Ocelia's mind when Forus patted her, once again ran through Forus when Ocelia patted him. The pure emotion of love, empowered by the forgiveness of Ocelia, flooded Forus' entire being, ridding him of the flower of the struggle between past and present. However, before the two could immerse their mind inside their paradise, a cracking sound echoed inside Forus as he coughed out violently, forcefully shifted his head from Ocelia and vomited out blood. The pitch-black blood carried a hint of the freshness of life in it. Seeing the scene, Ocelia's face turned gloomy as grief in her heart intensified. She knew that Forus' realm of consciousness was about to scatter. He was holding his final breath with his will alone. Sensing his current condition, Forus smiled tirelessly as he slowly kneeled before Ocelia. The wind would occasionally blow, making his silver hair danced along with it. The pinkish mist had made the atmosphere lovely and full of happiness. With his hollow eyesockets locking onto her face, Forus slowly yet steadily extended his hands outwards. With one thought from his mind, rays of light gathered itself before dissipating, revealing the content hidden from the within. "With our heart and soul as the witness, Ocelia Coruscare, will you marry me?" The Ring of Recollection which was his most prized treasure was on his hand, showing it in front of the love of his current life. However, he had no idea that his beloved already had her vocal cord destroyed, which meant that he was destinated to never receive his relay. With a river of tears, which were both in grief and joy, ran down from her eyes. Ocelia tried her hardest to produce a sound, breaking her lungs and coughing out blood. Nonetheless, no matter how hard she tried, she could never do so. Until her tears turned reddish and became blood. "Don't worry... You did the right thing." With a smile still presented on his face, Forus slowly retracted his hands. However, unnoticed by him, in his empty eye sockets, the transparent liquid of grief overflowed from the within. "Yes... I will... forever..." As the nature of fate, it was unpredictable. In a hopeless situation, Ocelia, through her sheer love, produced a miracle and spoke without her vocal cord. With one sentence, not only the Fleeting Emotions Ruin but the entire reality stopped its activity and silently listened to their oath. Every existence became the witnesses of their undying love. Through their oath, no matter how their appearance and name changed, they would always be together. This was their Myriad Life Oath of Love. Slowly, Ocelia extended her hand towards him, waiting for him to follow suit. With his pale skeleton hand, Forus gently held the ring and inserted onto her finger. The insignificant moment had captivated the attention of every being in the surrounding, playing with their mind and inviting their focus. The two embraced each other. The delicate maiden and the rotting skeleton, without any care for their appearance, soaked themselves in the fragrance of love. This time, tears that dropped from their face were full of life, not a hint of previous grief remained in the root of their soul. ... Inside a floating fortress, a group of upper-echelons of a sect was residing in seclusion, preparing their sorcery energy for the upcoming battle. Intor Ander, who was meditating, suddenly snapped open his eyes. Using his attainment in sorcery cultivation, he swept the floating fortress, which was the size of a castle, with his sorcery spell. Only when he was sure that there was no abnormality did he retracted his sorcery energy. Without any warning, a mysterious feeling seeped into his mind, filling him with an unexplainable sense of happiness and nostalgic. It took him to the trip down his memory when he was rushing towards his hometown. That day, he disregarded his teacher's command and snuck out from the sect to attain his brother's knot-tying event. Although he didn't make it and instead got punished by his teacher, he still felt happy that his brother had led a good life. In the end, he wrote a letter expressing his apology for not attending the event. Recalling such event, Intor mindlessly gazed at the direction of the Flamedouse City. After the rush of nostalgic, rage and regret slowly replaced it. However, Intor shook his head and discarded the useless emotions before closing his eyes again. If he let them clouded his judgement, he might not be able to avenge his late brother. Nevertheless, in the deepest part of his soul, a hint of sadness kept manifesting beneath the calm surface. Maybe it was trying to tell Intor of something important. ... Only when an outbreak of violent coughing occurred, could Forus forced to break apart their intimate connection. Even if he had rid himself of the guilt and the muddy thoughts, he could never stop the inevitable collapse of his mind. No matter how hopeful one was, they could never do the impossible. Even if one gained enlightenment, the consequence of their previous actions would never disappear. Laying Ocelia onto his lap, Forus move his empty eye sockets towards the direction of the dark portal where the black mess of tentacles lied. While his hands were caressing Ocelia's face, his thoughts were at somewhere else. Although he could not see, he could feel the heat from her body and the tenderness from her smooth skin. Every time she breathed, a small puff of warmness would touch his face, gently giving him a kiss. Each little movement would send a sensation of fondness through touch, giving Forus a peace of mind. However, some parts of her body didn't have said characteristics. Instead, they were rock-hard and crude like a scripture. With Elements replaced the blood, they would lack the bodily heat and become stiff. The conversion from flesh to spirit had transformed about a quarter of Ocelia. If she returned to the sorcery world with this appearance, there was no doubt that others would use her conversion as an excuse to overthrow her authority within the Coruscare Family and banish her from the family. They might even say that the power of evil had corrupted her and processed to do a public execution. She landed in this unfavourable situation because of him. Naturally, Forus would try to do something about it. Because of his past experience with the ungodly presence, coupled with the appearance of the abyss, he was able to determine the nature and rules of the entity and could use this knowledge to its full potential. After a long, stretchy moment of silent contemplation, Forus sighed all his worry out and lower his head towards Ocelia. Without any warning, he used his hand to sweep the hair on her forehead and implanted a kiss onto it. By doing so, he caught Ocelia off-guarded and made her face redder than usual. She felt a sense of embarrassment when her love treated her like a child. Forus slowly helped Ocelia up from his laps and stood up face to face with the origin of the corruption. In her confusion and embarrassment, Ocelia mindlessly let Forus move her up without resisting. She continued to stare into his watery lip without any break while touching hers. Slowly, she began to lose herself in her unknown fantasy. As if it was sneering at Forus and his current pitiful appearance, the tentacles violently twisted and sent out distorted screams. Following an outbreak of the screeches, demons that previously stayed quiet began to cry in pain. All at once, the quiet world became lively again after the couple had completed their oath.

The crumbling protection arrays that covered the mountain of Fleeting Emotions Ruin couldn't contain the leakage of chaotic elemental particles anymore and broke into pieces, opening holes for the outsiders to come in and the secrets from the inside to leak out. Many guarding sorcerers quickly noticed the sudden change in Element concentration and reported their finding to their respective sorcerer-bloodline family. Although the protective barrier naturally could heal itself from the damage, the fact that it got temporary destroyed was uncommon and worthy of the sorcerers' attention. If the inner structures of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin began to decay, the outsiders could potentially seize the ruin for themselves and divided an uncountable amount of exotic knowledge and ancient treasures for their usage, quickly gaining the boost in power and influence. However, despite the overwhelming commotion, the breakdown of the barrier was, none of the leaders of the sorcerer family or the representatives of the organizations had made their move to enter the ruin. Every one of them was bidding for time to investigate and calculate the risk and reasons for the destruction of the barrier. If the flow of time didn't cause the crumbling of the protective array, then they would have to retreat away as far as possible before requesting help from the genuinely powerful force, the Royal Family. If a never-before-seen creature could destroy the defensive mechanism that even a second-ranked sorcerer dreaded, then it would at least be as powerful as the imaginary third-ranked sorcerers, powerful enough to be the leader of the highly influential organizations and schools of thoughts. Their might would rival the hidden experts of the high-standing associations as well as the current ruler of the Mountain Union, the Mountain Emperor. Due to the possibility of mass genocide, none of the powerhouses of the regions dared to make their move and could only silently observe the situation. However, if they could guarantee that there were no creatures with the power that rivalled the Mountain Emperor, all of their standby forces would erupt into a chaotic war. The source of all tension outside the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, Forus Ander, was still forcing all of his cells in the body to absorb all of the overflowing Death Aura, trying his best to condense them into the Withering Core. His mutated appearance, through the corroding of the intensified Death Aura, slowly melted into black liquid, emitting a rotten stench. His formerly pale skin turned pitch-black as the Death Aura invaded his bones, integrating itself into the fundamental structure of the body, becoming the main essence of his being. The silver hair began to change its colour into greyish hue with a hint of blackness. After all of the mutated limbs fell off, the actual humanoid figure hidden beneath the beast of the abyss revealed itself, showing the dull world of its majestic yet gloomy aura. Various symbols that assembled themselves into the ritual broke down and moved towards the floating Element Cores, surrounding them in a complicated manner, sucking the leaking elemental particles and turned them into pure sorcery energy. Due to the incredible amount of Death Aura, the darkness slowly engulfed the area, devouring the greyish mist before expanding rapidly, enveloping Ocelia as a result. Not only that, but the excessive amount of numerous Element emitted by the Element Cores also caused the stagnated weather to change its course, turning chaotic once again. With one piece out of control, others soon followed suit, turning from absolute silence into the noisy and deadly atmosphere again. Overturning sky and earth, the Element Cores cracked themselves as they used their power to condense the Withering Core. The tentacles-filled soul reacted to the condensation, flinging its tentacles towards the incompleted orb of Death Aura, using them to hold the sphere in place, preventing them from disintegrating into pure Death Aura. As Forus struggled at his breakthrough, the frozen infernals began to move towards him, slowly creeping on him and extending their tendrils out. Inside of the black tendrils, specks of filth accumulated at the tip of the tendrils and leaked into the atmosphere, constricting with one another. The ball of corruption gradually took its twisting shape and moved towards the figure in the middle of the evil ritual. The spinning symbols of evilness gladly welcomed the sphere of filth, absorbing it into powering the ritual, converging them into a part of the Death Aura, which left a trace of corruption of the abyss inside them. As the newer Death Aura seeped into his body, the greyish soul, with its tendrils, moved frantically and devoured the trace of corruption as if it was the best source of food. After a moment of pain and agony, Forus' entire body had turned pitch-black, covered with the dark liquid that closed all his pores and separated his body from the outside world. Soon after, the thunderous noise echoed the surrounding, generating a gust of wind that blew the misty fog and black stream away, revealing the hellish scenery that got corrupted by the presence of the infernals. Following the sound of cracking, the Element Cores began to crumble, breaking apart from the spherical shape into countless fragments of elemental particles. Each Element Core would vomit out an immense amount of the corresponding Element when they shattered, flooding the atmosphere with dense elemental particles. The Wood Element, the Fire Element and the Ice Element gathered around him and slowly revolved around him, merging with other as they did so. The fused Element turned transparent in colour and continued to wrap itself around him, covering his body with another layer of a thin membrane. The black membrane of Death Aura did not stop the action of the smile-like layer and co-exist in harmony. By now, the Withering Core had already completed itself and began to absorb the black membrane that covered Forus, devouring it as well as Forus' flesh and blood. However, the Core did not consume excessively and allowed Forus to use his sorcery energy to heal himself, not leaving behind and lasting internal damage in the slightest. Although the Withering Core was trying to consume the black membrane to push itself towards the higher realm of power, Forus resisted the temptation to advance and used his greyish soul to suppress the devouring rate of the Withering Core and restained the movement of the fused Element, not letting it entered the Withering Core. His reason was simple and straightforward. Due to the soul power that he absorbed from the blue-robed sorcerer to construct the new body of his, Forus had the natural affection with two Element, the Ice Element and the Light Element. However, the Element Cores that he had now were the Wooden Core, Icy Core and the Flaming Core, which was enough to serve as the requirement to advance towards the first-ranked sorcerer. Nevertheless, the potential power of Forus, of which he had not fully exploited, would decrease and make it harder for him to advance further. If he could not progress towards the second-ranked sorcerer, how could Forus be able to see his daughter, his wife, and his brother again? The sole reason for him to cultivate his sorcery was to reunite with his family again. Thinking about the blurry face inside his memory, Forus gritted his teeth and sat onto the ground, facing at the firmament of the dull world. Using his sharp nail, he cut through his vein and opened the pores between his inner organs and the outside world. The way that ordinary sorcerers collected the essence of Element would be too slow for Forus at the current circumstance. Hence, Forus could only think of one method and cut open a wound on his arm, making his blood in contact with the dense elemental particles in the air. Because of the corruption of the abyss, the surrounding was full of Fire Element, which was a favourable situation for the Light Element to co-exist, coupled with the earlier gust of wind that drove the misty fog away, enabling the light from the vast whiteness to descend without any obstruction. The dense Light Element directly mixed with Forus' blood and fused into one, turning his a drop of his regular blood into a bit of elemental liquid. Although it may seem easy, the pain and risk were unimaginable. The current situation was only possible because of the dense atmosphere which came from the presence of the abyssal monsters that pressured the floating Element into a thicker space. Not only that, but Forus also needed to actively control his body to reject the other unnecessary Element and forced out the impurity that came from the outside, else they went rampage inside his body. He also needed to control the precise amount of Light Element that he allowed to absorb at every point in time, as an excessive conversion of blood would tax his mind, and an extreme amount of Element in one's body could damage one's soul permanently. Little by little, the Light Element began to flood his realm of conscious, forming a spherical shape identical to other Cores. The brilliant light would occasionally shine from it as more and more Light Element merged into one. At this stage, the innate talent that Forus got from the blue-robed sorcerer played a significant role than his perseverance. The compatible between the Light Element and his body served as the solid foundation for the Light Core to take shape. As the Core came into existence, the bright light that sone from it illuminated the surrounding, blinding the hellish landscape into whiteness, piecing into Ocelia's eyes and forced her eyelids to close for a moment. Her condition was worsening every moment as the corruption inside her body crashed with the mysterious transformative power, impacting her half-human-half-Element body as the battlefield. However, despite the pain, Ocelia never let out any moan or sound, quietly waiting for her love to finish his ascension. The process of ascension required his undivided attention as anything that could disturb him would lead towards the failure of his breakthrough. With that in her mind, Ocelia forced herself to endure the pain while wiping the mess of filth that enveloped her, gazing towards the centre of the ritual, onto the lonely figure below the floating ball of light. Her suffering, however, did not go unnoticed by Forus, as he gritted his teeth and disregarded his safety before he greedily absorbed overflowing amounts of Light Element, enhancing the rate of construction of the Light Core. Not long after his crazed action, his left arm immediately swelled as the blood vessels popped, leaking out blood. The spilling blood turned white in colour as a faint radiance mixed itself within it. However, before the oozing Light Element evaporated, the tendrils inside Forus rushed out from his inner organs and sucked them back into his body, using them as the foundation of the Light Core. After many swelling and popping, a series of cracking sound echoed the surrounding as the Light Core finished its construction, floating above Forus and emitting faint Light Element. Without any delay, the evil ritual spilt its symbols and encircled the Light Core, surrounded it with various runes. The pressure soon descended onto the Core as it slowly disintegrated into pure Light Element. With the Withering Core as the foundation, all other Element that Forus had constructed their Cores started to move towards the centre of his brow. Guided by the array from the abyss, the intensified Death Aura penetrated every bit of his body and invaded his realm of consciousness. Accompanied the Death Aura, rupture sound echoed inside Forus' mind, as if someone had drilled a hole inside his mind and forcefully took control over it. Without any instruction from Forus, the tendrils that existed as a part of his greyish soul moved towards the Death Aura, guiding them towards his soul. The greyish soul, which ordinarily would devour every hint of Death Aura, silently allowed the Death Aura to cover its exterior, merging with it and becoming a part of the soul. Following closely, all other Elements also moved into the realm of consciousness via the hole created by the Death Aura, mimicking the behaviour of the Death Aura and advanced towards the greyish soul as well. Their presence in the realm of consciousness caused space inside to shake, turning unstable from the interference from the outside, instilling Forus with endless chronic pain.

Announcement Sorry for another unseen hiatus, life has given me some surprises and make me not in the right mindset to write my story. I didn't want my story to be bad so I stop writing for a while. However, with everything cleared up, I'm ready for another ride, 1 chapter per 2 days would be my current rate. The symbols began to revolve around Forus, gushing crimson light outwards in all direction. The ray of redness infested the surrounding with a scent of filth and evilness, turning the dull, colourless world into the bloody abyss. Countless shadow of unidentifiable abominations emerged from the summoning ritual, laughing and screaming in distress as they passed through the gate between worlds and dimensions. Their appearance varied in all varieties. Some were fleshly and life-like while others were lifeless and rigid. Each of the shadows exerted the unfathomable presence that dwarfed everything in existence, causing Ocelia to kneel before their might involuntarily. Time slowed down and space warped around according to their will, controlling and altering every law of permanence with a thought. Although numerous intruders had entered the realm without its consent and permission, no actions and defensive mechanism of the worlds or the Fleeting Emotions Ruin had activated as if nothing had happened. The white figure that protected the dull realm also didn't appear to enforce the laws, hiding somewhere at the edge of the world. The revolving ritual trembled and shook, breaking the rifts between the fabrics of reality, opening the barren space towards the plane of existence. From within the unknown place, the black tendrils slowly crept outwards, entangling the closing rifts and forcefully tore them apart. The permanent destruction in space and time made the dull world to tremble, disrupting the order of the world and twisting the laws that governed this realm. From the inside, many bubbles that contained visions of an unknown origin floated into the dull world, displaying various sceneries of death and destruction, life and creation. The scream of the abominations intensified as the bubbles multiplied in numbers, turning more real and enhancing the visions they carried. The bubbles told countless stories, shared diverse knowledge, and records infinite events. The hellish creatures began to transform from the incorporeal spirits into corporeal monstrosities. While the power from the unknown place was creating a body for them, the enormous, rusty chains also attached to each one of them, chaining them from creating destruction. The end of the said chains tracked down into the rift between space, leading into the wicked realm where all cowered in fear. With their physical vessel, the might of the infernal demons increased to the unknown degree, influencing the surrounding with their presence alone, corrupting the greyish land into the crimson, corpse-filled region of resentful spirits. The Earth soy turned bloody as the sky rained black filth, enveloping the death grey trees, turning them spiky and pitch-black. Their menacing aura caused Ocelia to gasp for breath, clutching her throat as if she had just inhaled a mouthful of pure corrosive gas, burning her inside-out and destroying her respiratory system. Blood seeped out from her mouth, flooding her tongue with the bittersweet taste of life. Her fragile soul shook as the corrupting aura infested her mind, blackening her pure, white soul with its filth and twisted power. However, as the corruption worsening, the Snowflake Tattoo shone brightly, producing the icy gas that fought against the invading wickedness, wreaking havoc in her soul and body. The impact created various extensions of the pure sorcery energy, lying around waiting for the fated one to devour them. The soul slowly digested the overflowing crystals, using their condensed energy to heal her failing body, forcefully holding the fabric of her identity intact. However, as time passed, the mysterious power that lingered within the orbs of energy began to pile up, increasing in quantity and quality. The soul that devoured them gradually changed from its complete humanoid frame of mind into something higher. The corruption of the abyss assaulted its enemy, the transformation of the Snowflake, mutually destroying each other, lowering the danger and side-effects that Ocelia would get. Although her body still changed from its fleshy skin into the smooth stone surface, the change was not as fast as before and had a hint of blackness in them. Her temperament also changed from the previous unsteady mind into that of the twistedly indifferent sentiments. While Ocelia was dealing with her problems, Forus focused all of his utmost attention into the whispers of the monsters, engraving every piece of information into his soul. With each engravement appeared on his grey soul, the mysterious blurry light trembled in joy and slowly spread outwards, encompassing his realm of consciousness. Every time he drew an engravement in, his soul shivered in pain, shrieking out soundless agony as it bent out of its spherical shape. The grey tendrils that previously grew out from the light wrapped around Forus' soul, attaching themselves onto the rifts on his soul created by the engravement. The tentacles fused with the surface of the soul, turning into a part of the soul, freely controlled by Forus' mere will. The spherical shape of the soul turned into the spikey ball of tendrils, turning ugly and unnatural. As Forus' soul gradually fused with most of the tentacles, his body also experienced a change. The previous madness that caused his newly-created arm to turn into the twisted limbs had corrupted his body further, mutating his natural skin into the tentacles-filled membrane. The wild, beast-like thoughts began to infiltrate his mind, shouting at his conscious to rest and let them take over, for they were the primal state of his existence. However, compared to the mysterious and tyrannical Life Aura, whose power drove all things mindless, the savage nature of the tentacles failed to do anything worth noting. The Death Aura could only send the living into their end, turning them into the void, closing the door of their existence. It could never give the beings the sentiments as it was the one who confiscated said emotions. The greyish soul, although impressive, was not an absolute force of reality, and thus could not content against the authentic Life Aura and Death Aura. However, it was evident that both Auras that Forus had experienced was not the full power of said concepts of truth. If the Auras from the myth surprisingly appeared, the entire Mountain Union would crumble like dust, killing or driving all things insane. Even the great sorcerers from the legend feared their existence, not daring to research about them. Forus' body became an unrecognizable pile of flesh and tendrils, growing out various new organs and limbs. His appearance was not any different from the monsters that came from the unknown abyss, except for their ungodly power, Forus looked just like one of them. Numerous new mouths attached on his limbs, bearing their sharp needle-like teeth, making cracking sound as they moved. The echo from the rifts across time and space trembled, shaking the worlds along with it. Myriad chains flung out from the hole, darting towards Forus' monstrosity figure, trying to bind his very being with the abyss, trapping him under the command of the void. Little by little, the screams and cries of the infernal creatures became laughter and cheerings in Forus' mind. The more Forus' adapted to the change in his soul and body, the more he instinctively knew about the expressions and characteristics of the infernals. Although Forus was aware of his situation and tried to struggle, not waiting idly for the chain of sealing to restrain him, his power was insignificant compared to the previous victims of the said chains, not worth any attention. He could only watch as the shackles bound him. However, the chain unexpectedly stopped in front of him, not going any further than that. The said chain trembled under the restaining force that obstructed it, struggling feebly before getting pulled back into its origin. Somehow, every infernal monster abruptly silenced their noises, stopped their struggle to break free and stand motionlessly like a statue, not daring to do anything. Accompanied by their utter-silence welcome, the rift cracked open broader than before as the fluid-like darkness gushed out from it, showering the world with perpetual blackness. The chaotic flow of elemental particles and the everchanging weather of the dull world turned stagnated, decreasing in their activity all at once. The rain of filth and the destructive atmosphere turned colourless and tranquil. Without any motions and sounds, space sank onto itself as they slid down into the hole in the void, bending the reality and the matter around it to distort and followed along with the flow. Like the quicksand, the world melted and leaked into the abyss. A faint echo of the disgusting laughter resounded from the rift across time and space, shaking the ancient world with its rhythm. The entirety of the realm sank onto itself along with everything else, revealing the blurry silhouette of a ball of twisting tentacles. Its appearance changed with each passing second, depended on the onlookers, the angles, and the time, everyone would get a different image of the entity. Uncontrollably twisting, the tendrils slowly grouped collectively and formed a hand-shaped mass of tentacles, pointing its tip at the monster that once had an appearance of a male human, Forus Ander. The man was kneeling on the ground, withstanding the pain of the sudden transformation and adapting to the newly-created body parts, trying to control them from acting carelessly. The overwhelming Death Aura around him had turned the surrounding into the wasteland, corrupting and decaying the hellish landscape, consuming even the aura exerted by the ungodly demons from the abyss. The string of pitch-black Death Aura gradually condensed into the purer and more destructive power, advancing its quality from a fragmented shadow of its real self into a higher tier of force. Under the presence of the same entity that was the origin of his grey soul, Forus could feel that the Death Aura had stagnated a lot, giving him a room for some breathing. He willed his soul to absorb the leaking Death Aura, condensing them into a spherical shape, solidifying them into a physical structure. The ritual naturally detected the process of creating the last remaining step to complete Forus' breakthrough, the Withering Core. It madly sent out the Death Aura, supplying him with significant Death Aura to condense the Core. This overload in Death Aura enhanced the rate of decay of his body, forcing him to use more of his sorcery energy. The solidification of the Withering Core triggered the chain reaction, sending the other Cores into the frenzy. The Wooden Core, the Flaming Core and the Icy Core all gathered near Forus as they revolved around the Withering Core. Once they became one, the process of ascension would start, ridding Forus of the mortal status and helping him break through the barrier of knowledge, closing in towards the truth. However, before the Withering Core could complete itself, the twisting hand-shape tentacle sent out a black light towards Forus, moving at the speed where time stopped, hitting him without any chance of dodging or resisting. The energy penetrated his inhumane body and interlocked with his soul, fusing into one while leaving behind a mark inside his realm of consciousness. The tiny mark gradually turned transparent and hid within the deepest corner in his consciousness, not waiting to reveal itself to the outside world. The brand would occasionally surface from its hiding to release the purer version of Death Aura and condensed them into a point mass, hovering around the greyish soul. The instance the entity released its power, the realm let out a collective cry of agony as the invisible energy swept through the land multiple time, breaking out from the boundary of space and invading other domains. This leakage of energy caught the attention of the floating orb in the river of the void, activating its defensive mechanism. Countless strings of light stopped their routine interactions and grouped up into a giant ball of brightening whiteness, spreading across the realms that got disturbed and quickly ascertained the abnormality and moved to contain it. The string of light crashed with the power from the abyss, violently shaking the void and impacting the realms, destabilizing the order of the domains. Like Death Aura and Life Aura, the two opposing force merged and split into numerous elemental particles, releasing mountains of energy with every passing moment. The battle for domination lasted only a fraction of an instance before the string of light broke down into nothingness, sustaining severe damage that would hinder its operation.

At the edge of the balcony, a fairy-like lady was sitting alone, gazing towards the horizon, covering her vision with the entirely of the Flamedouse City and the beauty of the sunset beyond the forest that encompassed the border of her view. Her moderately long red hair swang with the calling of the wind, grazing through her face like a gentle hand of the Mother Nature, caressing the cheeks of her beloved child. Forus Ander, whose soul took over the noblewoman body of Ocelia Coruscare, had been watching the flow of nature and men since she had merged with her new personality, becoming more and more lady-like. Although her fundamental nature didn't change, she had been able to express her emotions more freely from her past self. The black tea had taken the interest of Forus lately. She had been savouring its essence and taste, just like the past Ocelia. However, these changes were just at the surface level, changing only his external preference. Except for her strange affection with Ocelia, whose soul was in Forus' previous body, nothing would ever make Forus hesitate to act against the real Ocelia. Suddenly, a low knocking sound echoed from the marble door, travelling across the room before waking Forus from her state of relaxing. Although her scenery-viewing got interrupted, Forus didn't show any irritation, but her eyes shone faintly as she lightly tapped the tea table, sending waves of vibration towards the door, radioactively opened the door, revealing the figures behind it. Accompanying the old butler, a handsome man whose hair glittered black light as it reflected off the natural sunlight stood behind the aged butler, keeping his eyes fixed at Ocelia's figure as if he was savouring the sweet curve and alluring features of the unsullied mistress. The eyes that locked themselves on the silhouette of Ocelia had a hint of pleasure and delight in them. A tinge of redness also flashed beneath the calm face of Falsus, subtly revealing his excited self that wished to be with Ocelia together. Others would feel disgusted and embarrassed from the look that Falsus was giving to her, loathing that man to damnation. However, at the thought of how Falsus was admiring her beauty and charisma, Forus felt that her body was shivering in anticipation of what might happen next. However, deep down inside the impenetrable mind of both of them, they knew that these arousing sensation would disappear once any of them shew their hostility. Their feeble thought of living together in harmony as an ordinary pair would never occur when they still had their free wills. Only when one could control the other, would they be together with their loved and cherished one. After a moment of wild fantasy, Forus suddenly remembered that the butler was still in the room. In her embarrassment, her face flushed pinkish as she shyly waved her hand to let the butler left. Her bashful expression, coupled with her natural disposition of the mistress of the Coruscare Family had made the butler in awe of her youthful beauty and charm. "Our mistress had surprisingly grown up." The old butler, who had served the mistress since she was born, naturally viewed her as his granddaughter. Seeing her mature over the time had made him emotional, making his eyes watery. The tiny sweetheart of his had grown into a beauty that would eventually lead the Coruscare Family, becoming the pride of her generation. As her butler and foster grandfather, he would also want his sweetheart to find happiness in life. To have someone that could understand you and helped you when you needed it the most, it was a blessing from the World Will. "Go, prepare some black tea for our mistress. Make it the best one you could." The butler regained his orderly manner after a moment of distractions. After all, he had served the people of Coruscare Family since his youth, making him excelled in his role. He swiftly ordered the maids to prepare the necessity for his mistress before walking away in deep thought, not wanting to disturb their moment of sweet love. After the sound of multiple footsteps faded into the distance, Falsus immediately placed his hand onto the ground, creating many restrictions, isolating the room from the outside, preventing others from spying them. Runes after runes got engraved onto the formation. Each represented the beauty of the sorcery power. "I wish I could watch this process a little longer." Forus instinctively complained once she saw that Ocelia had already finished engraving the runes. She loved the movement of Ocelia when he raised his hand and drew the rune up in the air before pushing it down onto the ground. "I also wish that you were this lovely when you were in your real body." Ocelia chuckled as he moved towards Forus slightly, looking straight into Forus' eyes. He was enjoying the rosy expression that Forus was exhibiting. As if in trances, Forus' eyes froze when she looked into Ocelia's. The sky-like pupil that contacted when visible caused Forus to unknowingly move her hand towards Ocelia, closing in onto her eyebrows. The temptation to touch the azure eyes was unstoppable, penetrating the essence of Forus. "At first, I am baffled by your obsession in those cerulean eyes, but now, I can see the reason for that." Forus suddenly smiled before retracting her hand, causing Ocelia to sigh in disappointment. She had indeed been captivated by the eyes, but only for a mere moment before regaining her rationality. "You are becoming more and more perfect, as I want you to be." While he wasn't able to get Forus to caress his face, Ocelia still felt contented that his eyes could charm Forus. However, the greatest delight of his was the fact that Forus was becoming prettier and lovelier, turning into an ideal mistress Ocelia wanted her to be. After teasing with each other for a while, Forus and Ocelia had already vanquished their thirst and desire for something much more, or maybe, they had only suppressed it for some time. Forus used her slender finger to tapped at Ocelia's nose lightly before walking away towards the traditional tea table, sitting there, cross-legged. She walked step by step, sending constant rhythms of tapping sound outwards, creating a harmony between the floor and the luscious atmosphere. The music only agitated Ocelia further, as he got caught off guard by that tap on his nose. Forus peeked at Ocelia and found him touching his nose, trying to feel all the warmth that remained there as the record regarding the playful touch of Forus. The more Forus looked at Ocelia, the more she felt excited, causing her face to gain redness. "Since you have already come here, I shall assume you have decided your answer." After hearing the sentence, coupled with the serious expression that Forus was revealing, Ocelia immediately suppressed her emotions and regained her rationality. Although a trace of previous spirited atmosphere still lingered within the room, they had already stopped doing pointless things. "Of course, my dearest, both of us are the most compatible with each other. We also knew each as well as ourselves, after all, we had almost become one once." Ocelia answered without any hesitation. His voice carried a hint of confidence and fearlessness. Since the exchange of the body and memory, although they didn't get overtaken by the other's personality, their personality had fused and become one, gaining great comprehension over their counterpart's feeling and thought process. With the unlimited access to the memory, they had already learnt every bit of their opponent, approaching the point of becoming an unidentifiable twin. They could casually imitate the talking style, behaviour and temperament, fooling even the closest of relatives. According to these facts, the two would form the perfect pair in almost everything. With these thoughts in their mind, they weren't afraid to seek the other to cooperate for the sake of benefits. With them forming a pair, the outsiders would only think about how their love led them to this conclusion, not knowing the hidden underlying secret of both of them. They could also protect their secret of soul-transferring incident, eliminating the likelihood of accidental leakage. Because they were the absolute nemesis that would eventually try to enslave each other, they also knew each other the best, knowing the deepest and darkest secrets of both, knowing every information about each other. "With your cooperation, my body would also not come in contact with Glacies Ninguis, and your body would also avoid others from the Steel Cauldron." Forus' face twisted slightly after uttering the name, showing an expression of disgust and annoyance. After all, Glacies had tried his best to get a hand on this body of Coruscare's mistress, doing everything to express his desire. "Don't worry, that Glacies won't do anything rashly. I had once punished him from overreaching to me." Ocelia could only say some consoling words before stop talking about it, after all, he also knew how annoying it was to have someone regularly hitting on her. "Then, let us sign our contract." Not wasting any time, Forus waved her hand, creating various flaming snowflakes, arranging themselves in a mystical structure. The structure gently rotated, producing sorcery energy endlessly, covering the whole room. If Ocelia didn't place various types of concealing patterns, the large gathering of the sorcery energy would have alert everyone within the Coruscare Family. However, with many protections and isolations, not a single person had noticed the ghastly change in their mistress' room, except maybe the current head of the family, whose strength was at the extraordinary level of second-ranked sorcerer. At the instance where the room was full of sorcery energy, an omnipresent force instantly descended and sealed off the area, disconnecting it from the world. The mysterious force rapidly devoured the sorcery power before producing a sheet of paper, detailing numerous conditions. Each of the words contained the unimaginable power of binding, releasing a frightening amount of radiation. In front of the contract, even the mighty second-ranked sorcerers would have to submit themselves. The sheer power of the World Will could crush any sorcerers causally, destroying their soul and consciousness. "In my name, Forus Ander, I summon the World Will to bear witness this oath!" Every time Forus opened her mouth, a strange power seeped into her soul, covering its surface, ready to crush it if Forus ever dared to go against the agreement. "In my name, Ocelia Coruscare, I summon the World Will to bear witness this oath!" After both of them had agreed to the contract, the World Will shot out an invisible string of binding, locking both souls together, before vanishing away after the completion of the oath. After the disappearance of the World Will, the sealing power also dissipated, connecting the room with the outside world again. Forus could feel the untraceable power looming over her soul, preventing her from breaking the agreement and going against her oath. If Forus or Ocelia had ever broken the contract, the almighty World Will would come down and claim the soul of the contract's breaker, consuming it and shattered their existence, leaving behind only an empty void. "Let us have this drink as the celebration of our successful agreement." After verifying the conditions of her body, Forus lifted her marble teacup before tapping her fingers on the table, sending another cup of tea flowing towards Ocelia. The taste of the black tea melted in her mouth as she savoured it slowly, thinking about the next step of her plan. After all, since her setback at the Steel Cauldron's recruitment ground, Forus had tried even more to perfect her calculative skills, not wanting to suffer the same fate without any ability to control her destiny. After a cup of tea got empty, Ocelia bid Forus goodbye before standing up and drew himself closer towards Forus, staring into her fiery eyes. His eyes had met head-on with Forus' confused eyes, radiating desire and passion. Before Forus could recover and make sense of the situation, Ocelia had pressed her pale lips onto Forus' pinkish lips, the lingering flavour of the black tea also enhanced the fragrance of love that spread across the room.

After witnessing the performance of the lady in purple, many participants felt their breathing quickened. Even Mabilis Sagunien also felt that her ability could rival his. For someone who didn't come from the sorcerer family, it would be very challenging to have enough resource to spend it on improving their alchemy skills. As for Forus, his case was very uncommon. In his first life, he was a successful businessman whose marketing skill was very extraordinary. He also had enough luck and resource to reuse the concept of gambling creatively and modified it into the lottery shop, exploiting the greed that presented within almost every sorcerer. When he witnessed the talent of Abicel, his mind suddenly thought about how confident the mistress of the Coruscare Family sounded. Mabilis turned his attention towards Forus, who was immersing himself in checking the ingredients. Since the start of the latter part of the competition, Forus hadn't even touched the cauldron at all. All of his attention had fixed on identifying the characteristic of the ingredients, using them to recreate a more suitable procedure. His action caused Mabilis to frown at first, but due to his experience, he caught up to the thought of Forus, only to make him frowned even harder. Even for himself, he knew that it would be unquestionably challenging to modify the recipe for the pills according to the provided herbs and not the other way around. After witnessing the subtle display of talent from Forus' work, Mabilis felt a large amount of excitement building up in his mind, the eagerness to see the battle between the two raising suns caused his face to break into a smile. The more talent Forus was, the better support he would have once he reached out to Forus and successfully recruit him. Silently watching, Mabilis too didn't neglect his concoction. He also intended to compete for the first place of the test. Although others would have to rethink their choice before trying to get in the way of the sorcerer families, Mabilis himself was also from another sorcerer family, so he naturally wasn't afraid of them. While his mind was wandering into the land of thought, Forus slowly lifted his head and reaching out towards the cauldron. His action caused Mabilis and others who paid attention to him to focus on him. They were wondering about how Forus would fare against his counterpart. Forus waved his hand, creating a magical force that gently lifted the corpse of the dead infant towards him. His hand moved as the small line of blue flame gradually manifested itself before him. The bluish flame moved according to his wills as it swiftly invaded the inner organs of the lifeless infant. The art of alchemy had diverged into many different topics, as the alchemy itself wasn't absolute. In countless ages and eras, many masters went against the common sense of their time and created multiple unique alchemy techniques. Many of which had lost their successors, and fell into oblivion due to the passing of time. However, even though none of the masters had achieved the true immortality, and in the end, they fell victim to the river of time, their ideas and knowledge would still live on, engraving itself into the history of alchemy. The art of fire was one of the most fundamental topics about the art of alchemy. It taught the alchemists about the importance of the heat source and how they could integrate them into their alchemy concoction techniques. The art of fire also explained the different kinds of heat. The weakest class of flame was the yellowish fire. The alchemists would use it to warm up the cauldron to get rid of their rust or used it for a minor experiment or minor refinement process. This fire was the second elementary fire that was just a little harder to produce than the average flame. The most common flame used by the alchemists was the orangish flame. It was the most crucial flame that all of the alchemists must learn to manipulate. It was stronger than the yellowish flame and was the most simplistic flame to produce. It was the core part of various concoctions throughout the history of the alchemy. The art of fire didn't end at the orange flame. Many flames existed above the ordinary flame that alchemists commonly used. That bluish flame that Forus used was one of the said flames. The bluish flame was very tough to create, as the alchemists had to focus the energy of the fire to reach the peak of regular fire before compressed them into a spark of energy to break the limit of the orangish flame. Only then would the colour of the fire become blue and achieved the qualitative change. The alchemists would seldom use this kind of flame as their radiation was very hot that they could potentially break out of the cauldron and injure the alchemists themselves. However, the advanced alchemists would still use these fire to concoct pills and potions that needed the highest degree of pureness in their ingredients, as well as the refinement that involved the better tier of treasures. Recalling the detail of the bluish flame, Mabilis widened his eyes as his vision carefully examined the condition of the fire as well as the expression of Forus. After seeing that Forus was still relatively relaxed after the creation of the flame, he suddenly felt that this man was not as simple as he looked. Ignoring the admiration of the onlookers, Forus was still concentrating almost all of his attention into controlling the bluish flame to quickly cleanse the inner organ and blood veins of the dead infant. He had to control the fire to keep it from burning the skin of the infant. Due to the immense power of the bluish flame, while it might destroy the skin of the infant, it would also promptly burn off the contamination in the infant at an astonishing rate, reducing the unnecessary time that it would take as well as reducing the risk of poping and hardened veins. Although in the beginning, he had thought that he wouldn't need to try too hard to win this competition, but now, having recognised his naive beliefs, Forus determined to use the utmost of his ability to compete with her. Even if he had offended the Ninguis Family, after witnessing the skills of Forus, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron would naturally try their best to protect him. However, most of the skill he displayed was still within the limit of his plan. He wasn't planning to reveal his secrets alchemy techniques that he learnt from the self-learning of the worst nightmare of his first life, the blue-robed true sorcerer. Even though Forus had always regard that monster as his worst enemy, he would still respect the abilities of his as he could self-learning alchemy and created his unique techniques and wrote down his understandings for future reference. Forus couldn't risk exposing his connection with that rogue sorcerer as he might invite the greedy wolfs who wanted his treasures and secret techniques. If the situation was in that stage, even the Steel Cauldron might even betray him and took all his wealth for themselves. After a short amount of time, the bluish flame had already dried the lifeless infant into a dried shell. Seeing the progression of his concoction, Forus, whose face was still cold as ever, continued to channel his sorcery energy to infuse with the prepared elemental blood, causing them to boil up. The boiling blood then extracted itself and formed a wave of blood-drops. They floated around the dried up infant and, under Forus' guidance, slowly seeped into the flesh of the dehydrated shell, invading the blood veins and inner organs. As the new blood inserted itself into the blood circulation system of the dead infant, it would gradually mutate the body structure of the infant to become one with the blood itself. If the blood was too diluted or the body was too firm, the new bloodline would get rejected and caused harm to the physical shell. This process of integrating new bloodline into the body of the infant had taken lots of mental stamina of Forus, making him sweated a little bit. He had to be very cautious not to lose his focus, or else the new bloodline would go berserk and caused an undesirable drop in the shell's quality. Once Forus saw the progressive change in features of the dead infant, his eye revealed a hint of vigilance. Shortly after the first visible change, the dried up infant suddenly twitched uncontrollably, making weird and disturbing sounds every time it moved. The new bloodline had collided with the pure body of an infant, trying to devour each other. It was Forus who constantly created an equilibrium for both the physical body and the bloodline to merge with the other. Due to his destructive action, he had attracted the vengeful spirit of both the newborn infant and the owner of the bloodline. This step was very crucial for the concoction process. If the alchemist couldn't suppress the vengeful spirits fast enough, it would influence the quality of the pill, causing it to experience a tremendous drop in quality, not only that, the backlash would also injure the soul of the alchemist, causing a decline in their sorcery cultivation if their sorcery foundation was not powerful enough. Suddenly, expansive black gas seeped out of the body of the lifeless infant, filling the nearby surrounding with a heavy aura of bitterness and sorrow. Inside the black gas, two figures were floating and hatefully staring at Forus. One of the figures, a middle-aged lady whose appearance was unidentifiable due to a disgusting injury she had sustained, screamed out a hoarse cry that sent out a wave of sound that disrupted the concentrating mind of other alchemists, causing them to slip up on their concoction. Immediately after her first attack, Forus used his hand to form a fist and directed the power of the frost to cover his fist and punched towards the faint silhouette of the maddening lady. His fist collided with the soundless and traceless wave of resentment, creating a shockwave that caused the ground to faintly quake. The shockwave fused the remnants of the resentment and progressed outwards from the point of collision, causing various alchemists to lose their focus and got hinder by the backlash of the disordered movement of sorcery power. This commotion caused many spectators to swiftly shift their attention towards Forus, using their eyes to measure his look as well as his sorcery power. They were waiting to see what would Forus do to get rid of the resentful spirit without causing the damage to the ingredients. After punching out at the decaying lady, Forus clasped his hands together and blew the frost that covered both of his hands towards the black mass of gas. The icy-cold ball of elemental energy flew with the magical wind and travelled towards the black smoke, clashing with it. Upon the moment of impact, Forus pointed his finger rapidly at the two silhouettes behind the wall of smoke. Each time he aimed at it with his finger, the tip of his nail would absorb the natural light surrounding him and condensed it into a ray of golden light before shooting itself towards the black gas, helping the ball of the icy particle to push back the aura of resentment. During all of this, Forus had consumed much of his sorcery energy inside of his body, making his face turned slightly pale. He also needed to focus his attention on refining the interior of the dead infant as well as supplying the sorcery energy to the bluish flame to keep it burning while balancing it not to let it get out of control and ruin the concoction. At the crucial moment when most of the ray of light had pushed the dark cloud into retreating inwards of itself, lady Abicel clapped her hand two consecutive times, creating two waves of heat. One would condense the refining ingredients inside of her cauldron into a pill while another would travel towards Forus, disrupting his concentration and destroyed all of his hard work.

As the layers upon layers of the array deteriorated, the tone emitted by the music box also turned more calming and soothing, engulfing the atmosphere with sadness and grief. The faint weeping sound resonated with the lovely voice of the mysterious singer, showing her inner emotions, containing reluctance and sorrow. Once every last bit of defence crumbled, along with the extinguishing of the blazing desire for hope and success, the giant hand gradually advanced towards the couple, who were embracing each other, readied to relapse into the worriless sleep, waiting to reborn together, forever and ever. Even under the pressure of the approaching death, Ocelia Coruscare remained unwavering and continued to savour the moment of fulfilment, welcoming the weary body of her love, rubbing his silver hair gently, avoiding the abrupt actions that might hurt him. Enjoying the moment, Forus Ander faintly smiled before using his remaining strength to grab Ocelia's hands and place them on her lap before weakly rose from the ground, sitting cross-legged. Ocelia tried to help him but got rejected by Forus, so she could only worryingly watched her partner painstakingly raised his only hand. Forus looked around the world, engraving the vision of the world into his memory for the last time before he used his remaining hand to did the unexpected thing. Using his last hand, he forced his fingers into the eye socket, before exerting all of his power to grab the sphere of sky-like colour, causing pain to run through his body multiple times. Although the pain was immense, Forus didn't even sweat or show any sight of distress. His unreadably pale face withstood tearful agony of losing his vision and both of his eyes, not complaining or lamenting. With the endless resolution, he exhausted his brain and used it to command his last hand that held the bluish eye to throw the eye at the incoming grip of the death, not caring about the consequence from overusing his mind and brain. The blood that supposed to gush out from his eye socket didn't come out. Instead, the horrifying roots of the spiritual seed rushed out to occupy its place, forcefully taken another part of his body, preventing him from using his sorcery spells and potions to regrow his lost organs. The bulb popped out of his left eye, blossoming into a pale flower that sucked the leaking blood into itself, turning them into its fruitful nutrient. The flower twisted and turned, violently spawning leaves and branches, rushing out from the eye socket into the dull, emotionless world. They rushed towards the loose eye and tried their best to take it back. Every bit of Forus would help them absorb his power to become stronger and resisted the suppression from the grey soul and the Death Aura. The flower immediately activated its defence and started to madly rushed towards the dark hand once it noticed the hand's presence, using its roots to try to bind the hand and absorb its vitality. However, the bulbs that touched the dark fingers would turn into a pile of dark mass that merged with the fingers, becoming a part of the higher being. After sensing the formidable might of the mysterious hand, the flower began to utilise its sorcery supplied its creator had left as the back-up plan. The enhanced roots began to rapidly grow with the help of the wooden element, turning spiky and tougher, being able to put up a fight with the hand for a moment before turning into dust again. However, because of its massive numbers, the roots of the flower managed to create a stalemate, indirectly buying time for Forus and Ocelia to live for a little longer. The last gamble that he was confident was this move. The plan was the desperate attempt for survival, filling with lots of assumptions that would kill them if they were correct. Firstly, Forus risked that the sorceress that planted the seed into his eye was not the godly third-ranked sorcerer and also not a sorcerer trained in the space-related study. With the separation between the world and the pocket dimension, as well as the protection from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, the creator of the seed would have no way to communicate with the bulbs and telling it to suicide itself to kill him. Secondly, he also assumed that the seed would have the back-up source of power that would help it in its struggle. As the sorceress was probably at the stage of the second-ranked sorcerer, her scheme would run deep and have many layers of protection to ensure its success. Thirdly, he gambled that the seed wouldn't have the semi-conscious to control itself and acted according to the situation, as it had never demonstrated such ability even when he was scheming against Ocelia at the Steel Cauldron. Finally, he further assumed that the sorceress didn't want to kill him with the seed and by herself, as she was the type that would care for her disciples. From the moment that Forus had severely injured the righteous girl, she would develop the gigantic shadow of his silhouette that would suppress her wills power and determination, forcefully stalled her sorcery cultivation progress and distracting her concentration. If the sorceress cared about her disciple, she would also care about her future, leading to her being unable to kill him, as she needed him to help her disciple overcame the shadow by directly defeating him by herself. Fortunately, the luck was on his side or maybe the misfortune didn't want him and his partner to rest yet. The struggling between the flower and the hand slowly lost its balance of power as the flower gradually depleted its source of energy left by its creator, but the black hand didn't show any visible sight of tiredness or wariness, as if it had infinite energy to spare and was toying with the spiritual flower. Once the flower acknowledged its defeat, it immediately commanded its roots to retreat, disregarding the casualty and forcefully rushed into Forus' eye socket, hiding from the monster of the night. If it couldn't defeat the monstrosity, it would burrow inside its host and used him as the shield. However, the black hand extended itself forwards, accompanying its movement, space trembled, creating countless small cracks that led towards the darkness of the void. The darkness rapidly poured out from the rifts, letting the tentacles to rush out of the void freely, binding the roots and pulling the flower out from its hiding shelter. Sensing the pain akin to getting his body ripped apart, Forus casually placed his hand on the flower and grabbed it tightly, uprooting it out from his eye socket with all his might. Using the battle between the fingers of wickedness and the magical roots, Forus decisively disregarded his safety and decided to eliminate the threat that hovered above his soul for a long time. Finally, realising that its demise was near, the seed decided to abandon all of its occupied territories and disconnected the flower and the roots from its core, fleeing into the deeper part of his conscious and soul. The remaining inefficient parts began to gather at both of Forus' eye sockets, growing into the wood that would hinder his effort at recovering his eyes. Although Forus would be able to get rid of them if he continued to focus his sorcery energy into his eyes, he wouldn't be able to use them in this mysterious realm where he and his loved would face the bringers of death all the time, increasing the risk of the couple's mistakes that might end their life. After Forus could confirm that he had dealt an extraordinary blow to the spiritual seed, he laughed loudly without any restained, feeling relieved and genuinely pleased. However, his series of laughter got interrupted by the sudden coughing, causing him to fall onto the ground, losing all of his strength from over exhausting himself. Fortunately, Ocelia had been waiting for her dear in case he fell onto the ground and successfully caught him from hitting the dirty ground, laying him on her lap, looking into his hollowed eyes without any hints of disgust. Her hand caressed his silver hair as she observed his old, wrinkled facial expression. Although Forus had lost the pair of sky-like eyes that had previously attracted her and the handsome face that would charm the pure maidens, the love and care that Ocelia had for him still didn't diminish and kept going up as the moment passed. "You can rest now, my dear. Thank you for everything. It is time for your love to pay you back." Her soft voice echoed the world of light as she gently placed Forus onto the ground that she had covered it with her torn robe before she set her gaze at the mysterious hand. The hand also finally finished absorbing the spiritual flower and its roots, silently travelling towards the two instead of the icy bonfire. It wished to taste the core of the flower that would be much more delicious than the shoot itself. Forus could only hear the faint sound of chanting that Ocelia sang, using last bit of her flaming sorcery to summon the leaning tower once more. Most of the tower was empty without any fire spirits as they had already died from the previous battles and struggles. Only some of the fire spirits from the fifth floor, and the sixth floor remained, not counting the ultimate peak of the seventh floor. The higher the floor, the lower the number of fire spirits as they would become more concentrated and individually stronger than the previous level. The power of the ones on the fifth and sixth floor was akin to the various stages of the third-layered sorcerer apprentices. With their numbers and total control from Ocelia, she would be able to drag the stalemate for a long time to prolong their struggle. She needed to buy as much time as possible to let her partner rest and gained some of his strength back. Like before, the fire spirits, under the manipulation of Ocelia, arranged themselves in the patterns that would hold the frontline as long as possible. The fire spirits, disregarding their life, jumped towards the hand and used their self-destruction to force the hand back slightly. Using their sheer numbers, they managed to push the hand back at the cost of depleting their numbers and exhausting their creator, Ocelia. She quietly panted as her head started to feel dizzy. The mental burden of commanding the fire spirits to create complex formation and using their suicides with the highest effectiveness was very tiring. At first, there were only the sweats, dripping onto the ground every time she shook her body. After a while, Ocelia would occasionally cough out blood, faintly trembling as her body began to give in. Despite the heavy burden, Ocelia didn't complain and noiselessly endured it all, repaying her fated one with her blood and tears. Time ticked by, before long, Forus slowly raised his remaining hand, before using it to help him stood up from the ground, trying to find where Ocelia was positioning using his ears. His actions caused the trembling Ocelia to let out a smile as she extended her hand to him, feeling the warmth in his touch that sent the carefree sensation throughout her body. Suddenly, Ocelia instinctively closed her eyes as something pieced into her eyes, blinding her for a moment. The ray of glowing particles illuminated the world from its dark phase, leading the world from the dark age into the hopeful one. The dark hand shook as the world trembled, seemingly not welcoming the existence of the monstrous beasts, yelling for the creatures of darkness to scram. As the world rejected their presence, the music box slowly faded its melody away, and the singer abruptly stopped her song, disappearing into the void along with the several eyes that gradually closed, merging with the nothingness that disappeared when invaded by the light. Looking at the endless whiteness that casually came into existence, radiating from the dizzy limitless height of the sky, Ocelia Coruscare and Forus Ander silently embraced each other, enjoying the satisfaction of being able to survive the crisis. Together, they lived.

Little by little, the static space crumbled into the void as cracks emerged in their place. The small rifts in space and time allowed the realm of colourless to be ever so close to the mysterious abyss, making it easier for the power of corruption to leak into this world. Although it was impossible to move in this unchanging state of reality, the energy from the abyss still managed to move freely. The power of corruption gathered together, morphing into a black spherical ball of gas. Their interior regularly moved around, crashing with others before devouring each other madly, becoming purer every moment. As they did, the size of the ball began to shrink, becoming smaller with lesser yet purer power of corruption. Some times later, the ball burst open with a soundless detonation as its outer layer couldn't handle the pressure of the condensed power of corruption anymore. After getting condensed into becoming smaller, the gas began to liquify itself into a black fluid, taking up lesser space and turning even more refined and pure. Due to the explosion caused by the orb-like container, the heat it produced caused a chain reaction, igniting the black liquid of corruption. The ball of liquid burnt dimly, emitting black flame and darkness as they did so. However, instead of producing ashes and let them scatter with the wind, the white ashes it produced magically gathered together and reassembled into a piece of paper. The pale sheet of paper flew towards Forus, hovering in front of his face, waiting for him to read the contract and signed his name on it. With the mysteriousness of the evil entity and the source of corruption, even through Forus could not see anything, in his mind, he saw a paper detailing the condition of the deal inside the infinite blackness devoided of visions and scenery. In the absence of his mind, Forus reached out with his hand to grab the paper before regaining his focus. Although he was shocked, he still managed to calm his mind and attentively read the contract. The contract stated that from the moment he agreed onwards, his soul and his fate would become the property of the ruler of the abyss. For whatever reasons or motives the entity had for some, it could freely do so without his consent. He would never be able to disobey it as long as it commanded. However, once you sealed the contract, the entity would also help Ocelia to escape from this apocalyptic world without any lasting negative consequence. Although it seemed that Forus got cheated by this unfair contract, in reality, it could even be that Forus struck a better deal for himself and Ocelia. In this dull world where there were existence like the dark hand and the white figure as well as the mysterious invisible force looming behind the curtain of the grey mist, it was nearly impossible for Ocelia to survive and escape this place alone. Even if Forus was perfectly fine and could break through to the stage of the first-ranked sorcerer, there was no guarantee that they would not encounter and life-threatening situation. As Forus finally decided to accept the contract, space around him trembled once again as more power of corruption poured out from the rift. Like its predecessor, it formed a spherical-shaped ball and continued to condense itself into liquid before bursting into flame. However, this time, it didn't become the same pale pape. Instead, the fire gradually subsided as the white ashes integrated onto itself and transformed into a pointy-shaped object. The exterior of the object was pure-white as well as smooth, reflecting the black light that came in contact with it. On its surface, many symbols depicting various letters that Forus didn't know shone dimly. With the handle in one end and a pointy tip on another, it was for cutting. The knife slowly landed on Forus' hand, caressing his skin and exposed bone. Forus could vaguely hear that the blade was begging for him to use it, to cut himself with it so that it could taste blood. Without any hesitation, Forus grabbed the knife and cut his wrist, letting blood oozing out and moved his hand towards the contract paper, waiting for enough blood to come out and group together to drop onto the page. As soon as the drop of blood hit the said paper, it slowly expanded into an intricate symbol, having his name below it in blood-red. Suddenly, as if Forus was a puppet, an invisible string emerged from the contract and shot towards him. Even if Forus wished to dodge, his body nevertheless wouldn't listen to him. Forus could sense that something had traversed into his body, moving towards his soul and warping itself around it. After the string attached itself onto him, it slowly disintegrated into nothingness, leaving only the uncomfortable feeling inside of him. Forus felt light-headed as if he had lost something, letting some places inside his body empty. Before he knew it, the loud cracking sound began to echo the world, breaking the world from its static state. At that moment, the barrier that blocked the river of time collapsed as time and space resumed its natural routine, moving the world once more. Like others, the previously-stopped realm of consciousness began to deteriorate again, stabbing Forus with rounds of pain and dizziness. If nothing happened during this time, Forus would surely die after a moment of meaningless struggle. "Very well, young man. We hope you could bring us more enjoyment than ever before." The distorted voice that consisted of every voice Forus knew resounded as an all-corrupting ray of black light generated itself into existence. The ray of light broke through laws of space and time as it crossed the boundary of dimensions and time, arriving in front of Forus without moving before penetrating directly into his soul. Effortlessly, it went past the realm of consciousness and the liquified Elements, rapidly expanding as it did so. As it approached the greyish soul, the ray of light was already at the size of the soul, enveloping it completely. The blackened soul violently twisted as it devoured the black mist of corruption like crazy, turning it into black tentacles and used them to preserve the realm of consciousness. With many tendrils at work, they began to pull the fragments of Forus' mind together, assembling them into a whole again. In a blink of an eye, the situation changed from Forus dying to his power becoming stronger with the help of the mysterious entity. While the soul was repairing the realm of consciousness, it was also absorbing the liquified Death Aura and Elements, pushing them into condensing again, turning purer than before. The process of compressing lasted for several times as the size of Forus' soul turned smaller each time, containing stronger Death Aura. With the whole realm of consciousness, Forus could begin to absorb the faint incompleted Elements in the atmosphere again. Although these Elements were impure and mostly unusable for ordinary sorcerers, with Forus' mystical soul and body, he could still extract the useful bit and converted it into sorcery energy. By regaining his sorcery energy, Forus used it to circulate his body, accelerating the rate of recovery of his body. He could feel the heat travelled through his body multiple times, coming from the process of regrowing missing flesh and skin. Slowly yet steadily, his body began to repair itself, turning from the ugly monster to something more like a human. However, every time the sorcery energy travelled through his eyes, it became dimmed and slowly disappeared before it could regrow his eyes. From several checkings, Forus concluded that the spiritual seed had awakened from its slumbering state due to the resonance when the evil entity mimicked the appearance of the female sorcerer. With its unknowable power, both the presence and aura it imitated were like the authentic person. As it received stimulation from its owner, the seed became unusually empowered and hyperactive, going out of its way to cause terrible for Forus again. It would occasionally block and try to devour his sorcery energy, preventing him from using it to recover his bodily damage. However, once Forus stepped onto the realm of the first-ranked sorcerer, he could slowly corrode the seed with his highly-concentrated sorcery energy. Although it would take a long time that he wouldn't be able to do it inside this world, it would be better than having no chance of getting rid of the seed. While Forus was feeling the change inside of his body and soul, the mist slowly diminished in quantity, making the scenery from the outside view becoming more apparent as time passed. Ocelia immediately noticed the change and looked attentively at the area, trying her best to find the figure she so dearly wished to see. However, she could only witness Forus from a distance, for fearing that his final attempt at the break through the sorcery cultivation would fail and all would lose. Although she didn't know what happened inside the black mist, she inwardly felt sorrow and worry sprung inside her body, making her uncomfortable. Ocelia forced her eyes not to let out any tears as she stared at Forus without any pause in-between. His newly grown skin reflected light into her eyes and the silver stain of hair danced with the wind, suggesting the extraordinariness of the figure. Although the masterpieces that were the sky-coloured orbs were not on his face, Ocelia still felt her heart throbbing as she planted them into her mind. With the connection resumed, the pinkish gas began to spread forth outwards, covering the area while battling the dull mist. It chased the fog away from the surrounding, forming an invisible barrier only for the two to stay inside. The corruption of the surrounding also dissipated as the greyish soul madly devoured it, turning it into the energy for the breakthrough. A sound of cracking and crushing disrupted Forus' concentration as he quickly observed the inside of his realm of consciousness. He saw that his soul had already become infinitesimal as the Elements also almost finished its merging process, drying the said realm of consciousness with multiple colours. Although the size of his soul became miniature, Forus could feel that its ability gradually improved as its size shrank, filling his mind with a comfortable sensation. He could think faster and sharper than before. He was able to make accurate judgement and having higher comprehension skill than his previous self. Accompanied by the shrinking of his soul, the wall of the realm of consciousness slowly expanded, making room for more space to store the sorcery energy. With more storage, Forus could have a higher rate of converting Elements into sorcery energy and store more said sorcery energy. Around Forus, the air started to heat up as the ground abruptly shook, sending shockwaves everywhere. Soon, the whole dull world became distorted as it couldn't withstand the sudden force, making the edge of the world disintegrate, moving across the endless void away from its whole. The mystical force had a majestic aura that suppressed the lower existences, commanding them to lower their head for it. The golden colour of it eclipsed the brightness of the realm as it moved across the boundary between worlds. Its coming was the signature of something of a great origin. Not even in the past hundreds of years had this type of aura appeared in the Mountain Union. The wave shook again as other near worlds got affected by said force, violently trembled as the habitats inside suffered the unintentional consequences. With its destructiveness, the orb at the centre of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin would have already made a move and detain it. However, despite the damage done to the ruin, said orb didn't react and floated emotionlessly inside the void. As it got severely damaged by the power from the abyss, the orb got into self-preservation mode that would set its survival as its top priority. Even if the Fleeting Emotions Ruin got destroyed, the sphere could still repair them after an enormous amount of time. So, it was natural that it would ignore the commotion caused by the unknown force. Soon, the barrier that once got destroyed by the evil entity crumbled once more, opening the gateway for the outer world to peer into the inner world. The great force immediately rushed outwards towards the external world, showing its destructiveness to the outsiders. Its characteristic was inviting everyone to view upon its feature, causing uproars to the sorcery community as the members of various forces used their fastest method to send the message to their superiors about this earth-shattering event.

Ocelia had forced herself to stop interfering with Forus amidst the process of receiving the rewards from the white figure, feeling worried as she rooted herself on the ground, not doing anything that might disrupt his means of strengthening. She watched as the skin of her lover turned hardened and black as multitudinous scales merged with his bones, making him monstrous in appearance. The calm expression that showed no sight of disgust or panic had almost made her fell for him farther than before, causing her heart to beat wildly. She silently observed the changes that were happening to Forus, eagerly dreaming about how his final look and strength would become after absorbing the Life Aura and merged it with the Death Aura. No matter how his appearance and race changed, her feeling for him would never reduce, only the sensation of happiness would come with his increase in power. Although she felt perplexed at the sight of Forus regressing into his previous humanoid appearance, she didn't wish to know the reasons why the Life Aura seemingly disappeared or the reasons why Forus didn't go crazy with ungodly amounts of power. She only wanted her lover to become stronger, not wishing for any of them to depart without each other. In absolute silence and remorse, the couple soundlessly tested their new power to satisfy their curiosity, trying to touch the upper and lower limit of their ability, modifying their fighting styles to fit more with their current capability. Although they didn't dare to use most of their spells because of their vast consumption of the sorcery energy, they could still use their most basic ability to test their current skill. After an unknown amount of time passed, the two finally ended their little experiment and fully recovered their lost energy, which had emptied itself in a span of an eventful night. They laid onto each other, embracing their partner's warmth and discussed their next course of action, trying to figure out the pattern and the possible mission of this endless world. The mechanism of the Fleeting Emotion Ruin was to send the young, inexperienced sorcerers and apprentices to train their body and mind inside the pocket dimensions, honing their instinct and fighting experience, enhancing their mental mind to be able to withstand the pressure in the life-death situations. They would never send the trainees towards the place which left them zero chance of surviving because that would be against their purpose. Not only that, but the ruin would also reward ones who triumphantly completed the trial according to the difficulty of said trial, giving out generous treasures to motivate the trainees to try to overcome the challenge, further honing the inexperienced to become the wised. If they could survive this world and come out safely, even without them completing the unknown mission, their rewards would at least be comparable to the best of the previous rewards known to the public world, if not even better. On the other hand, they needed to not die in this world first to receive their prizes, making them concerned about getting out. Forus' train of thoughts suddenly got interrupted by the sudden twisted movement on Oceilia's end, as well as her subtle panting sound that indicated her painful experience. Although Forus could not see her facial expression, he could still imagine that her look would be pale and weak, enduring the pain that mysteriously appeared without letting out any sound, not wishing to worry her lover. The Snowflake Tattoo that previously gained Ocelia the power of equilibrium faintly shone, violently used its power to forcefully modify her body to become even more suitable for the Fire Element and Ice Element, turning her into a form of the elemental spirit, which would be the best form that suited the usage of elemental particles. Her hair and body gradually gained a hint of blue and red shade, becoming more crystal-like and smooth, turning from the warming human skin into the cold, hard membrane. If the process didn't stop, soon enough, Ocelia would lose her humanity and became a new race that thrived on the concentration of the elemental particles, living in the realm of Element and depended on the condition of the Element. Her body would slowly become spiritual in nature, and her soul would transform into an Element-based soul, shedding her mortal self and becoming one with the Element. Although becoming one with the Element would make her able to control the elemental particles flawlessly at will, her spiritual body would hinder her from ever breakthrough from the shackle of sorcery and ascended towards the higher realm of magic, unless she could find some other lost treasures that could change the aspects of the soul and body. Not only that, but her Element-based soul would also stop her from interacting with any other Element-based spells other than the ones her soul based on, which was the Ice Element and Fire Element. Forus placed his hand onto Ocelia, feeling the violent changes that happened within her body. Her body would abruptly radiate heat wave before suddenly stopped and emitted the freezing waves instead, making the temperature of the surrounding to turn chaotic. He also could feel that some parts of her white, soft skin had already turned metallic and cold, becoming statue-like and not life-like. Using his sorcery energy, Forus quickly used his hand to guide his power to lead him towards the source of Ocelia's suffering, quickly arriving above her chest, where the Snowflake Tattoo engraved onto her. Upon realising the precise cause of the misery, Forus decisively willed his hand to transform into its ugly, tentacle state, using them to stab into the tattoo and absorbed the overflowing mysterious energy into himself, helping lessen his desired one's burden. The mysterious energy that ran into Forus crashed within his body violently, turning his veins into a deadly battlefield and causing his blood to erupt madly, bursting out of the vessels, creating injuries all over his arm and chest. However, before the invisible energy could do anything else, the grey soul inside Forus' realm of conscious started vibrating and extending the greyish, unending tendrils out towards the physical world, reaching the said vague energy in an instant. Like its preceded invaders, the Skull Tattoo as well as the Life Aura, the transformative energy got eaten by the tendrils as quick as it came, becoming the sweet and delicious energy that would supply the Forus' soul and the grey light that fused with it. Although the force tried to struggle with all of its might, it was feeble when compared to the unlimited and shadowy tentacles that could devour the Life Aura without any side-effects. Sensing its impending doom, the Snowflake Tattoo spontaneously cut off its connection with the Ocelia's body and buried itself into her chest, silently hiding from the tendrils and ceased all of its attempts at transforming Ocelia into the elemental spiritual being. Although it had already stopped its operation, the changes were permanent and would not regress unless she found the treasures that concentrated in doing so. Ocelia was fully aware that her body had undergone a definite change, pushing her a little more towards the edge that separated between human and the non-human. Her cold hard crystal-like body was the proof of her power, as well as her inevitable forsaken of the humanity she once was. Although she knew that her love, Forus, would not change his feeling no matter how Ocelia became, she couldn't say that her Coruscare Family would accept her. If she became the fully-transformed Element-based spiritual being, she might get rejected from becoming the legitimated successor with the excuses used to overwhelm her under the facade of righteousness and justice. If her body became too perfect, it might also risk the chance that the second-ranked sorcerers would use her as an experimental subject, trying to find the secrets of her changes. Panting softly, Ocelia struggled to grasp for breaths, lying on the floor while watching as Forus caressed her face, slowly applying his gentle force to ease her worry and anxiety. Like the divine intervention from the higher being, his hand of healing immediately vanquished the pain that caused her inside to tear apart and filled her concerned mind with the leisure of peace. As Forus noticed that Ocelia had already stopped panting and shaking in pain, he gradually lost his grip on her and withdrew his hand from her, letting her have some personal space. However, Ocelia didn't wish for that to happen and used her hand, which was cold from the outside yet warm from the inside, to grasp for his, gripping tightly without any intention of letting go. Upon the contact, the symbol of love that engraved itself onto their hand began to glow, showering the surrounding with the highly intensified pinkish light, shooting towards the sky before forming a dome of lovely atmosphere that encompassed their surrounding. The dull, emotionless world suddenly turned colourful in Ocelia's eyes, becoming life-like and alive. Her pupils contracted as they changed from their former circular shape into the rose outline, shading from the orange colour with a hint of bluish shade into a bright, charming pink hue. In her colourful vision, she saw the crystal tower that shouldered the sky with its dizzy height, keeping the balance of the world in place as well as enforcing the rules that dictated all things. Inside the tower, countless magnificent statues of numerous creatures were waiting for everyone to discover them, safeguarding the rich history and detail behind their beautifully crafted design. The hallway inside the tower stretched towards the lonely altar where the skeleton fo an ancient creature remained motionless, lying in waiting for those who found their way to here. The shrine was pitch-black and would absorb every bit of light that accidentally touched it, devouring all of its essences without anything left. The statues that stood orderly behind the altar varied in appearance and style, making Ocelia not being able to find any pattern in their arrangement and order. However, all of them had the aura that could defy the mighty presence of the creature's remain, not crumbling before its power. Their weapons of choices were unique. Some would use swords while others would use bows, but then, there would occasionally be the user of scythes and spears, as well as ones that used axes, daggers, rods or staffs. Before Ocelia could walk in and examine the altar and its protectors, the tower shook violently as the space around the hallway warped itself in a twisted manner, distorted the distance and crumbled onto itself. She found herself slipped onto the ground and mysteriously leapt from her previous location, which was in front of the altar, to a new position, which was at the beginning of the entrance. Unlike the previous emptiness that she encountered when walking towards the altar for the first time, there was an eye-catching stand that held a greyish book in place, inviting Ocelia to open it and gained the forbidden knowledge it had kept safe from the outer world. As she carefully reached out towards the enchanting tome, a terrifying change also happened at her fingertips. The closer her hand towards the tome, the faster it changed from its human skin into its cold, smooth, and stony membrane. If she desired the knowledge which would pave her way to make her advancement towards the second-ranked sorcerers simple as breathing and eating, she would have to sacrifice her humanity and abandoned her traditional soul into becoming an Element-based one, forever not being able to change her form of employing elemental particles ever again. Noticing the price she had to pay, she slowly yet reluctantly pulled her hand away from the stand, not wishing to lose her humanity at the moment. Although she didn't get to have the tome at that moment, she could still use the mystical energy that the book radiated to improve her strength and supported her unique talent, adapting her body to be able to wield the Fire Element and Ice Element without any dare consequence. "Child, this is your destiny. Accept it and grasp at your string of fate, control your destiny!" A faint feminine voice echoed the Hallway, seeping into Ocelia's soul. A powerful force descended onto her body as they forcefully took over her body.

The intensified Elements occupied the majority of the space inside the realm of consciousness, creating a mist-like atmosphere inside the mind of Forus. Although they could dwell themselves inside the tiny area within his cognisance, their intense nature caused the stable flow of sorcery energy to turn chaotic and shake the foundation of Forus with each fluctuation. While enduring prolonged pain, Forus found that the ritual that guided the Elements and Death Aura into his realm of consciousness had emitted a series of black light that pierced into his body and circulated within his blood flow. They would enforce his inner organs and heart to keep them from stopping their operation, helping Forus by lessening the burden of enduring both inside his conscious and outside his body. The Elements slowly covered the exterior of the greyish soul, sending their power inside the soul, compressing their enormous quantity into a small container that was Forus' soul. Acting like an empty glass of liquid, the soul silently waited for the Elements to condense themselves from their mist-like state into the liquified state, turning purer and took lesser space than their counterpart. With each drop of the liquified Elements, they resided inside the soul, leaking out with a chaotic mess of Elements, threatening to burst out from the inside and broke the greyish soul apart. In their liquid-like state, the area of impact turned smaller while the pressure on said area multiplied by a large margin, weighing down on Forus more than before. With the drop in the volume of the misty Elements, walls of the realm of consciousness could finally take some pressure of the concentrated Elements by itself without the sorcery energy. However, all of the said pressure had transferred itself into the inside of the greyish soul, crashing onto every part of the soul. With every increase of droplets, the stress exponentially progressed, creating many cracks on the exterior. Fortunately, the Death Aura, upon noticing the small cracks, rushed towards the hole and filled itself inside the hollow space, holding the exterior of the soul together. With such bizarre conditions, Forus forced every last bit of his energy into maintaining the overall structure of the soul, fighting against the pressure of the liquified Elements. As the last droplet fell inside his soul, the glass full of Elements shook as the Death Aura slowly expanded and covered each part of the walls of the realm of consciousness. Without the help of the Death Aura, Forus needed to bear the burden of the liquified Elements by himself. Due to the sheer pressure, Forus' physical body tremble as his skin cracked opened before fixing itself with the help of the wicked symbols. With the guide of the ritual, all Elements that floated the surrounding had already entered Forus' mind, causing the chaotic weathers to subside. With the change in the flow of Elements and the disappearance of the Elements, Ocelia was able to get rid of the blackness and chaotic current of the weakened Elements that blocked her view. Once witnessing the scene, Ocelia saw the constant loop of breaking apart and renewing of the skins, watching the blood seeped out before the body automatically created more blood to substitute the loss. The previous hellish scene turned much more sinister with the soundless scream and the unfolding suffering. Like Forus, Ocelia grasped at her chest while panting heavily, feeling as if the limitless ocean had submerged her entire being, weighing down her heart and soul. The suffering of her love made her heart ached and left a small crack in her mind, leaking out transparent tears that condensed from the grief inside of her. At that moment, Ocelia felt no pain from the battle between the evil power and the transformation Snowflake. The pain in her heart suppressed the pain in her body and overtook her calm and confident demeanour. Without any moment of hesitation, she gazed at the symbol of love that connected her and Forus, wishing from the bottom of her soul for her to unite with him again. Like a machine on standby, the symbol shone brightly as pinkish mist emitted from it, changing the depressing atmosphere into a rich love-filled experience. The chain reaction caused the rune on Forus to glow as well, twisting the image of the ross as its roots penetrated out of his skin and joined with Ocelia's. At that instance, Forus felt empowered, and without his notice, his usually calm face curved into a slight smile as the enormous pressure that stressed his soul slowly reduced in quality and transferred itself towards Ocelia. The blackness that he could only perceive gradually overlapped with the vision from afar. The reddish landscape reflected in his sight, amplifying the appearance of the figure in the middle of the black ritual. Although he could see the dull world once again, he felt no joy nor satisfaction. In his mind, he was dragging down his Ocelia, making her suffer for every passing moment. Without any hesitation, he quickly forced every bit of the Death Aura to cover his crumbling realm of consciousness, merging with the essence of the Death Aura. The faster he could do it. The shorter Ocelia needed to endure. However, even with the combination of his will, her will, and their eternal, unchanging love, the rate of merging with the Death Aura was still slower than the crumbling speed of the realm of consciousness. No matter how they tried, the two had already known that Forus' will would disintegrate away into countless fragments, turning into a mindless shell that had no meaning in its existence. While Ocelia wished to move towards her loved one to embrace him, she found that her missing feet had forbidden her from doing so, as for Forus, his breaking and reconnecting body had no spare energy to move even for a bit. The two were so close, yet so far away. The tiny gap between them was like a depthless pit, forever separating them apart. Because of his blinding greed and unnatural body constitution, the process of breaking through the barrier of his was different from the ordinary sorcerer. The act of hastily created the Light Core was without any consequence. The newly-created concentrated Light Element was very unbalanced and required a vast experience to be able to control it from going rampage. With his unique way of sorcery, making him one of the quickest sorcerers ever to reach the first-ranked, how could he have any experience necessary to control such concentrated Element? However, if he didn't acquire the Light Core, even if he could break through into the first-ranked sorcerer, he would be one of those average sorcerer, not enough to venture out and reunite with his family again. In the end, everything reached up to this point, the point of no return. The memory of his current life flashed before his eyes, showing his struggle, his goal, and her. From the very first moment where Ocelia injured him, to the first moment where they met face to face, to the point where he stole her body and only at that moment they finally developed their little emotion into something grander than they could imagine. Seeing the vision, the sensation of pity flooded his mind. He discovered that he was the source of her misery. He robbed her knowledge, forced her into his body, injured her almost to the point of death, exploited her family and relative, and abused her power. Even then, she forgave him, gave him compassion and swore to become his only companion. However, even now, at this moment, he was still causing her pain she never deserved. The reason that they journeyed into this dying world was because of his greed, wishing to take control over Ocelia, robbing her of her will and body. The reason for their impending demise, in the end, was him. Like a puppet with its strings cut, Forus lost his will to breakthrough and continue the suffering of her. He felt like a man lost in a foreign world, far away from home. His quest of reuniting with his family felt unreal as if it was never meant to be possible. Like a playful demon, the memory about his past life surfaced for him to revisit them. In the illusion of peace and mediocrity, he regained his purpose and found his happiness. He watched as his wife, Meria, and his daughter, Matia, played with each other while a letter sent from his brother, Intor, occasionally appeared before him. The crash between his past oath and the current feeling silently exploded within his heart, blossoming into the transparent flower, hiding within his soul. The affection for Ocelia constantly nourished it, coupled with the nostalgic feeling of olden life, it finally emerged from his steady mind. On one side, he knew that his love for Meria was sincere and eternal. He should not have an affair with another woman. However, from another perspective, Ocelia's actions had touched upon the distant part of him. She showed him the meaning of selflessness and its power. In his blindness, he could not see the face of Ocelia and any of his relatives ever again. Although he knew that they didn't want any of this to happen, a selfish man like him would always be selfish. Thus, he promised himself to be selfish again, for the benefits of his. An eternity in his mind was an instant in the real world. If he still had his eyes, they would change from the dim eyes, which lacked any sign of life and determination, to the colourful and vivid eyes. The immense sensation of relieving flooded his mind, filling him with endless strength to make his selfish desire real. Although the regain of liveliness should be the sign of someone recovering their purpose, Ocelia felt like her heart was breaking, tearing itself into a half. The heavy premonition of loss filled her very being. The return of liveliness could be the sign of someone recovering their purpose. However, it also could be a sign of relieving oneself from the grip of reality like the last stage of grief, the acceptance. "..." Ocelia frantically opened her mouth, trying her best to scream and cry, wishing dearly for her soundless voice to reach him. However, the impact between the power of corruption and the Snowflake had already damaged her vocal cord, ridding her the ability to conjure any sound. Blood gushed out of her mouth, spilling all over the ground, turning her vision blood-red. She stumbled onto the ground, crazily extending her arms towards Forus, crawling towards him as fast as she could. Although the hellish landscape was full of spikes, she disregarded her body and the injuries that came from her actions. As if fate was playing with her, the distance between them between once shrank, turning longer and longer every time she moved towards him. They were a world apart, no longer seeing each other, no longer hearing from each other. Soon, they would fade from their memory, forever remain a dissipating dream, a fleeting emotion. Although it seemed futile, until the very end, Ocelia never stopped crawling. She even withdrew her sorcery energy from resisting the power of the Snowflake, letting them transformed her into an elemental spirit, using its transformation from fleshy being into a being of pure energy. If she became a mass of energy, she could go to Forus and stayed by his side. The flesh on Forus slowly fell onto the ground. With no sorcery energy to fuel its activity, they no longer try to reconnect with each other. The connection between the two naturally severe itself, cutting them from their reunion. Contrast to his miserable appearance, a carefree smile, lacking in anxiety and fear, stayed on his face. His mind felt at ease. His soul felt relieved. He gradually turned his head towards Ocelia, causing flesh to drop from his body more than the usual rate. Accompanied by his movement, the bright, watery eyes of the young maiden gazed upon his smile. The feeling of carefree and worry crashed at the very moment. The intense first stage of grief met head-on with the lasting last stage of grief. Like an audience, the surrounding world turned silent, afraid of disrupting the last conversation between a man from the world of death and a lady from the world of life.

After a period of thinking, Forus started to write the expected property of the evil potion. Because its main ingredient was a dead infant, there would be the Death Aura involved in the refinement process, causing the quality of the pill to diminish down. Although the amount of Death Aura wouldn't be able to cause permanent damage to the consumer, it might still cause a drop in their sorcery cultivation. He needed to change the way to concoct the medicine to get rid of the lingered Death Aura and substituted other rare ingredients with something more general. The methods from the early period would use the standard components from the old time, whether the modern era would use the common ingredients in the modern era. As for the base ingredient that was the blood and the corpse of an infant, Forus could only increase the range of the suitable age of the remains. The younger the remains, the purer the vessel for the medicine, resulting in better quality pills. About the consequences of refining and consuming such pills, the alchemist must deal with the resentful spirit of the parents, infants. They also needed to purify all of the blood to rid it of the trace of the previous owner before injecting it into the infant corpse. Otherwise, the mark of the former owner might clash with the current body and polluted each other, making the body withered away. There were many limitations to the pill. They could only heal the internal wound that didn't hurt the soul and caused by the sorcerer apprentices. The purity of the elemental power would be too high for the pill to cleanse and might even increase the power of the lingering elemental waste and further harmed the body. Forus casually smiled as he read through the procedure of the ancient pill. With the pill's foundation, he could potentially create the pills that stored condensed Death Aura and used it to help increase the firmness of his foundation and speeded up his cultivation process. Although he could try to create the new pills at that moment, he decided to not give up on the bet of the Coruscare Family. If he lost the gamble, the Ninguis Family wouldn't help him, and he would suffer the wrath of the Coruscare Family. On the other hand, if he won against the Ninguis Family, although he would face the wrath of the Coruscare Family, he would have the protection of the Coruscare Family. With that thought in mind, Forus decisively chose the best path for himself. Although in the end, the path contained many life-threatening crises, it was the best course of action for him. His power and intellect weren't enough for him to find the solution to this problem in a short amount of time. While Forus was carefully remodelling the recipe, others were also doing their job as well. The female in purple had been trying her best to recreate her pill to perfection. She hoped to use her masterpiece to thoroughly shatter the calm face of Forus and won the favour of the Ninguis Family. She hated the fact that an unknown person within the alchemy circle got chosen by the sorcerer family to compete with her. She felt that this man wasn't decent enough to compete with her. The red-robed man who was popular among the group would be a suitable match. The red-robed man, Mabilis Sagunien, was the second son of the Sagunien Family, one of the influential force outside of this city, the Flamedouse City. To gather forces to help him in his battle against the first son for the right to inherit the Sagunien Family, he had travelled to the Flamedouse City to quickly absorb the small factions to help him spread his influence before his rival did. With the backing of the Steel Cauldron, his path towards the successor of the Sagunien Family would become a lot easier as the support from the alchemy community was very prominent. They could bring forth numerous people who yearned to help the alchemists and gave the lasting impression to gain small favour from the skilled alchemists, hoping for them to one day accepted their requests. Such was the power and strength of the alchemists. It was not without reasons why the alchemists sometimes looked down on other sorcerers or those with lower skills and abilities. Although the lady in purple wanted to crush Forus thoroughly to reveal her talents, she couldn't do it as she wished. If she had angered the Coruscare Family by humiliating their future successor, although the Steel Cauldron would help her by deterring them on the surface, the world of the underground circle could still find their way to her. She would only cause Forus to lose his cool and created doubt in his abilities, causing his mental state to become unstable, making it more difficult to cultivate and practice his sorcery. His humiliating defeat must not tarnish the reputation of the Coruscare Family, but it would smash the illusion of expert that Forus had. Time flew fast for some yet slow for others as if time itself was not absolute and eternal, but a fragile layer of illusion originated from the limit of their senses. In the blink of an eye, many hours had passed, and the end of the test was near. The examinators announced the remaining time as the participants panicky checked their answers to look for the unnoticed mistakes or to hope for a sudden inspiration to improve their procedures. In a moment, the sound of the bell rang across the exam ground, signifying the end of the writing exam. The examinators would take the modified methods of concocting the pills and potions to examine and gave judgements about the effectiveness of the designs. "The following section of the examination would begin shortly. Please prepare yourself." The examinators spoke as they led the participants out of the testing ground before instructing the servants to bring the ingredients. They would provide the components according to the procedures that they got. Inside the honourable guest chamber, many distinguished guests were talking to each other as they enjoy the treatment of the Steel Cauldron. Most of the topics would relate to the upcoming bet between the two sorcerer families, the Ninguis Family and the Coruscare Family. The heated discussion to determine the victor also caused the man in red who was resting to mess up his train of thought before he quickly suppressed his emotion. For that unknown man to get a place for the Coruscare Family, it was very humiliating for him. However, because of this reason, the man in red, Mabilis Sagunien, felt the air of mysteriousness from Forus Ander. From his eyes, Forus must have an unusually mysterious background or a notably ancient alchemy technique. His mouth curled into a faint smile as he looked toward the woman in purple. She would be the first person to clash with Forus, competing with him in the art of alchemy. She was the tool that Mabilis will use to correct information about the unknown faction that was Forus. If he could find any lead to weakness of trail of Forus, he might be able to bring Forus under the banner of his. With a capable assistant, his path towards the successor of the Sagunien Family would be a lot smoother. After a moment of silence and solitude, the sound of the bell echoed the entire hall, signifying the start of the latter part of the test. The participants would have to use their modified procedures and concocted the pills or medicines that they adjusted within the time limit. The test was about the courage and steadiness of the participants. Within the eyes of others, they would have to remain calm and collected without losing their focus, or else the concoction would fail and created an inferior result. "Don't fail me, Falsus." A sudden voice that travelled into Forus' mind disrupted his thought. The speech carried a trace of spiritual power, progressing into his body unrestrained. Although the spiritual could potentially cripple him, Forus didn't do anything against it. He knew that Ocelia wouldn't do anything strange as many others were observing the event, including the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron. When the spiritual power entered his body, it didn't linger around but instead quickly moved towards the exotic seed on his disabled eye. The string of power immediately tried to repair the unusable eye and aided the Death Aura to erase it. However, the mysterious seed came from the strange spell of a genuine sorcerer. It wouldn't go down quickly, especially when said sorcerer was stronger than Ocelia herself. She could only stop the ever-increasing rate of invasion of the seed, but couldn't restore his eye. Although Ocelia couldn't restore Forus' eye, he felt that it was better this way. If she could dispel the exotic seed and repair his eye, he would have an immense headache. It would mean that the current Ocelia would be mightier than the mysterious female sorcerer who could kill him with a thought. "You must defeat her, Falsus." The receptionist girl whom Forus registered with also whispered her encouragement to him. She truly wanted him to win against the female in purple, both for her benefit and his. Towards the encouragement and the command of others, Forus remained unmoved and wouldn't ever go all out. His objective was to draw or win by a small margin. Making too big of an event would result in many eyes being fixed on him, causing major disadvantage. After receiving his required ingredients, Forus quickly checked the condition of the dead infant and the freshness of the elemental blood. Marking the different of quality in his mind, Forus tried to adjust his recipe to create a more suitable pill. Although he could make the recipe even better, due to his unique identity, he wouldn't gather attention unless necessary. Exposing his character wouldn't just cause the Ninguis Family and the Coruscare Family to go after him, it would bring that mysterious female sorcerer to locate him as well. Against the unknown power that, with a single thought, could easily annihilate him, Forus had no chance to fight back yet. He needed to gain strength to combat against the enemies to achieve his goals. The sudden fluctuation of the temperature caught Forus in his thought, making turn his attention towards the origin of the variation. The woman in purple, Abicel Pingre, was using her delicate control over flaming elemental particle to enchant the quality of the fire in the cauldron. She waved her hand and caused many different exotic herbs to fly out and surround her. She then used her remaining fire element to envelope the impured herbs and plants, slowly yet steadily burnt away all the unneeded parts and the imperfection of the ingredients. She had produced better and more suitable ingredients from the previous inferior ones. Her way of controlling fire element was very taxing for the ordinary alchemists. If she lost her focus even for a moment, she could cause the flaming particle to accidentally burn the good parts of the ingredients, causing their quality to drop. Her spectacular performance created the attraction force that guided everyone's attention towards her figure. The cleansed herbs and plants that flew freely around her while the blazing flame erupted in beautiful patterns according to her thought. The scene illustrated the grand talent of Abicel, showing her ability that helped her built her reputation on the circle of the alchemists. Seeing the excellent execution of Abicel, Glacies Ninguis felt his pride exploding into the sky, filling him with delight. He secretly glared at Ocelia and found that regardless of how good Abicel was, she would never invoke any emotion from her icy face other than a faint smile. The thought of this possibility caused him to lose all his excitement, making him envied Forus even more. He found that when Ocelia looked at that insignificant man, she would let out a hint of emotion. It was as like Forus was something Ocelia couldn't get over with, as if his fate and hers connected with other.

"Save me, teacher! Save me!" Florie screamed as she frantically shouted for help. She had lost her manners once she saw the unspeakable horror. She pulled out a scroll and opened it without any hesitation. One could see many inscribed runes on the inscription, brightly shining as if they were threatening to devour the stars. The runes disintegrated and turned into a single ray of greenish light, condensing itself into a giant pale ross. Her mentor had given her this scroll as the last life-saving protection. Once she used this scroll, she could bring forth a single powerful strike of her mentor who was a second-ranked sorcerer. The giant white ross started to rotate slowly, causing its petals to fall, drifting across the sky by the soothing wind. The pale perianths would disintegrate everything that came into contact, turning it grey and crumble into ashes. The dark tentacles that extended themselves from the grey soul crumbled one by one. However, there were countless amounts of tendrils originated from Forus' body. No matter how the perianths destroyed them, they would always come back. Silently yet frighteningly, an enormous eye manifested above Forus. The large grey eye slowly opened itself, causing the world to slow down and turn colourless. It gazed toward little Florie, causing her to become pale and coughed out her life force. Her smooth skin dried out a little after her life force came out, causing her to look older than her previous self. In despair, Florie cried out loudly, shouting for her teacher to come and rescue her from this nightmare. Her breakdown caused the mindless Forus to tense up, gradually awakening from his confused state. He felt as if she was someone he knew. Someone he loved. ... In the flying garden, a beautiful female sat on a floating platform, gazing toward the sky, watching the movement of the stars. There were many scrolls beside her, but one of them suddenly destroyed itself. The sudden change caused her to open her eyes, stopping her sorcery practice. She could feel a strange sensation of familiar in her soul, a sense of loss and pain. This feeling had manifested itself inside her soul as if she was about to lose something precious to herself. "Little Florie, I'm not gonna let you die!" She said softly before waving her hand, causing the plants around her to move orderly and brought a mirror for her. The mirror flashed as it revealed a scenery where her disciple was. In the vision, she could see a corrupted man, who had lost his mind, was trying to harm her precious disciple. His black tendrils slowly crept toward the helpless girl. Even her one strike couldn't beat it thoroughly. "I couldn't let her die. She is my only colour in this lonely life." She had watched the girl grew up. After a long period of living together, a hint of colour started to appear in her vision. Little Florie was the only colourful thing left for her to see. After a moment, the mirror trembled and shattered into pieces, the man inside the vision had used some unknown spells to seal and cut off space around him, disrupting the magical mirror's ability to spy on others. The maiden knew that her disciple was in grave threat. She had to help her at once. ... The black tentacles stopped their movement the moment Forus regained his consciousness. His mind suddenly spun rapidly, trying his best to suppress the rampaging grey light within his soul. He cast various spells to conceal the disturbance and stopped the interference from the outside. He could instinctively feel that someone was spying on him, or rather, someone was observing his unique body. He also realised that the mysterious power within his soul had already mended the wounds on both his soul and body. Although with his normal recovery speed, the injuries on the body would eventually cure themselves, the scars on his soul were ever-lasting. After an instant of silence, Forus turned his attention to the panting female. Her condition was getting worse as time flew by. If she didn't get any help in time, she would undoubtedly die due to massive loss of blood. He thought for a moment before walking toward her, causing Florie's face to turn pale. She struggled to crawl backwards, only to cough out blood and collapsed onto the ground again. In her despair, she watched as the manifestation of nightmare walked towards her. The black and rotting hand of Forus penetrated through her chest, leaving behind a gruesome mess that exposed her bare body and skeleton structure. A piece of her heart, as well as a fragment of her soul, flew out into his grip. He gazed at the part of her heart deeply before putting back the remnant of her heart into her body. He then used his icy cold elemental spell to seal the fatal injuries on her body, keeping her alive for an extended duration of time. Due to the pain of forcefully ripped apart one's soul, little Florie screamed until her lungs busted out and lost her consciousness while blood seeped out of her pale lip. From now on, her life was under the control of Forus. He only needed one thought to crush her fragmented soul to cripple her body and mind. By the time he finished bringing out a part of her soul, the black tentacles and unholy grey eye had faded out of existence and went back into slumber in his soul. He needed to keep this matter as the deepest secret of his life. He would kill this strange girl if not for that unknown observer. To interfere with his battle after the call for help of that girl, no matter how he looked at it, that sorcerer must have some connection with the girl. He needed to consider the outcomes of his action. In the end, he decided to spare her life. If that person was the enemy of the girl, they would kill her by themselves, but, if they were the ally of the girl, Forus would suffer endless pursue from that person. He had already kept a part of her soul with him. If anyone wanted to avenge her, he would use it as the hostage to keep himself safe. Before he could leave the crime scene, the earth around him trembled violently. The common plants started to twistedly wiggle as if they were greeting the appearance of their deity. The short grasses grew swiftly as they slowly transformed into the bizarre plants that leaked off relaxing fragrance, contrasted to their scent, many pointy thorns concealed themselves beneath the multicoloured leaves of the flower. A ripple in space-time spread across the forest, covering a big part of it. In an instant, the dimensional barrier between the real world and the void collapsed and opened a gate between the long distance. Inside the bottomless portal, a vast and ever-evolving Clematis slowly making its way out of the crack on the distorted space. Behind the magnificent flower were countless large and translucent vines, crawling toward both Forus and the motionless girl. Observing the process of the breakdown of the space around him, Forus could understand that the one behind this event was at least a first ranked sorcerer. His power, even with the grey soul fully activated, would never be able to withstand even a second in their presence. Swiftly, he threw many potions that deal the most damage to plant element before rushing off toward the distant. The potions dissolved themselves into the atmosphere, but they could only delay the maddening leaves for several seconds before they regained their movement control and chased after him again. Although the trail of blood would expose his whereabouts, the person would need to take care of that girl first. Even when he was rushing from the portal, the vines seemed to ignore the distance between space as they warped the space around themselves to instantly shorten the gap between Forus and the flowers. They immediately rushed towards him, catching him completely off guard. The thorny leaves pierced through his body, cracking his bones into fragments and injecting an unknown substance into his bloodstream. The pain rushed into his head, but Forus didn't feel any of it. He only forcefully twisted his broken arm to let it take most of the damage before cutting it off with his dagger. Once the broken arm fell onto the ground, the majority of the mindless thorns swiftly coiled themselves around the arm, crushing it under their enormous force before absorbing the life force within it, leaving only grey ash in their finish. Left with no choice, Forus pulled out his life-saving method. ... Looking at the portal, the female sorcerer concentrated most of her attention into nursing her disciple's injury. Her physical body suffered severe harm that if little Florie didn't have a strong mentor like her, she would at least lose all of her sorcery energy or she might hurt the shifted flow of the magical energy inside her body and die. Suddenly, senses of loneliness and longing manifested itself within her soul, causing her cold facial expression to change into a heart-breaking one. The sudden appearance of profound emotion left her in the daze. She carefully checked the condition of her disciple to find any abnormality. She took notice of familiar particles, they were the icy cold elemental energy that covered her disciple's body. In an instant, countless thoughts and memories rushed inside her mind and soul, forcefully made her recalled her tragic past. "After countless days and nights, after countless sorrow and grief, I finally found someone related to you." Her face twisted unnaturally as the unending hatred that she had suppressed within her soul released itself for the whole world to observe it. The killer of her family, the man who killed her father. The person who heavily injured her disciple had the same aura with that sorcerer whose crime couldn't be forgiven. They were related in some ways. Before she could order her plants to completely rip that man apart before torturing his soul, the man drew a small glowing orb with the size of a fingernail. The orb softly flickered as it touched the man's hand, trembling as if it was about to break. Once she laid her eyes on the orb, she forcefully stopped all the vines from moving before retracting them back to protect her disciple. That orb was a fragment of her disciple's soul. If she wanted to kill that man, she would indirectly cause the death of her precious student as well. "You forced my hand." She muttered as she extended her hand into the portal, causing it to tremble violently. The portal couldn't withstand the pressure of a second-ranked sorcerer. The presence of the second-ranked sorcerer's power caused the forest to shake fiercely, causing the disturbance that spread throughout the forest, arriving at the city. Just her presence alone made Forus strumbled and fell onto the ground. His body stiffened and the flow of sorcery energy inside his body suddenly went out of control and ran chaotically, causing his internal injuries to fare up. "Mistress, please stay your hand." A male voice echoed within the forest as a figure slowly materialized itself from nothingness. Together with his arrival, the temperature of the land rose up as the sky gradually turned red. Not just that man, but a few more consciousness of the second-ranked sorcerers also focused their wills onto the portal, waiting for the response of the foreign force. The arrival of an unknown second-ranked sorcerer was not something the powerhouses of the area could tolerate. The number of the second-ranked sorcerers had always been low. They also formed a peaceful situation where everyone collectively restained themselves, allowing the war to not come true. "I won't bother myself with your political scene, just hand me that thing, and I would gladly leave." The female concealed her resentful emotion and let them all out. This was the only clue towards that monster who killed her father. She couldn't let it slip by. She was willing to do anything to avenge her father.

Although Forus' soul got severely injured by the act of ruthlessly burning a part of her soul away to repel the soul of Ocelia, with the help of her new background, the Coruscare Family, she could recover her soul to its prime and strengthened it to become compatible further with the body of the first-ranked sorcerer. However, even if she could quickly heal her soul, she had to slowly request the potions to avoid arousing unwanted attention and suspicion, making her recovery process to take a longer time than necessary. After missing the best period to get rid of Ocelia, who was in Forus' previous body, she had already given up on continued to pursue the task. Now that Falsus Nomen got the full attention of the Steel Cauldron, the security around him would become the annoying pest that followed him everywhere, not giving her any chance to assassinate him. The Coruscare Family couldn't bear to offend the Steel Cauldron whose influence extended throughout the entire Mountain Union, having many smaller bases within almost every big city. The leader of the family, which currently had the power of the second-ranked sorcerer, wouldn't be able to withstand the wrath of the Steel Cauldron, whose leader was a third-ranked sorcerer. The only way to safely eradicate this dormant problem was to quickly strengthen her soul to the point that she could suppress the soul inside Falsus Nomen and made it her loyal slave using the connection of the string of fate as the battlefield. Even then, Forus still didn't wish to connect herself with Ocelia, due to the mysteriousness of the Ring of Recollection, she didn't want to get trapped inside the unreal illusion while she competed with Ocelia in the contest of the souls. If Ocelia had unexpectedly discovered a new function of the Ring of Recollection and set a trap and waited for Forus to fall in, she would at least get expelled from this incredible body and at worst became a permanent slave of Ocelia instead. Despite the intention to ruin and enslave Ocelia, who knew almost all of Forus' secrets, she still maintained her outward appearance of a caring and gentle mistress who occasionally went to see Falsus Nomen, the genius at the arts of alchemy, expressing her interest in his body and soul, acting like an innocent maiden who had fallen in love. Each time she visited Falsus Nomen, she would send a tiny part of her sorcery energy to help him cultivate his sorcery base. Naturally, the sorcery energy she sent to Falsus had got tampered with and contained some lines of dialogues, using it as a mean to silently communicate and helping each other becoming more powerful for the sake of getting rid of each other at the end. Responding to Ocelia's visit, Falsus would sometimes gift Ocelia some mid-quality potions, expressing his admiration towards the mistress of the Coruscare Family. The medicines also contained a mark of information buried inside, using them as the mask to conceal the secret conversation. From this type of communication, both Forus and Ocelia had benefitted from the previous calamity by a large margin. Since the moment they knew that they had very little chance to finish each other off, they immediately sought for compromisation and tried their best to race against each other. If any of them misstepped even once, the other might took that moment of failure and boosted themselves up, completely suppressed the one who failed first. Perhaps the significant losses that Forus had were the loss of the control over Death Aura and the powerful body that got specially created by the grey soul. The feminine body of Ocelia Coruscare, whose power was at the first-ranked sorcerer, was just a little stronger than the figure of Forus, whose power was merely at the third-layer sorcerer apprentice. Even if Forus could train her new body with Death Aura, its power would drop down and would wake a much longer time than with her original body. The original foundation of Forus had got created by the mysterious grey soul to become compatible with the Death Aura, while Ocelia's body was just a regular body without any enhancement from the mysterious forces. Forus' only oversight was that she forgot to destroy the Ring of Recollection before she transferred her soul with the help of the string of fate. However, in that moment of life and death, there wasn't enough time to carefully plan everything without any mistakes. Just for Forus to successfully take over Ocelia's body, he had probably exhausted all of his luck. However, with benefits came problems, after taking a tremendous risk and successfully won the bet between life and death, taking over the body of Ocelia, the issue that related to the mysteriousness of the soul and consciousness began to show itself. As Forus' soul began to unite with her new body, the lingering emotions and dispositions that existed within the female body also began to fuse with Forus' personality, subtly changing her temperament. Although the dominant emotion and personality still belonged to Forus' emotions, the changed in her temperament was undeniable. The feeling of intimacy and love towards Ocelia Coruscare started to take root within Forus, making her felt warming sensation every time their eyes met. Forus also began to sub-consciously talk and acted as Ocelia without any thoughts, slowly becoming the genuine mistress of the sorcerer family. She knew that the process of merging the two to become one was unavoidable and resigned herself to her fate, as she was confident enough to control her emotions not to affect her rationality. Although she would feel excited and yearn to be with Ocelia, Forus would never do anything rash. "Mistress, your requested black tea is ready." The same old butler gently knocked the door before opened it and brought in the black tea full of rich fragrance. After sensing the silent approval of his mistress, the butler slowly walked towards Forus-in-Ocelia as he professionally lifted the jar full of black tea and skillfully poured it into the lustrous cup. The scene of a matured maiden casually drinking the freshly-prepared tea while admiring the surrounding scenery of nature would ease one's mind and warm one's heart. "Mistress, your favourite alchemist, Falsus Nomen, has requested me to deliver this gift to you. He wishes to see you again." It was no secret that Ocelia Coruscare was interested in the talented alchemist, Falsus Nomen, whose skills could rival some master of alchemy. The Coruscare Family also expressed their approval of the relationship by silently turned blind eyes towards the matter and secretly supported the two. After all, having connections were essential for the survival and the continuance of the sorcerer family. It would greatly help pave the way of the rise of the Coruscare Family if the next leader of the family had an intimate relationship with one of the exceptional talent of a significant association. "Tell him to wait for me. I would visit him soon." Receiving the gift, which was unquestionably the potions and the secret message, Forus listened to the reports of the general situation of the city before dismissing the butler. "Seeing you desperate truly warm my heart." Forus giggled lovingly, seemingly enjoying the thought of the nervous expression that Ocelia might be having. After all, with Ocelia's experience, he would have already noticed the unusual characteristics of his new body. The fact that Ocelia couldn't advance his sorcery cultivation by using the traditional method would send him into a panic, but, given the intellect of Ocelia, he would have long figured out that Forus was holding the crucial step to ascend towards the first-ranked sorcerer. Regarding the information about the mysterious entity and the detail cultivation method about the Death Aura, Forus could deduce that something had interfered with the transferred memory and erased the detail regarding these taboo subjects, probably the mysterious entity itself. Even with the memory of Forus Ander, Ocelia Coruscare couldn't be able to create the next step of cultivation method by himself. Although the lingering emotions and dispositions that existed in Forus' previous body would merge with Ocelia's real personality, it wouldn't cause Ocelia to become a copy of Forus. After all, Ocelia's personality was the dominant force. That only left Ocelia-in-Forus with one choice, to establish a deal with Forus-in-Ocelia, to trade for something at the equal value. Because of this, Ocelia had been trying to express his sincere by gifting Forus some middle-grade potions that were good for sorcery cultivation, especially regarding the path of the flame. After a long period of silence, Ocelia started to get desperate, and in the end, requested to see Forus face-to-face. Seeing this reaction caused Forus to smile gently, feeling proud of herself. To let the other take the initiative to approach her would make her have the upper hand in the transaction. The one who showed their interest first would naturally get exploited by the more secretive one. However, Forus also needed to analyse this transaction thoughtfully with cautious. If she pushed her deal too far and accidentally crossed the boundary, Ocelia might do something that would be disastrous to both of them out of his recklessness. If she didn't do anything and pretended not to acknowledge this, Ocelia might also try to search for the answer himself, exposing the extraordinary body in the face of the danger. Regarding her previous body, Forus Ander would try her best to seize it, while subduing the soul of Ocelia into her submission, making Ocelia her property forever. Not only it would satisfy the tender sensation that she had got from fusing with Ocelia, but the extraordinary physique that could manipulate Death Aura was a notch better than the ordinary feminine form. If not for the gloomy threat of becoming enslaved by Ocelia and the crisis of Lord Phasma's appearance, Forus would gladly live inside her first body and continued to struggle against fate. Now that Falsus had entered the Steel Cauldron, it would be a matter of time before he could deduce the method to break through accurately and became the first-ranked sorcerer. However, such was fate and destiny, one could not force the result and could only silently comply while one was weak. Only those with unearthly power could shape their lives and led their journeys. Those who couldn't reach the top were destinated to fall and became a pile of ashes, paving ways for the next generations. After clearing her mind from those thoughtless matters, Forus gently lifted the present that Ocelia had sent to her before slowly unwarped it while humming her tone, acting like a relaxed lady who was excited to open her gift. Seeing several middle-quality potions, Forus smiled faintly before rapidly using them to maintain her sorcery cultivation further. After getting this new feminine body, Forus could once again use the regular potions to improve her sorcery cultivation and finally be able to train in traditional cultivation method. Although it seemed that Ocelia was desperate and practically giving out Forus free potions and the likes, Ocelia had only given Forus the remedies for healing injuries and increasing cultivation energy, and not any of the medicines that could enhance the power of the soul or purify the sorcery power within her body. Even with the help of these potions, Forus would never be able to break through into the peak of the first-ranked sorcerer, let alone the mighty second-ranked sorcerer. Ocelia had also made sure that Forus wouldn't find a way to enhance her soul to increase her chance and suppressing and enslaving Ocelia when they fought for control over other's body again. The feeling of increasing one's sorcery was addicting for the body of Ocelia. Forus could feel the burning sensation of the flaming particle that flew through her vein, making her body turned hot and exciting. It was the opposite of how Forus cultivated her first body, which involved rotting her flesh and skin with Death Aura before using it to invade the blood and inner organs, slowly and painfully strengthening the entire body.

After Forus successfully sealed off every pore on the infant's body, blocking all the holes that leaked out the air of melancholy, he threw the dead infant towards the already struggling Abicel. The dead infant, who couldn't scream or pumped out the aura of grief, gradually expanded, threatening to explode under the pressure of the unending stream of gas inside its sealed body. The infant immediately met with the bloody formation, crashing into it directly. The icy layer of frost on its body served as the first layer of protection against the array formation. The freezing aura of ice began to freeze a small part of the structure, creating a flaw in the array formation. Seeing the ticking time bomb was coming towards her, Abicel face turned pale from fright. She instinctively forced out more of her blood, strengthening the structure and forcing out every last bit of her sorcery energy to cast various spells to banish the female ghost. If she couldn't expel it in time, she knew that not only she would lose her concoction, but her life would also be in a disastrous situation. Although she may seem to be in a threatening situation with no way out, a prodigy wasn't just a random nobody. If she assuredly felt that her life was going to end, she would still have more means to change the situation and made her escape. However, the prodigy also had their pride, if she couldn't even deal with this predicament, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron would not place their attention at her. Not only that, her trump card should never reveal itself casually as it involved her secrets and inheritance. If she used all of her cards here, she wouldn't be able to use it as a life-saving card in the future. Not long after her usage of the bloody formation, it had severely weakened the ghost lady, causing her strength to drop rapidly. Although the array formation was exceptional, it also cost a lot to create and maintain. The constant usage of the bloody arrangement caused Abicel's whole body to turn pale and her skin to age. She weakly raised her finger, creating a revolving fireball around her finger. It expanded itself rapidly and circled the ghost lady, binding her body and readied to banish her. Her bloody array was also sucking out the aura of melancholy inside the figure of the infant, preventing it from an eruption due to massive stress. At that moment, Forus suddenly pushed the refined physical body of the infant into the burning cauldron, causing the bluish flame to burn the body once more. After that, Forus sent all of the remaining ingredients into the container, combining them with the physical body. The burning sensation of the corporeal body caused the incorporeal soul that was the ghostly infant to struggle madly, trying its best to break out of the array. This move that Forus had attempted was very taxing. He had to over-boost the flaming intensity of the bluish flame and controlled it with more precise not to damage the ingredients. Seeing that Forus had taken advantage of her by making her the meat shield while he continued to refine the infant's body, Abicel was getting very enraged. She had to admit that her reckless action had caused this predicament, but, for Forus to use this opportunity to trap her as well as refining his pill at the faster pace, he might be more than he looked like at first glare. Once she had thoroughly thought over all the possible outcomes, she quickly created a shape of fire that resembled a dagger and cut open a large wound on the ghostly infant, causing its air of melancholy to leak out. She then decisively withdrew her fireball and used the force of the bloody formation to throw the infant towards Forus. While she had gotten rid of the ghostly infant, she also lost most of her strength. Abicel coughed out blood as she gritted her teeth and focused on banishing the remaining ghost. The ghostly infant that got thrown out didn't turn back to attack Abicel, but it instead flew towards Forus, who was refining its body and was the source of its intolerable pain. Now, as the infant came into this physical world for a while, it had been learning to control its power rapidly. The infant could observe and replicate the process of manipulating the fundamental energy that Abicel used to bind the ghostly lady. Using its air of melancholy, it condensed them into a concentrated mass of blackness and sent it flying at Forus. Regarding the approaching mass of melancholy, Forus still ignored it as it couldn't go any meaningful damage to him. He instead let the blazing bluish flame consumed it and used the last bit of the aura to refine the physical shell once more. However, once the undiluted air of melancholy got near him, his soul slightly shook as multiple strings of faint light appeared and restrained his grey soul. The feeble and incompleted silhouette of an old man slowly manifested above his soul. His consciousness was under the invasion of multitudinous rays of light at the same time as the old man appeared. The Decaying Dawn Ring on his hand trembled as it continuously emitted the Death Aura, corrupting the surrounding into pale ashes. This change caused the spectators to frown and glared at the examiners and the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron. However, in contrast to others, Ocelia Coruscare whose face was expressionless began to breathe slightly quicker. Her face twisted into a pleasant smile, beaming with genuine happiness and realisation. The feeble figure was none other than Lord Phasma whose first appearance had almost caused Forus his life. The might of the unknown sorcerer who could split his soul into pieces and fused them with the treasures was unpredictable and formidable. Before he got consumed by the strange grey light that slumbered inside the grey soul, he had sent a hint of his fragmented soul inside Decaying Dawn Ring, in case he failed to take over the body and perish. He would use the Death Aura inside the Decaying Dawn Ring to slowly recover himself to his peak before attempting to take over Forus' body again. However, little did he know that Forus would accidentally trigger the mysterious function of the Decaying Dawn Ring, pushing his weakened self out before the predestinated period. "Although I am out before I fully recover, it was still better than letting you have your time to cultivate your sorcery. Now that you are at your weakest period, I shall take back what was mine." Without wasting any time, Lord Phasma turned into a ray of brilliant light and shot towards Forus, accompanying with him, several hazy darts flew out from the void and rushed towards Forus, destroying the string of blood that protected his body. Detecting the ambush, Forus instantly raised his hand and formed a fist. He then retracted the Death Aura inside his soul that was suppressing the spiritual seed with the help of the blazing spiritual power. Once the Death Aura ceased from containing it, the seed quickly fought back madly and swiftly spread out from his unusable right eye, causing pain to travel through his whole body. Ignoring the pain, Forus burnt his fist with the Death Aura, burning his flesh into the decaying skin, and swang his nasty fist at the nearby ghostly infant. The overwhelming Death Aura broke through the air of melancholy and butchered the ghostly infant in an instant, killing it without letting it have any chance to defend. After throwing out a punch at the ghostly infant, Forus waved his hand and sent the blazing cauldron at Lord Phasma and his hazy darts, blocking the trajectory of the darts. The bluish flame would consume all the darts that came into contact with it, increasing its power and reducing Lord Phasma's offensive ability. While Lord Phasma was resisting the bluish flame, Forus made a grasping motion with his other hand, causing symbols to flash and disappear in a chain reaction. Lady Abicel who was about to finish off the ghost lady immediately felt her sense of crisis intensified countlessly, causing her hair to stand up. The semi-transparent light that stabbed through the ghost lady abruptly exploded, sending out various streams of light, penetrating through everything in the surrounding, eliminating the female ghost and heading towards Abicel. The light repeatedly smashed into the bloody array before breaking it down and proceeded to rush towards her. The light stabbed into her body, creating numerous wounds on her fragile body. Abicel suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Her face showed a torturous expression of despair. Her scream penetrated the countless soul and shook the atmosphere of the room, turning it gloomy and haunting. However, her wounds were either superficial and wouldn't be able to diminish her potential, other than the psychological trauma. Now, if she wanted to recover to her peak or ascended towards the higher high of power, she needed to rid herself of the enormous shadow that weighted on her heart. At the moment her hoarse scream ended, a cold snorted resounded the whole testing ground. Countless pale snowflake flew towards Abicel, enveloping her body as it touched her skin. The magical snow emitted a freezing wind to freeze the wounds and stopped the bleeding while recovering the injuries with the spiritual power inside of the blizzard. While the blizzard was protecting the dizzy Abicel, a part of it continued to produce several ruby-red spears. The spears were releasing a bloody fragrance like the blood-thirsty monstrosity. Every single one of the spears positioned themselves into a pentagram formation, circling each other while continuously changing their positions. "Falsus Nomen, you, a mere commoner, dare to harm someone under me?" A ruthless speech echoed the surrounding. The pentagram formation expanded out and shot the spears out successively. Each spear contained the force of the true sorcerer, making the ground trembled, sky rumbled, as it moved through space and time. The owner of the speech was Glacies Ninguis. His current ruthless expression and domineering behaviour were utterly different from the previously calm and collected presence in front of Ocelia Coruscare. He, as future successor of the Ninguis Family, held his head high and accumulated his pride since his birth. With superior talents and a great mind, Glacies had always been ahead of his generation, suppressing even his former teacher, who was at the peak of third-layered sorcerer apprentice, when he just advanced to the third-layered. Only with his rival, Ocelia Coruscare, could he feel some pressure from getting suppressed and left behind. Solely by standing with her, he could become excited and motivated to cultivate. She was the only one from his generation who could stand proud and held her head as high as him. His competitiveness slowly turned him into a cultivating madman, causing his power to surge and his skills to become much more refined. However, gradually, his feeling towards his rival also shifted from competitiveness into something else, an obsession. Once he got to the peak of the third-layered, Glacies Ninguis chose to use this desire of his to break through the bottleneck and becoming a first-ranked sorcerer. By becoming a genuine sorcerer, he embraced his obsession and let it burrowed deep into his mind, making him wanted to keep her for himself alone. "Die." Unnoticed by Forus, a small droplet of greenish elemental particle concealed itself within the group of crimson spears. It travelled alongside the spears, shooting itself towards Forus. It aimed at the right eye, right towards the spiritual seed. Forus tried to defend himself from the spears of the bloody blizzard, causing him to overlook the droplet. When he noticed the greenish droplet, it was already too late. He wasn't able to activate all his defence, causing the droplet to slip in and penetrated his right eye. At the moment of crisis, a soft sigh filled with adore and love echoed beside Forus. His entire body felt as if he had returned to his mother's embrace, it was warm and safe. There was not a single hint of pressure within this dreamy state.

Announcement Sorry for an unannounced temporary hiatus as I got busy from the exam. However, today marked the day my exam ended. So, I'll try my best to upload more frequent to make up for the loss. Before the two could do anything questionable, Forus forcefully grabbed Ocelia's hand and used her remaining hand to form the silent gesture, causing Ocelia to halt his movement and looked at Forus confusingly. "The weaker fire spirits that I sent out, they are all gone." Forus frowned as she spoke. The little monsters that she used as the scouts had the power of the first-layered sorcerer apprentice, which could survive in the ordinary wildness. However, once the darkness had eclipsed the world, all of them that didn't return fast enough had vanished without any knowledge of the assailants. This new information had contradicted the previous prediction that the world was lacking in life. Observing the vast darkness that encompassed the space around the icy bonfire, neither Forus nor Ocelia could sense anything beyond their world of light. The couple could hear the mocking resounded from the abyss, echoing around the boundary of reality and illusion. Looking at the thoughtful expression on Forus, Ocelia snapped his finger before sending out the small icicle that she had created into the darkness. Once the blindness had engulfed the icicle, its connection also broke from Ocelia's mind and silently vanished. Seeing the strangeness of the situation, Forus and Ocelia immediately changed their priority and guarded the icy bonfire closely, not letting anything came close. If the abyssal environment engulfed them, there would be no guarantee that they wouldn't end up like the previous victims, quietly vanished into thin air. Quietly, the calm melody travelled from the darkness, uplifting the gloomy atmosphere. The sound from the untraceable music box would occasionally repeat its song or sounded distort due to its poor condition. Accompanied by the soft tone, a feminine voice would sing her verse without end, giving the tone life and blowing the worry of the listeners away. Inside the dome of light, Forus and Ocelia had practically stood back to back, eyeing the surrounding intensely without any intermission, dreading the entities of the night. The worrying aspect of this situation was the lack of knowledge about the monsters. With the combined memory of Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, the two still couldn't find any description that could be about this monster. Just when Forus opened her mouth to say something, the darkness that waited outside of the region of luminosity abruptly shook. The instance the darkness shuddered, a string of flaming needle and icy spear accurately hit the said spot. However, the two spells also suffered the same fate as their predecessors, getting absorbed into the blackness before directly disappeared. Supported along with the tone of the music box and the lady singer, a series of laughter emerged from the darkness, toying with the hopeless little humans. A large hand pushed the boundary between the light and dark away as it slowly advanced towards the source of light. If it could reach the bonfire, all hope would die down as soon as the light faded away. As if it was the warcry, several smaller shadows also broke the barrier of light and advancing towards the couple, desiring to rip their soul apart and tortured them indefinitely. Forus immediately swiped her hand downwards, touching the greyish ground with her sorcery-empowered hand. The spell formation activated itself when Forus infused the sorcery into it, actualising the leaning tower into existence. The tower immediately opened its gate, letting the fire spirits of various power to battle against the shadows. However, the weaker spirits of the first floor would get absorbed by the larger shadows once they touched the said spirits, eating away the fire like they were just snacks. Only the flame of the third floor and fourth floor could chase and burn the shadows off, forcing them to retreat into the shadows. Overseeing the situation, Forus felt her heart jumped as she turned her vision towards Ocelia. The man was struggling against the terrible shadow that had four limbs and numerous tentacles as its legs, and Ocelia was loosing. His body slowly degenerated by the darkness as Forus watched his skin turned pitch-black. Although the process was painful, Ocelia didn't even sweat when he got hit by the black limb of the monster, perfectly keeping his calm in the face of the death. Without any second thought, Forus immediately finished her spells and sent out three icy spears towards the monster, forcing it into the defensive stance. Due to its agile tentacles, the monster could easily avoid the spears, successfully getting out of the assault without any disadvantage. However, it also retreated away from Ocelia, whom Forus had resued and was currently standing behind her shadow. Strangely, the freak looked at Forus, showing apparent confusion with body language. Forus saw the monster reached its limb in anticipant of something before feeling pain at her back. In reflex, she twisted her body before pulling out a dagger she had hidden to slice the attacker that stabbed her back, before jumping away to the safe distance. Forus could see that the previous wounded Ocelia had stood still and silent, with a smile that ripped his mouth apart from one ear to another, leaking out grey blood as he laughed maniacally. Without any shadow to relay on, Ocelia quickly melted away as he licked the blood from his hand, savouring the test of the fresh blood, which hadn't appeared since time unknown to others. In dazed, Forus sprinted towards the bonfire and used its freezing flame to froze her skin, examining the sensation of pain as she discerned that something was suppressing her senses. Before her eyes, the thin layer of darkness that had previously stuck on her eyeballs began to melt away, returning her vision to the truth. The black freak was formerly Ocelia that was winning against the monster, which explained why it looked at Forus weirdly after getting attacked by her. After regaining her vision, Forus and Ocelia grasped their hand together, sensing that their connection was more intimate than ever. Savouring the moment of comfort, the string of fate that previously slumbered suddenly awaken as soon as the imprint of love activated itself. The two lonely souls began to tangle with each other, sharing the feelings, emotions, memories and thoughts collectively, letting each other took control of the physical bodies. "Looked closely, dear Ocelia. I shall teach you how to control and use the Death Aura." As if Forus was the teacher and Ocelia was the student, Forus slowly raised the hand of the male body, letting Ocelia felt the process of chanting and the thought that ran through Forus when she was performing the spell of the Death Aura. The deadly black flame began to expand under the manipulation of Forus, burning away the flesh and skin of the male body. Although the previous times Forus used it, he would feel constant pain, but this time, Forus and Ocelia could only feel the warming sensation of the flame, brightening the spirits of the two and calming their soul. The burning flare of Death Aura would not release heat or cold wind but would cause everything under its influence to decay and rot away. Aiming at the large shadowy hand, Forus used his filthy hand to grasp at the air in front of him, creating the crumbling rays of black flame that shot towards the hazy claws, piecing into them forcefully. The hand unexpectedly took the hit head-on. However, it violently struggled after it recognised that the power within the light was strange enough to affect it, stretching its pure-black skin, dropping a drop of liquid on the ground. The sound of the music box spontaneously turned distorted and high-pitched, resembling the screaming of countless souls integrated into one. The singer also stopped her verse and began to cry, sounding hoarse and misleading, as if her voice was emotionless. The sound of mocking also died down, turning into the pitiful cry of the unfortunate beings. The change in the atmosphere caused the shadowy monsters to retreat, fearing the wrath of the angered one. The hand that got damaged by the Death Aura froze still in the air, releasing the sinister aura stronger than before. One after another, the fused soul watched as undeterminable greyish eyeballs manifested in the darkness, looking intensely at the bonfire. They could feel the crazed power that hid behind the night, waiting for the cage of light to break down and consume the world into the abyss again. The hand slowly moved again after the pause, meeting with the manipulator of Death Aura directly. Like before, Forus and Ocelia created the black light and sent it travelling towards the mighty hand, crashing into the stated hand, transferring the shocking impact into the surrounding, causing the icy bonfire to flicker. However, this time, the hand accurately grasped the speed of the light, catching it with its fingers before pinching it into nothingness. The shock wave sent outwards and dimmed the fire even more. The shadow cast by the black hand vibrated faintly, extending from the ground and built itself into various lines, forming the blackish tendrils. They rapidly devoured the weaker fire spirits and fought to the standstill with the stronger fire spirits, altering the situation to worsen more than before. Although the two could use their Death Aura to stall for time or, with some preparation and sacrifice, annihilated the shadowy hand, that would have used too much of their precious sorcery energy, forcing them into their weakest state. The potions were gradually decreasing like water due to their crisis, and they would use them all in less than a month. Conjuring another light, Forus willed the male body to aim at the hand again. However, the sudden interruption of chaotic information disrupted the body's rhythms, causing it to slow down and released the light at the wrong timing, exploding in front of the male body and burnt the foul hand into ashes. The tentacles exploded toward the absent-minded feminine body, using that moment of failure to wrap around her and struck her body, devouring her with its abyssal power. The skin that made contact with the corrupting tentacles would turn dull and lost all energy, becoming like all things in the realm, lifeless and soulless. The fusion between souls was powerful and mystical, but the aspects of the soul were not something the lowly first-ranked sorcerers could peek into its secrets. Only with the mystic features of the imprint of love and the mysterious force within the grey soul could the two fuse with each other. However, the sorcery energy required to power the fusion was too much for the reserve of the two first-ranked sorcerers. The symptom of dizziness was just the beginning of the consequences of using something beyond one's power. If Forus and Ocelia couldn't finish the battle quick enough, the two souls might irreversibly merge and become one, fusing the two personalities and two memories into one. Sensing the depletion of the sorcery energy, Forus decisively burnt all of the male body with the Death Aura and disregarded the icy bonfire, jumping towards the hand and punched at it. The speck of black flame would fly outwards as the strikes landed, burning the bothersome tentacles that couldn't avoid the blaze in time. In the meantime, Ocelia also controlled her feminine body and unleashed the flaming breeze that scorched all the tentacles on her body before she gritted her teeth at the pain of cutting the grey flesh out of her body. The dull skin would never heal and would need to be cut off. With many of the healing potions, she could quickly heal the missing tissue. During the chaos, the sound of the music box steadily grew louder, turning more calming and soothing. The echo of the melody instantly drove the tentacles crazy, twisting violently before disregarding their fear and charged at the couple without any hesitation. The calming harmony also manifested the formless pressure onto the pair of sorcerers, causing their movement to slow down and their flow of sorcery energy to stall. The hoarse cry slowly turned into silence and once again began to sing her chorus, brimming with passion and emotions. The voice of the lady would cause the body of the two to experience the happiness and relaxation, alleviating their mind with the relaxing song, weighing on their soul, telling them to let go of the pain and embrace the nighttime. The night, which was full of love and joy, hate and fear, would continue. At the end, who would remain the same?

Even when Forus saw the approaching danger, his face remained unmoved, not even a ripple of emotion was on his face. Instead, a faint smile was emerging from his usual still face. Ever since when he had resurfaced the realm of life from his first demise, his soul that had wandered between the boundary of life and death had strengthened his mind and almost entirely disconnected him off the dull emotions. Only the olden memory and nostalgic recollection could move his tranquil mind. From the moment he set out to gain strength to protect himself and to achieve his wishes, he had hardened his mind and used every bit of his mind and soul to plan, choosing the best choice to come out on top in this cold and unfeeling world. The feeling of despair he felt during the darkest moment of his life had left him dull and empty. If not for his last bit of fortune, or misfortune, depending on the perspective, he would never sign the contract with that mysterious entity and set himself free from the shackles of fate that tied him with those he loved. Although the bitterness of living was painful, the sweet relief of death was just a thin exterior that hid the darkness below. So, against all the odds, Forus chose to endure the soul-searing pain. He decided to abandon the illusion of peace and faced the cruel reality of torture. It was his worry about his lovely daughter's well being and the promise with his faithful wife that kept holding him back from crossing the line of rationality. To hear about his daughter for the final time, he wouldn't be scared to challenge that mysterious female sorcerer and her disciple merely to listen to a story about his daughter. To find out about his younger brother and his wife, he wouldn't hesitate to go against fate. The terrifyingly detached state of mind of his was the result of experiencing death and embracing life. Against such an unbelievable experience, how could a silly plan be compared with his indescribable struggle against fate and destiny? With a flick of his hand, Forus spontaneously strengthened his hand before stretching out to seize at the blazing wave of flame that rushed towards him. His action caused Abicel to frown before letting out a sneer. She revealed her disdain expression while continuing to refine her concoction, unbothered by his performance in the slightest. Mabilis, on the other hand, pondered about it in his mind deeper than before. He seemed to be unable to glimpse into the thought process of Forus, no matter how he tried, the man gave off an unusual vibe of being shrouded in a thick fog. Uninterested in his surrounding, Forus used his bare hand to seize the searing ray of fire, letting it convert his layers of tissue into the scorched surface, layer by layer. The scene that unfolded before the spectators were very shocking to some of the true sorcerers. To the other, the pain would make the weak-willed people roll around and screamed mindlessly and the strong-willed people to heavily sweat and disrupt their breathing, but for Forus who had once merged with the sea of nothingness, the physical pain was like a nonsensical illusion, weaker than the psychic pain and the pain that grasped at his soul. Ignoring the pain on his hand, Forus tightly gripped at the spark of energy and used his light elemental sorcery to exhaust the ray of energy and infused the light elemental energy in it, depleting its offensive power. After the wave of heat had lost parts of its potential, shrinking into half of its previous size, Forus threw it towards the silhouettes within the dark mist. The deadly ray of light penetrated the layer of fog and landed on the vague figure of the mature lady, causing her to let out a chilling scream. The lady had her chest impaled by the sharpened and semi-transparent light that continuously scorched her ethereal body, turning it into black and rotten flesh. Her eyes turned pitch black as she sensed the rampaging flame particle inside of the strike that pierced her heart, clutching her hands tightly as she hatefully glared at Abicel, whose expression had turned solemn and full of regret. The resentment spirit was just a fragment of their original self, broken and worn out. Their intelligence was even worse than a small child. Once they got hit by a mysterious power that had a heavy scent of fire, their instinct let them focus their attention towards the one which they assumed to provoke them. Abicel, who had fallen into the scheme, was the first target of the ghost lady. While she was formerly the master of the spell, making numerous of her traces apparent in the strike, the attack was not intentional. Only by the guide of Forus, who decrease the power of the strike and threw it towards the spirit, did the ghost not suffer the severe damage and had the remaining strength to retaliate. The female ghost screamed out a blood-curdling scream before launching herself towards Abicel. Although the resentful spirit was weak, she could cause Abicel's pain-staking effort to go down the drain if she were to become distracted by the attacks of the ghost. Seeing the situation was turning bad for her, Abicel instantly pressed her hand towards the ground, triggering a hidden formation that she had placed it to protect herself from the unexpected attacks. A countless spark appeared and flew around Abicel, forming a ring of flame that protected its owner. Even though they were causing a huge commotion and disturbed other participants, no one was trying to stop them. Everyone had reached a silent agreement to let this matter slip off as long as there was no causality. In the eyes of the Steel Cauldron, this would serve as an additional test for the participants. They would have to stay focused to complete their concoctions and also stay aware of their surroundings not to get hit by the impact of their conflict. The participants sweated heavily as they hastily set some forms of protection for themselves. They had never encountered the scenario where they had to protect themselves while trying to concoct a pill before. Naturally, this would make some of them panic and afraid. Although the others were busily thinking about their present, Mabilis had been observing the hidden battle since the start, and he had been shocked by the marvellous plan of Forus Ander, whose mind seemed to be stretching into the abyss of darkness, silently watching and waiting like an invisible hunter. After weighing the situation carefully, Mabilis decided to not interfere with the on-going conflict between the two. He didn't want to offend the sorcerer families behind them and also didn't want to sour the relationship between him and the twos. Strangely, he noticed that Forus didn't seem to try to fight back, and only continued to refine his pill while staring at the dark cloud deeply. Mabilis could easily deduce that Forus was waiting for something to happen. Otherwise, he would try his best to ruin the opponent's concoction, increasing the chance of him winning the competition. Sensing that something was amiss, Mabilis used his sorcery energy to strengthen his perception sense. Now, with his temporary increased perception, he could detect a faint air of melancholy diluted in the atmosphere. The air of melancholy had infiltrated every bit of the testing ground. Even though he had greatly reinforced his perception, Mabilis could only detect it if he focused most of his conscious mind into perceiving it. The air of melancholy was very diluted and seemed insignificance to even the dimmest elemental particle, even then, it was very weird that something like this would appear here. This thought process led Mabilis to the horrible conclusions that something sinister was about to occur, causing him to set up many protections fanatically. His actions caused others to frown, making them wonder about what was in the mind of his. However, almost none of them would spare their thought for him. The geniuses were usually the most unusual of them all. Maybe he was preparing for his concoction that required the use of something dangerous. Suddenly, without any warning, the air of melancholy in the atmosphere intensified itself. From the faintest particle that wasn't noticeable from the standard perception of sorcerer apprentices to the overwhelming force that threatened to invade physical beings in the surrounding, this instant of change caught almost everyone off guard, except for Mabilis and Forus. The impact of this had caused several of the participants lost their control over their cauldron, causing it to explode or burn their ingredients, resulting in severe losses. However, the one with the most pathetic state was Abicel, with the ghost lady attacking her, the air of melancholy became her nightmare. As of now, if she dared to relax her breathing of focus on other things, not only her concoction would fail, but she might even sustain internal injury as well. She couldn't even get time to think about Forus and how his scheme had already shown its result. While others were busily dealing with the air of melancholy, Forus wasn't doing anything to protect himself other than a small faint layer of light that covered his body. Although the aura of sadness was threatening to ordinary people, against Forus, who had fought and obtained control over the Death Aura inside of his body, it was as weak as the air that mortal breathed. Forus raised his injured hand and forced the blood inside of it to come out. The blood contained within his palm had a hint of grey diluted in it. It stretched out according to his will, slowly creeping towards the black mist. Although he could use his Death Aura to control the aura directly, he decided not to do so. His reckless action would expose his extraordinary talent to use the Death Aura. Not only that, if he was unlucky, he might reveal the special grey light that came from the transaction with the mysterious entity. His blood formed a string of dark-red line and warped itself around the remaining figure within the thick fog. The last ghost of vengeance was a silhouette of an infant. On its dehydrated skin, multiple miniature holes were emitting the faint air of melancholy, forming a layer of a shadowy sphere that continuously battled against the incoming string of crimson blood. Sensing the immense crisis coming towards it, the ghostly infant started crying loudly, sending waves after waves of distorted noise outwards. Whenever the waves of distortion touched anything, it would convert the surface of the object into rotten flesh. The flesh will then continue to corrode the target further, causing numerous chain reactions. Alas, no matter how hard it tried, the fragment of the soul of an infant wouldn't be able to contend against the sorcerer apprentice. The shadowy sphere finally collapsed and let the crimson string in, catching the body of the infant and retreated towards Forus. Forus gripped onto the infant and pointed at its screaming mouth, causing icy spikes to condense into existence and sewed its mouth shut, not letting any sound out at all. Without any emotion, Forus covered the ghostly infant with a layer of ice, sealing every pore on its body. After that, Forus glared at the devastated Abicel. She was having a tough time merely to keep up with the attacks of the ghost lady and the invasion of air of melancholy while controlling her blazing cauldron. Not only that, after she could adapt to the assaults of the ghost, she had to face another threat that was waves of distortion that considerably damaged her protection formations. Her situation was very pathetic as she was on her last leg. However, if she could banish the female ghost, she could easily keep up with the air of melancholy. After an instant of thinking, Abicel decisively cut her wrist, causing blood to leak out. The blood then automatically formed the structure of a formation, generating a tremendous attraction force to confine the female ghost. However, after she activated the trap, a sense of creeping crisis emerged within her soul. It was feeble and hardly detectable, but a disaster nonetheless.

Looking at the crumbling cauldron, Forus slowly raised his hand channelled even more ice element into the container of the bluish flame. The contrast between heat and cold caused the instantaneous combustion that echoed within the fragile cauldron. Observing his crazy and reckless actions, not even Lord Phasma could deduce his objective. However, even if none of the onlookers could predict it, the enchanted instinct of special sorcerers could still pick up the inevitable direction of destiny. Mabilis could see the faint silhouette of the ever-changing black mess of cloud above Forus, holding a scythe that extended towards Forus, waiting to chop it down and ended his life. Although the scythe was not going to hit him, Mabilis could feel that just the aftershock could easily kill him, causing him to sweat rapidly before slowly retreating in fear of its notice. However, once he surveyed his surrounding, he found that above the entity, a giant and almighty hourglass was hanging in the sky, leaking endless sand towards the black monster, threatening to consume it. Other alchemists who lost their wit and those who stayed outside the boundary of the force field couldn't see it, as they didn't have any unique ability for this kind of power. They could only try their best to reason the madness that drove Forus to this extent. However, even if Ocelia Coruscare couldn't sense the abnormality with her enchanted sense, she could still feel the movement of the string of fate. Her expression which was calm began to show a trace of ecstasy. The closer the said string of fate towards Forus, the faster she could become one with him. Even then, Ocelia was perplexed by the actions of Forus. She knew by her heart that the man she loved was a cunning and ruthless man and that all of his moves would benefit him one way or another, but, the current action of his seemed to do no good. It would only worsen his situation. Though, with her special connection with him, Ocelia could feel a looming crisis hovering above her, waiting to descend and devour her. The crazed actions of Forus must have caused something to happen and might even get him out of this predicament. Thinking about this strange situation, Ocelia smiled faintly. Even if Forus could reverse his current state, there would be no escaping from her backup plan. The poor cauldron trembled once more and slowly leaked the blue flaming particle out of its cracks. The destruction of the said cauldron was inevitable. One could only delay the inevitable and not prevented it. Forus didn't do anything to obstruct it, making the rate of destruction to accelerate. The blue spark that floated aimlessly would burn everything that it touched, making the area around the cauldron mostly turned into ashes. The sparkle also moderately affected Forus that he needed to divide some of his magic to protect himself against getting wasted down by the constant flow of fire. Meanwhile, Lord Phasma was getting desperate. Even after he hardened his mind and used the lower half of his spiritual body to suicide and attacked the cauldron, it still didn't fall as the icy particle was holding it together. Although layers after layers got melted by the bluish flame, the last coat of frost was too sturdy to destroy within a small time frame. With no way out, Lord Phasma had nothing to lose. He began to laugh manically, using his hands to tear his hair apart, savouring the pain. "You have forced my hand!" His words echoed within the cauldron as they couldn't bypass the coat of frost. Suddenly, one of the precious rings on Forus' hand sent out a faint glow as its exterior began to melt down. Sensing the unexpected change in one of his treasures, Forus immediately move to suppress it. However, before he could put up any defence to protect himself, the ring, the Decaying Dawn Ring, exploded into smithereens, heavily damaged Forus in the process. One part of the exploding power went towards the coat of frost, crashing into it and broke the cauldron, leaking out the condensed bluish flames in all direction. As the container got destroyed, Lord Phasma also came out along with the bluish fire. Upon seeing the destruction of the Decaying Dawn Ring and the heavily injured Forus, he instantly shot himself towards Forus, aiming to take over his body. Seeing the unexpected change, Ocelia also over-boosted her lingering sorcery power that used to suppress the spiritual seed, making it rampaged Forus' body, obstructing his flow of energy. Forus would have to focus more on his mental mind to use his sorcery when his refined flow of sorcery cultivation got hindered. All of this led to Forus' collapse, followed by the dispersing of his Death Aura that stopped the advance of the string of fate. Without anything to hinder its progress, the said string of destiny once again shot itself towards Forus, aiming to penetrate his soul and connected him with Ocelia, for all eternity. In the eyes of Mobilis, he saw the multi-colours light descended from the sky, piercing Forus and the container, injuring him and destroying the cauldron. Once the said cauldron broke apart, a cloud of grey gas shot out towards Forus, aiming at the middle of his chest. At the same time, the hourglass faintly shook as it leaked out more sand, flowing towards Forus endlessly. The sorcerers from Sagunien Family needed to study and comprehend the art of divination. It was their main sorcery cultivation method. Legends told that the founder of the Sagunien Family acquired this unusual cultivation method through the ancient ruins. By decisively abandoned his previous cultivation base, he caused his talent to drop and his soul to injure itself, lowering the chance to advance further. However, since he had practised the new method and gained the ability to peer into the river of fate, he naturally exploited the current of the destiny to advance his cultivation and single-handedly found the Sagunien Family, but, the inheritance wasn't invincible. It was but a fragment of the completed technique, leading only to the second-ranked sorcerer. The worst defect was if one cultivated this method and achieved small success, their soul would involuntarily transform into another model that fitted the system better, making it impossible or excessively hard to undo or change their cultivation method. If not, other superpowers within the territory would have already joined their hand and destroyed such a household. The valuable technique that could exploit the fate was too precious for one lone force to control. However, if one must stick to the incomplete method without any hope of further advance, none of the third-ranked powerhouses would want their descendants to practice it. However, even with this marvellous sorcery, Mabilis who hadn't advanced into a first-ranked sorcerer wouldn't be able to predict the future. He could only use his extraordinary sensitivity to perceive the otherworldly vision. Mabilis looked at the black entity and threw the thought of helping Forus out of his mind. From his perspective, having a great talent helped him in his quest was always a great idea, but if he had to fight to the death to get that, Mabilis would decisively abandon such thought and fleed without any hesitation. He instead turned his attention towards the unconscious Abicel, stumbling towards her. He would choose to help the hopeless girl and earn her favour that risk his life. With that thought in mind, he swiftly took out his healing potions and poured them over her wounds, slowly tending her injuries and keeping her save. Shortly after, the dense aura of blackness gushed out of Forus' body, enveloping him, forming many silhouettes of weapons. Strangely, all of them were pointing towards Forus, as if he was attempting to suicide. Forus also used all of his Death Aura to burn his flesh, turning them into dark rotten skin. After withdrawing all of his Death Aura, the spiritual seed within his body also ran rampaged, invading every inch of his body. Only his sea of conscious and soul was safe from the invasion and external threat. Looking at the incoming string of fate and crazed Lord Phasma, Forus slowly raised his skeleton hand, whose flesh got torn apart by the explosion of the Decaying Dawn Ring. Many people had already regarded Forus as a demented man. Some were laughing and scolding at him, seeing Forus as a crazy man, trying to kill himself. While others were only watched the show unfolded, not doing anything. Except for one person, Ocelia Coruscare frown as she focused most of her attention at him. Before long, her eyes shone as her face strangely twisted into the expression of madness. She forcefully channelled her sorcery power to enter the energy field, trying to track and pulled back the string of fate. Looking at the panic in Ocelia's eyes, Forus grinned with satisfaction and excitement. He used retracted all of his remaining power that was fighting against the string of fate, and instead, using them as the mean to strengthen the said string of destiny and pulling them towards himself. The string of fate immediately shot towards Forus' soul, attaching itself with the soul. The moment the line had established the connection between Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, Forus directed all of his Death Aura in his remaining rotten hand and stabbed himself in his chest, pulling a majority of the spiritual roots out of his body. "The Snow of Remembrance shall cover all things." With one single chant, countless pale-white snow descended and covered the testing ground, moving at Forus. Following after, the eccentric weapons that got created by Death Aura also shot towards Forus, aiming at his heart. Seeing the decisiveness of Forus, Ocelia immediately abandoned her futile attempt to prevent the string of fate and instead created several defensive seals around her soul and body, hindering the outside interference. After the string of fate attached itself into his body, the connection began to form between Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare. However, once Forus felt the connection, he revealed a smile of a madman before cutting the edge of his soul out, causing him to cry in pain. Now, due to him severing his soul apart from his male body, the overlapping vision didn't occur, only the perception outside the energy field, the sight of Ocelia Coruscare, remained. After Forus successfully moved his soul to the new body, the weapons of Death Aura also penetrated the male physical body that Ocelia currently controlled, making her groaned in pain. However, before she could do anything to protect her new human body, the snow of remembrance had already covered her soul, causing her to fall into a neverending illusion. Lord Phasma, who was coming for Forus' soul, noticed the change regarding the soul inside the body immediately, making him frown before resigned himself to his fate, pushing the limit of his spiritual essence and trying to take over the physical body. Although the nutrient and mysterious grey soul disappeared and had the new soul overtaken, at least Lord Phasma could see that the current soul was not as terrifying as the previous grey soul, increasing the chance of taking over the body. After his soul partly merged with the female body of Ocelia, the original soul tried to suppress his, but because her soul got into the physical form of Forus and took the hits from Death Aura weapons, Lord Phasma's spiritual power and the rampaging spiritual seed, Ocelia got only a fragment of her original soul to fight against Forus. Ocelia's soul violently struggled as it got corrupted by Lord Phasma and the destructive Death Aura. Coupled with the unending illusion of the pale-white snow, this combination of deadly power could potentially kill a first-ranked sorcerer. Subsequently, Forus once again burnt a tenth of his soul, causing his mind to turn dizzy and confused. After igniting his soul, a considerable amount of soul energy got expelled outwards and crashed into Ocelia's soul, further weakening her. Finally, taking advantage of his well-thought-out plan that dealt a devastating blow to Ocelia, Forus eventually took over the female body of Ocelia before pushing her out. The remaining part of her soul that got expelled out of her body spontaneously got sucked into Forus' physical form under the influence of the string of fate.

Ocelia grasped for breath as her chest felt heavier and heavier, collapsing onto Forus, knocking each other onto the ground. The symbol of the snowflake faintly shone as it continued to emit the hazy cold wind, condensing the icy elemental particles inside Ocelia, clashing with the flaming elemental particles. The clash would usually cause grave damage to the soul of the sorcerer, possibly making them dropped in their sorcery cultivation. The violent impact would burst the blood veins open, harming the consciousness and the mind of the sorcerer. Their heart would stop working due to an excessive amount of injury, shutting down the pathway of both the sorcery energy and the blood. However, with the unknown function of the Snowflake Tattoo, it forcefully held the membrane of the veins and supplied the heart with enough energy to keep it working. The damage coming from the clash between the fire and ice got reduced by the Snowflake to the bare minimum that it wouldn't affect the ordinary function of the body. Although the pain was immense, there would be no permanent after-effects or any persistent internal injuries. Still, the Snowflake didn't stop at this stage, it also radiated fragments of an unknown flowing fluid, continuously seeping into her body, merging with her soul and bones, making subtle changes that gradually piled up, slowly changing her physical appearance and fleshly nature. Her body casually accepted the liquid without any resistance, absorbing them as if they were precious elixirs. Unknowingly, her orangish eyes began to have a hint of light blue shade in them, slowly multiplied itself as it started to mix with the original colour that occupied the space of the eyes. Likewise, the tip of her hair also began to change, having a bluish hue appeared at the end of her hair, blending flawlessly with the previous reddish tone. These and many subtle changes caused Ocelia to panic at first, worrying about her fragile body and the consequence of its breakdown. However, after confirming that the changes wouldn't affect her, she began to observe and experimented with her enhanced body, discovering the differences in her appearance and her elemental affection. Logically, one's elemental affection would never change throughout their life, unless one broke through the shackle of nature and became something much more. Without the help of the mythical sorcerers or the legendary potions from the ancient time, their affection would determine their suitability in practising sorcery of different elements. Even then, the elemental affection of one would also be one's weaknesses. Their body would let favoured elemental particles through while sealing itself from opposing particles, expelling them out of their body before they started their rampage. The Fire Element would clash with the Ice Element. The Light Element would conflict with the Dark Element. The Wood Element would contrast against the Lightning Element. However, in Ocelia's case, a miracle had happened, granting her a unique characteristic that was precious beyond any treasures within the Flamedouse City. With the modification adjusted by the Snowflake, Ocelia's body would be able to accept both the flaming elemental particles and the icy elemental particles without any automatic expulsion from the body and soul. Although in this early stage of transformation, her body still couldn't adapt at the development and would sometimes cause the opposing particles to clash, with times and the ongoing modification, Ocelia would be able to create the equilibrium and freely used both of Element without any backlash. Feeling excited about her new-found ability and rewarded gifted, Ocelia turned her attention towards her soon-to-be husband, hoping to rejoice with his success and letting both of them had a sweet moment together. Stress relieve after a big crisis was necessary for the two to relax their tired mind and cope with their exhausted consciousness. Contrast to Ocelia's feeling of wonder and carefree, Forus had once again experienced the same pain as when the Aura of Decay first manifested within his body, decaying his soul and body slowly while keeping him alive, forcing him to experience the endless torment. The Skull Tattoo released the pale-white gas that slowly mutated his flesh, turning them purer and smoother, enhancing his body functions and abilities. However, because of the rapid expansion in his body, including the bones and the muscles, coupled with the enhancement of his senses, the pain he felt was a lot more than having his flesh burnt by the Death Aura. He could feel the mysterious energy gathering at his arm where his hand had gotten cut off, condensing itself to forcefully escalate the recovery of the body, helping him grow his new limb. The sensation of gaining a new organ was not as pleasant as it filled Forus with pain akin to burning oneself with fire from the inside. The flesh around his wounds started to heat up from the process of intensified reproduction, rapidly creating newer generations of skin to cover the exposed bones and stop the bleed. The arm which had no hand turned red as blood was gusting towards the newly formed flesh, gradually expanding and taking the shape of the previous cut-off hand. Although Forus could not regenerate his eyes yet, he could still use the overflowing energy to get rid of the blockage created by the spiritual seed. With the obstacles cleared, growing a new pair of eyes would be very easy with the resources he had amassed, not to mention the support he could get from his beloved companion. The feeling of having two hands again was like a man that grew a pair of wings on his back, gaining something precious and priceless. As if a new perspective had drowned him, Forus felt a hint of happiness in his emotionless heart. Like a worried father that watched his son came back to him after years of disappearance, Forus gently moved his new hand, trying to get the best feel out of it. His actions resembled that of a child who had gained a new, enticing toy that would not leave him for years to come. Seeing the process of recreation, Ocelia quickly deduced about the rewards her lover got. From the fragmented memories which she got after her soul took control over Forus' body, coupled with her observation of Forus' energy and abilities, she knew that the mysterious power that empowered Forus was the obscure Death Aura, which only existed in the area with extreme amounts of resentful spirits and deaths. Not only that, Forus even told her the method of controlling Death Aura when they were confronting the perished dark hand, helping her gained more insight into the Death Aura. She also had experienced the characteristic of the Death Aura, knowing how destructive it was and how hard it was to control the aura. According to her observation, the power that the mysterious existence-in-white gave as the rewards for their success in surviving the deadly night would be extraordinary and unique. In her case, she got the power that directly opposed her fundamental foundation of a sorcerer, helping her obtained something even second-ranked sorcerers could only dream off. With this hypothesis in mind, linked with mystical characteristics of the power Forus received, it was reasonable to say that Forus had gained something even better than her, the equally mysterious Life Aura. Like the Death Aura, the Life Aura would only manifest in the area filled with life force and vitality. From the description of the legend of Life Aura, it was said to be one of the essential ingredients to create nature's inhabitants and environments of the present time. The most ancient forms of life came from the Life Aura and perished under the Death Aura. However, although it was Life Aura, its calmness at the surface was only the deception, concealing its terrifying aspects. With its overwhelming power, all of its creations would take the appearance of the eldritch abominations, too horrifying to be perceived by the mortals. In its presence, all life would mutate and transform, returning into its primordial state of evolution, mindless and frenzy, powerful and terrifying. However, born within the chaos and mindlessness, emotions began to take its shape in the young reality, manifesting within the mindless monsters. With emotions emerged thoughts, with thoughts created minds. The first intelligent race forsook its godly power in exchange for its profound wisdom, severing its roots and connections from the Life Aura, becoming the ancestors of all rational beings. Although there was no evidence to justify the legend as there were no records of any creatures with godly power or any inter-reality species, this legend was still one of the most popular myths that the sorcerers tried to find the truth in it. Only with the sudden mutter of pain could Ocelia bring herself back from her daydream, she looked at Forus to find him sweating as his newly-created hand turned black as numerous tendrils burst out of his hardened skin, which resembled the scales of the reptiles. The black scales gradually emerged around his body, filling his skin with black layers of hardened coverings. Although Forus was on the verge of losing his humanity, his facial expression still didn't change as he focused his mind into directing the destructive Life Aura to his hollowed eye sockets, using its power to clear the blockage that the seed from that female sorceress had left inside of his soul. The process of transformation was rapid and unstoppable, forcing his blood to change and his body to approach the desired condition. The Life Aura slowly seeped into his realm of conscious, moving towards his mind and soul, converting him towards the purer lifeform, making him connected with the originator of all things. However, once a stance of Life Aura touched the surface of the calm, emotionless grey soul, the soul shook as myriad grey tendrils stretched out from it, devouring the Life Aura without any concern of its destructive and chaotic aftereffects. The tendrils digested the power of the Life Aura and injected them into Forus' soul, mutating his soul and transforming his mind and consciousness. The tendrils then moved from the realm of conscious into the physical body of Forus, penetrating every vein and taking care of every Life Aura on the way, greedily swallowed it and transferred the energy into both Forus' mind and body, strengthening it without end. The rampage of the tentacles slowly settled as the last bit of the Life Aura disappeared from the face of the dull world. The merciless grey soul had denied Forus of his only chance of controlling both of the primordial force of the ancient time, devouring it and used it as the supply for his strengthening. Even more so, because the Life Aura was no more, Forus wouldn't be able to destroy the blockage at his eye sockets without days of efforts into doing the task, making him unable to regrow his eyes. Although the unique talent that supposed to be his had disappeared, he still had reaped some benefits from the crisis as he observed the newly-grown hand. From the surface, it looked like the normal hand that everyone had. However, with a single command from his mind, the limb would turn into numerous tendrils that could move at will, gaining him a powerful secret weapon that could end his enemies in an instant. As for the lost of the Life Aura and his chance of becoming the exceptional talent, Forus only felt a hint of worry before he moved on. If not for the greyish soul, Forus might fall into the mindless state like the monsters that came from the Life Aura in the legend. Although the prospect of becoming uncontrollably strong was very tempting, Forus was more content with the transformative power that he could wield at the moment without losing his reasons. Examing the newly-transformed body, Forus carefully felt the power that ran through his body, trying his best to master the art of control. He commanded and observed the process of shifting as his nails turned into the sharp claws, his skin turned hardened and blackened. He also found that his perceptions had become much more sensitive and delicate, sensing even the faint and deflated elemental particles in the air. With the mysteriousness of the greyish soul, Forus became a being whose mind hadn't lost itself after coming into contact with the Life Aura, which ran rampage against the Death Aura inside his body. In the end, he became something unique.

Countless glowing eyes started to appear around the couple, stationing inside the mysterious black abyss, staring at the pale flesh and pure souls that they would soon feast. The creatures of the night patiently waited for the extinguishing of the light, longing for the new visitors from another world. Gradually, the music started to pick up its pace, increasing its rhythms to empower the shadowy minions further, causing the situation to change for the worse for the fire spirits. Ocelia had to open the fourth and fifth floor to help the remaining fire spirits to withstand the crazed assault of the monsters. With their mind-linked, the two could instantaneously know about each other's circumstances and thoughts, perfectly cooperating with another, lessening the pressure from the dark creatures. With the occasional help from the spells cast by the female body, the male body could hold the advancement of the ghastly hand and avoid some of the strikes. However, although the war of attrition was usually good for delaying the enemies, the two knew that the monsters also didn't mind to wait for a longer time, having endless tolerance. The creatures weren't anxious to try to destroy the balance and rushed in forcefully. Instead, they toyed with the couple like the dolls joyously, feasting in their hopeless situation and the ever-nearing tragedy. The more Forus and Ocelia dragged things out, the higher the chance for them to survive, successfully lived through the night. Once the endless void turned pale-white and let out the light again, the mysterious creatures of the night would have to go back into their hiding. Still, to prolong the war, the two also had to maintain their fusion to use the instantaneous communication ability to cooperate with another and reduced the pressure from the assaulting monsters. The more merged, the worse their condition. Their wills would slowly degrade, turning into pieces before finally fusing into one, creating an entity that combined Ocelia and Forus. After an unknown amount of time passed, the wills of Ocelia finally gave in. The female body slowed down considerately as her mind started to relax, letting go of the control. Her face became white as she spilt out blood, kneeling onto the grey dust as Forus tried to hold the female body up. Dividing his consciousness into two parts, the speed and reaction of the couple became sluggish, pushing more pressure into the already alarming situation. In her defenceless position, the tentacles took the chances to penetrate the maiden, turning her flesh and blood dull and grey, consuming the colours that shouldn't exist in this realm, feasting in delight. Within a moment, the tentacles had already taken the left foot of the body, turning it into pitch-black that grew out more tendrils, corrupting the blood further. Punching with all his might, Forus used the opportunity from forcing the hand to retreat to let go of the male body before forcefully control the unconscious lady to use her flaming-empowered dagger to cut off her infected foot and forced the corrupted filth out of her blood, weakening her body further. With her mind broken, the power of the fire spirits also declined, giving in to the strength of the shadowy creatures. The leaning tower also crumbled as the sorcery within the lady began to deplete, not enough to keep the fire spirits working. The male body needed to stop his assault to get back to the lady, shielding her valuable body from harm before Ocelia could regain her conscious. The sound of cheering and singing almost drown the mind of the two, interrupting Forus' concentration, creating undesirable openings for the monsters to take advantage off. The music started to invade their body, relaxing their muscles and easing their nerves, slowing their reactions and corroding their emotional stability. As time passed, the injuries continued to grow in numbers and lethality. Although the mind could endure the tortures, the body couldn't go on any longer and slowly stopped functioning. The male body only had the steady wills to support its standing while the female body was lying on the ground, heavily panting as she defended herself from the tentacles. With the talents of the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family, Ocelia didn't take long to regain her conscious to fight with Forus. However, almost all of her sorcery energy was gone, making the fight against the endless tentacles and monsters harder and harder. If not for the dagger she had prepared as a back-up, she would have to use her fists to kill the enemies. Because of the corruption, Ocelia had lost one of her feet, essentially rendering her immobile, forcing her to defend only and never go offence. Forus also lost one hand after the impact, making him unable to use the fighting styles that coordinate with both fists. The burning Death Aura also slowly ate away his flesh and skin, revealing the white bones within. In their desperation, Forus bit his hand until his blood poured out, leaking onto the grey earth. Using the blood and his Death Aura, he channelled his minuscule amount of sorcery to create a protective array, keeping the monsters at bay with the cost of his vitality. The blood shone in crimson light as they rearranged themselves in an orderly manner, forming the shape of the hexagon. The blood floated aimlessly, encompassing the area near the two. Every attack from the outside and the inside would not be able to enter or exit the barrier without destroying the array itself, making it the perfect trap to stall for time. Each tentacle that struck the barrier would break the outer layer into pieces before helplessly watched it reformed itself back into its original state. Every time a layer got destroyed, the array would vigorously suck the blood of the male body, turning him slimmer and paler, using his blood to replenish the defence. Without any hope, Ocelia looked at the process of unending agony and perpetual ageing that tortured Forus while his body slowly became thinner and more lifeless. Because of her constant usage of sorcery to stop the bleeding and to treat her wounds, Ocelia would need to concentrate her whole thought to move, making her unable to help her loved one. The melody rang, bypassing its way into the interior of the barrier, softly playing into the minds of the two. The music box was intangible and incorporeal, able to penetrate the physical defensive layer without any effort. Along with the musical noise, the lady-like voice also echoed the barrier, soothing the couple into relaxation, telling them to join the party of the calming, colourless and dull world. The sound of dream and nightmare made the sorcery energy depleted and slow the elemental particles to stagnation, causing the rate of recovery of the array decreased, as well as increase the cost of the reparation, deducing more blood from the host than before. The verse of the beauty also created the illusionary air that relaxed the two's body, slowly making their eyelids heavier. Before long, Ocelia couldn't resist the urge to sing and dance anymore. She quietly hummed the lyric, using her sweet voice to deliver the pure emotions of tiredness and terror, as well as happiness and joy. Her missing foot started to recreate itself by accepting the grey dust around her, turning her lower body dull and colourless. Her face distorted from the pained expression into a calm smile before her body emitted the charming air around her. The grey dust on her skin slowly merged into her body, condensing itself inside of her as it modified her body, making her the citizen of this lonely world. Her robe glittered with grey light as her orange hair slowly turned duller and duller, becoming more refined and less aggressive. With her muddled mind, she stood up and danced elegantly, seemingly inviting for her dear one to join her performance. However, due to the connection between the two souls, Forus could practically hear the scream of Ocelia, which stirred his soul and softened his heart, making him felt the burning sensation of fury running through his body. Forus silently communicated with Ocelia before disregarding his injuries and over-exhausted himself to conjure a blade of black light, shooting it towards the lower half of the uncontrollable lady, cutting both of her pale legs from her living body. He collapsed onto the ground as he watched the severed parts disintegrated into grey powder, returning to its original state dictated by the lifeless realm. The agonising pain woke Ocelia from her confused disposition and let her take control over her body, repelling the intoxicating voice of the unknown singer. She heavily panted as she suppressed her scream from coming out of her mouth. However, she didn't have the time to calm herself down as she sensed the condition of Forus, whose body was lying on the ground, enduring having his blood depleted by the constant strikes from the creatures of darkness. She observed his wrinkled face and noticed that his eyes were still fresh and showed no sight of fatigued as if the ageing process and blood loss didn't bother him at all. Discerning her worried gaze, Forus weakly smiled as he looked into her fairy eyes, admiring the determination and pureness of them. He watched as Ocelia crawled towards him, slowly advancing towards the old body of her loved one. Because of the exhaustion, Forus could only lay on the ground and watched his dear one slowly making her way towards him. There needed no words to speak, no emotions to display. The two silently enjoyed the company of each other, quietly embraced others in their arms. With their minds linked, their souls intertwined, they could share the pain and the joy, but they chose not to because they didn't wish their partner would have to experience their sadness. Knowing that time is running out, Forus gently caressed Ocelia with his remaining hand while staring at her face, trying his best to engrave every detail into his soul, hoping that he would remember it in his next life if he would be reborn again. Beautifully, the crimson barriers got shattered layer by layer, turning into reflective particles that floated aimlessly in the air, resembling the white snow of the romantic night. The array slowly crumbled as monsters approached the bonfire, expecting to prey on the unfortunate souls lastly. The melody of the music box turned more calming and lovely, like the song played in the wedding events. The voice of the mysterious singer grew more familiar to the two, matching the sound of Ocelia, calming and lovely, pure and refined, charming and mature. The imprints on their hands slowly dimmed as the connection between their souls gradually dissipated, returning Forus into the male body and Ocelia into the female body. If this happened before this incident, they would try their best to control each other's mind, turning them into their property forever. However, after hours of struggling and cooperation, as well as the intimate connection between the two souls, which was the purest form of relationships to bond with others, the two had already stopped scheming to take each other's life and started to open their heart and created a special place for their special one. They had already sworn to themselves to officially declare their relationship if they managed to go back, setting up the wedding and announced to the World Will that they would live with each other, died with each other and pursued the ultimate truth of sorcery together forever, for all eternity. Finally, the moment of warm and joy turned gloomy in an instant as the last layer of the array crumbled, causing the backflow of the blood, assaulting the blood veins of Forus. Thankfully, Ocelia had anticipated this and used her last remaining sorcery to help Forus eased the pain and supported his condition. The abyss-black hand slowly approached the icy bonfire, trying to end the source of light, the natural barrier that stopped their kinds from entering to feast the two lovers. No matter how hopeful their oath was, if they never got to leave this realm, they would never be able to realise their desire, never to live a happy life and never to achieve anything meaningful.

Losing half of their body was a death sentence to every mortal, no matter how strong they were. After all, they were just mortals, inconsequential to the world as a whole. However, when one stepped into the true side of the world, miracles and myths would manifest themselves before the users of sorcery. To them, losing half of their body was lethal, but not a certain demise. Nevertheless, the blue-robed sorcerer was a loner; his resource and material were limited, compared to the others who had the backing of a large force. In this experiment, he had lost more than he expected. "In the end, it's still unknown, huh?" After a few precious potions and exotic medicines, the sorcerer managed to stabilize his condition. Although he lost the subject, his gain was still substantial in term of experience and insight. The sorcerer looked around and sighed. His hideout was ruined, and he needed to recover as soon as possible to relocate his belonging. Thankfully, the wilderness was filled with his isolation formation, making the commotion as silent as possible. While he was noting down the aftermaths of the exchange, as well as speculating about his future path, a burst of sharp, distorted laughter echoed inside the chamber. With it, the iciness of the air and the dimness of the surrounding intensified. Unlike the presence of the Evil Entity, this demonic laughter did not cause the impossible, but its existence instilled even more fear and apprehension into the sorcerer's mind than the Evil Entity itself. "How did you come back?!" The sorcerer looked upon the strange crack that manifested in front of him. Inside it, a pair of golden eyes stared directly into his soul. The demonic curse peeled into reality with its all-consuming hand, and the sorcerer could do nothing to prevent its advance. Although countless treasures and formations inside the chamber manifested, none could block its ever so slow motion. Like a piece of worn-down paper, everything broke into bits and pieces after coming into contact with the dark hand. The sorcerer looked at the ever-expanding field of darkness. Even though he had prepared various defence formations in case of the intrusion, the power of curse needed a specific defence that he lacked— the already used one-time life-saving treasure. "Ah... so it's yours, isn't it?" Facing the inevitable demise, the sorcerer looked at death in the eyes and understood the alluded fact. The past phenomenon, coupled with the present, fell into its place and revealed the truth. "Damn." The sorcerer uttered a word, full of unwillingness, before his body withered under the influence of the demonic curse. His soul, guided by the black hand, flowed towards the rift and merged with the void beyond reality. In the end, the chamber was dead-silent. Aside from the remains of the previously stable structure, only a hint of the blue-robed sorcerer's presence remained. ... A white-haired old lady laid peacefully inside her decorated coffin. Her face, covered by a thin veil, remained steadfast, with a hint of acceptance and longing. The wrinkles on her appearance did not deter her natural beauty. Despite the extravagant of the funeral, merely one individual attended her passing. Intor looked at the sleeping beauty for one last time, before averting his gaze towards the horizon. Meria, for all her life, remained an ordinary mortal. Although she passed away due to the afflicted condition from the past tragedy, she had fully lived her life in peace— as she had once promised to her husband. Gently, Intor held a ball of glowing light in his hand. Although the ball was somewhat large, it was weightless, as well as soft and delicate. The sphere, ever so softly glowing, contained the first and last regret of Ander Family. "Meria, may you find peace; if possible, find him— reunite with him. When fate permits, I'll go look for you both." With a wave of his hand, Intor guided the sphere of memory into a rift in reality, straight towards the River of Reincarnation. Intor watched as Meria's soul drifted across the vortex, finally settling into the tide of the River of Reincarnation. Although he had blessed the soul, he had no idea where and when would she be. "It doesn't work, huh?" Intor sighed as the vortex closed itself. He tried to preserve Meria's memory, but his measly power could not compare to the ever-corroding water of the River of Reincarnation, let alone the mist of the Underworld. "Brother, I've found your daughter. Let me handle this, for the sake of my mind." Clenching his fist, Intor whispered his conviction into the sky. Although it was not a sacred oath, its weight on his heart was far stronger than any oath could be. The air around him intensified as his sorcery boiled in excitement. Intor disappeared from the spot, leaving the funeral in the embrace of nature. He needed to get stronger as soon as possible; so that he could redeem himself, after all the mistakes he had done. ... A mystical maiden sat alone inside her resting quarter. Her appearance, unmatched by all others, reflected a sense of aloofness and elegance. With her eyes closed, her rhythmic breathing betrayed her surreal presence. The abode, humble and full of nature's breath, gave contrast to the extraordinary bearing of the maiden. The tranquillity of this place had helped her calmed her mind and cultivated her sorcery. Its appearance mostly resembled her first home. Gradually, Matia opened her dark-cyan eyes and placed her gaze upon the neat little wooden door. Before long, a delicate hand gently pushed the door opened. The figure, dressed in feminine clothing, walked into the room, bearing an important document with her. "Mistress, the other Elders request your presence." The maid bowed deeply in a perfect manner; her short skirt lifted up unintentionally, revealing her snow-like tender thighs. She looked more like an angel than a lowly maid. Matia said nothing and only nodded to the maid, causing her face to flush red. Although she was confident in her captivating look, she still admitted defeat when facing her mistress. Not only the beauty of high calibre; but Matia also possessed a great talent for sorcery. She was truly the one blessed by World Will, the great protector of the Sorcerer World. Along the way, the maid and Matia would pass various people, and all of them would greet them amicably. They were somewhat of a star within Flying Green Garden, both because of their goddess-like appearance and Matia's great potential. "Mistress, here is the list for the promising apprentices. The Elders wish to have you participate in the selection of at the selection of the pupils." When arrived at the banquet, the maid skillfully handed her mistress a piece of paper containing the names of seedlings worth guiding. "Tell the Elders not to worry. I already have someone in my eyes." Matia spoke calmly, shocking many listeners. Many expected her to reject the request like all the previous attempts. "Come; you'll understand soon." Looking at the battle platform, Matia laid her gaze upon a certain female apprentice. With her mouth slightly smiled, she waited not her maid and walked towards her seat. ... The world remained unchanged, moving at its constant pace. The sun and the moon rose and fell, interchanging their position countless times. Despite the destruction caused by a battle between the two individuals, nature prevailed. Due to the corrosion of time, the roof of the underground chamber collapsed, opening a passage for sunlight to permeate into the darkness of the aftermath. Before long, the greenery began to fill the wreckage, restoring the damaged surrounding into the embrace of nature. Although one could still see the debris, they would not be able to determine the date of the battle anymore. At the middle of the large sinkhole, where the dense bushes and flowers blossomed like a mini garden, a faint, greyish ball of light rested peacefully inside it. Strangely, despite becoming a soul without a vessel, the River of Reincarnation and the Underworld did not come to beckon it. There was no sign of a rift opening, as well as the dispersion of the soul. By absorbing the remaining sorcery energy within the surrounding, the greyish soul continuously extended its lifespan, as well as using excessive energy to nourish itself. Slowly but surely, the fading soul, from the size unnoticeable by human, condensed and expanded. With countless layers of greyish web, the soul managed to hold onto itself without dispersing into the Sorcerer World. Fortunately, the second-ranked sorcerer, even after death, released a great deal of sorcery energy into the world, helping the soul to not only recover its vitality but also strengthened it. In a span of a hundred years, no one had ever come across the settlement of the blue-robed sorcerer, allowing the grey soul to freely recover its size. When the sorcery energy ran out, the soul had already approached its limit. With the first cycle completed, the soul finally settled down steadily, not afraid of the decay caused by time anymore. Then, the greyish soul sunk into the bed of flowers, creating an invisible vortex around itself, drawing an ethereal quality into its centre. The invisible particles in the air could not resist its attraction force and moved towards the soul. The ethereal particles came in various colours, signifying its correlation with the primary building blocks of the Sorcerer World. The particles, called Elements, floated ceaselessly towards the soul, waiting to be devoured by it. Due to the surrounding, most Element it had devoured was Wood Element. Unfortunately, they were not compatible with the soul's affinity, meaning that it could use only a part of the total quantity. Soon, seasons passed, and time marched on; another hundred years went by. The greyish soul, glowing ever so brightly, suddenly twisted and cracked. It trembled fiercely before abruptly stopped, shining in black light. From the rifts, a strange noise echoed forth, accompanied by the emergence of grey tendrils. They rushed into the physical plane and expressed delight by wiggling around, trying to feel the sensation of the outer world. The second cycle finalized, and the soul mutated into its perfect form, completely merging with the grey light the Evil Entity had bestowed upon it. Before long, the tendrils calmed down. As if ordered by their creator, they moved in unison to construct a vessel for the soul. By using the Elements it had absorbed and maintained inside its realm of consciousness, the mortal body began to take form. Despite trying its best, the quality of the body was merely above average, barely qualified to be a body of a talented mortal who could awaken their supernatural power. Nevertheless, the body, contaminated by the power of the Evil Entity, became a unique vessel that could contain the mutated soul. With its bizarre constitution, its capability to withstand the corrosion of Death Aura was much better than an ordinary body. The process of remodelling a vessel took another one hundred years, and thus, the third and last cycle had ended. Once the vessel became completed, the grey soul, after lingering on the physical plane for three hundred years, finally came to rest inside the lifeless body. As if it was unreal, the grey tendrils, as well as the sphere of light, merged with the mortal body without any hesitation or obstruction. Both the soul and the body were compatible to the extreme degree. In a carefree, gradual manner, the lifeless body gained its lost vitality and slowly opened its eyes. The eyes, dyed with the colour of the sky; the hair, fluttered in the silver glitters. Forus had risen from his temporary death. "... and so, I'm the winner." A light smile spread across his face. Forus felt weightless as he tried to remember himself. The three hundred years inside a timeless, spaceless void had caused some unspeakable change to his mind. From the bed of flowers, Forus climbed out of the sinkhole and witnessed the change caused by time. The familiar torture chamber had already collapsed into a beautiful scenery of nature. "In the end, time conquered all... Even such power could not contend against it." Forus whispered his thoughts as his mind wandered into the realm of fading memory. With an unimaginably-long time, Forus could not help but wonder... how was Matia, his daughter? How was the world? How... was he? After countless cycles, the wheel of fate finally began to turn— little by little.

In a short span of time that felt like an eternity, the first round quietly concluded, making many sighed in relieve. Many of the participants had already resigned themselves as they knew their limit. The test was far harder than their average alchemy test. The Steel Cauldron was one of the most prominent associations within the Mountain Union. It had held most of the authority regarding the arts of alchemy and crafting. Most of the greatest alchemists had the backing and support of the Steel Cauldron. Although there was only a small brunch in this city, it was still one of the most respected associations in the city. Even the leader of the sorcerer family wouldn't want to offend them. The way the descendants of those sorcerer families abused their background and caused the problem was not against the rules of the Steel Cauldron. The higher-ups also wanted to use these people to keep the arrogant prodigies in check and used their greed and jealous as the motivations to strive for success. "Mister Glacie, I would like to know who dares to offend your mighty bloodline?" The dull yet awe-inspiring voice of Ocelia Coruscare made Glacies Ninguis' face twitched a little. The brainless excuse he used to come and see this mistress had already backfired him. If he confessed that he deceived her with his trick to arrive to see her, his reputation would fall apart, and he would lose all his pride. He gazed at his newly-appointed servant, signalling him to do his work. The servant in grey trembled in fear and quickly kneeled before the eldest mistress of Coruscare Family and knocked his head on the ground loudly, breaking his forehead. "This servant, Avidas, would like to ask for forgiveness for deceiving both the eldest master and mistress. This lowly one doesn't know the true culprit and could only lie to you. Please, spare this one's life." His voice trembled pitifully, causing the onlookers to pity with him. He had already practised this line for countless times, hoping that it would save his miserable life in a crucial time like this. "Well, Miss Ocelia, let us not bother with that servant anymore. How about this? Would you like to wager that who would place first in the test of formulating pharmaceutical pills?" The young master used his hand to slap the servant in grey, causing his body to stumble backwards before spluttering out blood from the internal injury. Seeing the confident look on Glacies' face, Ocelia merely turned her vision towards the female receptionist and called her. The receptionist almost exclaimed joyously, but she managed to restrain herself and walked towards her. "You should have some basic regarding alchemy. I shall give you the chance to choose. Choose wisely, and you would receive your reward." Her request indirectly made the receptionist worried. If she chose the perfect one, she would obtain the blessing of the sorcerer family's mistress, but if the female receptionist didn't pick the correct one, she might face the wrath of this strong mistress. The receptionist girl was the daughter of an elder from the Steel Cauldron. Although this elder's status wasn't high in the association, being able to become a part of the Steel Cauldron was the sigh of a great mind. As the daughter of an elder, she had naturally learnt the arts of alchemy. She was also one of the great talented alchemists as well. Her father had tasked her with this receptionist job for her to make connections with the neighbouring power and with the soon-to-be-influential alchemists. If she had numerous and firm relationships with outstanding people, her future would be a lot smoother than her father. After a moment of deep thought, she accidentally saw a black-robed man who sat relaxingly, reading his medical book. His loose robe partly concealed his feature within, creating a sense of mysteriousness and awe. "That man would be able to score number one for you, mistress." The receptionist immediately pointed her pale finger at Forus, who was sitting alone and watching the scenery. "His body had the strange scent of medical powder and the likes. If one had practised concocting the medicinal pills for a long time, their scent would have the unique fragrance of the medicinal powder that would be exceedingly hard to wash it off." That was the reason why she chose him. At the first moment when they met, the receptionist girl had already noted him inside her mind. She had tried very hard to remove such fragrance when it had appeared in her bodily odour. She precisely knew how challenging and annoying such a scent could get as she had a very acute perception of smell. "Well done, girl. I, the mistress of the Coruscare Family, would never go against my word. You may keep this pendant as the proof of your contribution. You may request my favour once with the use of that pendant." Ocelia smiled lightly before handing out a grand-looking pendant. It had a beautiful fairy with a pair of blazing wings engraved on its surface. "Thank you, Mistress. I, Iracia Chlora, would never forget this moment of kindness." The receptionist girl repeatedly thanked the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. For her to get a favour from the future leader of the Coruscare Family, her father would cry out tears of joy. Strangely, her feeling of carefreeness and comfort gradually turned into the sensation of appreciation for that black-robed man. It was him that she could get this favour. Without knowing it, she had already begun to consider his capabilities and potential. "Hello, Mister Falsus Nomen. The lady of the Coruscare Family requires your presence. Please show us your brilliant techniques and capabilities. If the lady had taken a liking in you, your future would be limitless." Miss Iracia came running towards Forus while shouting at him, expressing her joy for his opportunity. Forus merely frowned upon hearing her declaration, revealing his confusion. Although he knew his disguise was not perfect, he had confidence in his experience and would not get caught on regularly. "Oh, sorry for suddenly saying such things, mister Falsus. I had recommended you to the mistress to let you have this opportunity to show your abilities. Congratulations!" Her goodwill had already made Forus helpless as not only would it threaten to blow his cover out, it would also trap him in the dilemma of choices. If he lost, he would most likely have to face the consequences for making the Coruscare Family's anger and wrath, but if Forus succeeded, he would also have to face the wrath of the Ninguis Family. Although the Coruscare would unquestionably shield him and offered him a position in their family, "Greeting, Mistress Ocelia, this lowly one could feel your magnanimous charisma even only seeing you for only once." Throwing in random praises and things, Forus tried his best to please this miss' unpredictable temper. "So you have already chosen your side? Very well, that girl over there shall destroy your confidence." Glacies pointed at the woman in purple who was looking at Forus in a disdained manner. She felt that Forus was extremely lucky and didn't deserve his place as a contender of the bet. Seeing that young master of the Ninguis Family had chosen her, she didn't feel much more than a little happiness and thought that it was how thing should be, recruiting a great talent for one's party was one of the most important things for the faction to survive. The geniuses were those who had astounding abilities. They were those whom the families and sects valued the most, supplying most of their resource to nourish them, hoping for them to rise high and mighty and brought about the time of glory to them. This action had caused severe cases of arrogance and massive ego prodigy. They would regard everyone else as inferior people below them. The higher-up of the Steel Cauldron also saw through this problem. That was why they had always invited the descendants of the influential families to attend the recruitment event as a special guest. They wanted those young masters and mistresses to stomp the ego of the prodigies and broke their delusional pride apart, helping them refined their mental state. If those geniuses developed hatred towards the sorcerer families, it would also help ensure that they would never betray the association and sided with the powerful families. "Such a lowly person, yet being so lucky that the beautiful mistress chose him." Another man whose cloth was as red as blood spoke out his thought without any restain. He was the first person to hand in the paper with unparalleled confidence as he was already meditating to rest when others were writing nervously. However, seeing that Forus ignored him and continued to fix his eye on the female in purple caused his anger to rise. If the masters and mistresses of the influential families weren't here, he would have directly challenged Forus already. "Pipe down. Then, let us start the next test." The next test would challenge the ability to comprehend and calculated for the best decision-making. The participants would have to read the exotic recipe that had some hidden falses and fake ingredients. They would have to fix the methods and used the limited resource the Steel Cauldron provided to create the potion. The score would depend on the quality and the quantity of the potion you could make and how well you could modify the recipes to enchant its effect and reduced its cost. The test would examine almost all of the collective abilities of the alchemists. They would have to be able to clear and steel their mind from the stress and distraction during the refining stage and used their creativity to change the combination of the recipes, enchanting the effect of the potions. "There would be no private room for any of you. The stage would be right here. You will be performing your refinement process in front of the observers and guests." The higher-ups from the Steel Cauldron had already arrived and would be the judges of this test. They would observe the participants' every movement and decision as well as their displayed emotions. These actions caused many inexperienced and naive alchemists to sweet out and lost focus, making it easier to mess up their refining process. Only the top geniuses with confidence would be able to remain calm and collected. The Steel Cauldron too only required the best of the best. "We hope that there would be at least someone who could impress us. Don't let us down." The voice echoed the hall, mocking the participants. The purple-dressed lady and red-robed man frowned slightly, revealing their displeasure. Forus began to unravel the record that the examiners had prepared for him. The paper detailed the information of a potion that existed in the ancient remains whose property was to kindle the soul and purify the polluted elemental power that remained in the consumer's body. The refinement process of this potion was very bizarre and wicked, using the corpse of a newborn as the base ingredient and blood of a person with your desire elemental affection as the secondary component. The alchemist would have to thoroughly dehydrate the infant corpse and submerge it with the prepared blood and circulated the blood flow throughout the body, letting the elemental power to integrate into the flesh and shell of the infant. Only when the skin of the infant turned blood-red could the alchemist use it to refine the pill. Reading the procedure, Forus lightly frowned before rearranging his idea. Although the method was cruel and demonic, Forus strangely didn't feel anything, not even a fluctuation of emotion manifested in his mind. The world of sorcerers regarded mortals without any power as ants and insects, having no real right or freedom. Their purpose was to help expand the pool of population to give birth to more talents. Most of the mortals didn't know about the existence of the supernatural beings as they would die by their hand if they ever encountered one.

After enduring for an unknown amount of time, Forus could finally gain a little bit of influence over the mysterious dart that inflicted Death Aura on him. He learnt that the dart was not under the control of that blue-robed man, because if it was, then he would not be able to exert control over it. Although he could suppress the pain that the man did to him, the fact that he could not move a single bit made him incredibly uncomfortable, coupled with how he had to watch the man experimented on his body, cutting them apart and healing them, over and over again just to test his idea. "I have to admit that the power that the entity has given to you is very strange, I couldn't find the true usage of it even after several experiments, but that was to be expected." The man stopped working to do his daily meditation, he was going to clear his mind to reconsider the new possibility of that unknown power. His daily meditation was the only thing that let Forus know how much time had passed, it had been a week since he made a deal with that evil being. He might also start to doubt that the power really existed if not for the fact that it was being used to slowly take control over the dart. Forus didn't dare to exercise any control over the dart, even a little. He was afraid of the very idea that the man could detect his plan. If he got caught before he could freely control over the dart, his last hope would truly be extinguished, he would have no real way to retaliate. He also couldn't go all-out trying to control it either, his understanding over the mysterious nature of the man was too little, he didn't know the depth and the resource that the blue-robed man could use. The realm that he stood on was completely above any other thing Forus could ever imagine. ... The sun was setting, the sky was painted orange by the reflection of the sunlight. The falling leaves were numerous, they fell off to accompany the woman to sit on a bench. She was looking toward the sky, waiting for someone to come. Her face was that of a mature and aged woman, a trace of the story could be seen in her weary eyes. She had been sitting there for hours, there was no mysterious energy inside her body, she was utterly mortal. Behind her was a handsome man whose eyes were sharp as a blade, his yellowish eyes could stare at those with a weak mind into submission. His body was brimming with the invisible force that separated himself and those ordinary mortals. "Sister, you have been sitting there for too long, it gonna cause your condition to deteriorate." The man couldn't endure seeing her getting lost in her mind, he asked her softly, knowing full well of what she was yearning. "I know, I also know that I couldn't live for too long, but I always unknowingly recall my past. I wish that I would live a happy life with my family, even as a mortal." She turned her head toward the man, her eyes were watery as she wiped them out. "I know that I have said it so many time. But if you want to be with him, you can always cultivate under my guidance, I could help you breakthrough and move past the limit of the mortal to completely cure you." The man couldn't help but persuade her again. "If one day you succeed in breakthrough past me and ascend to the new realm, you can always find him at the cycle of reincarnation and live together with him, for as long as you want." The man said in a hoarse voice, the old memory from ten years ago was starting to resurface. "When he tried to protect our daughter, I couldn't do anything to help him, I can't even be there to support him and could only watch him die. Now, for he is now gone, I shall live my life peacefully as he always wanted me to. He lived and died as an ordinary mortal, then I shall be a wife that he always wanted, I shall live my life as an ordinary mortal, I shall die peacefully as an ordinary mortal." Her voice was cracked due to intense sadness and grief, her husband had already left her. If not for his brother that prevented her, she would already commit suicide and rejoin with him at the next reincarnation. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't send that cursed gift to your daughter, it was my fault. I could have been there by myself several times, but in the end, I couldn't even be there to see his dying face nor could I accompany him in his death." The gift that he sent to their daughter was to test her talent for sorcery. If she could become like himself, then his brother's family would be prosperous for all to come. But how would he know that fate was wicked and twisted, that there would be a passing sorcerer who noticed her extraordinary talent and forcefully took her to their own faction. Not only the child was taken, but the parents were almost killed by the process. If not for him to quickly move to check the situation, the wife would have already been dead. Although he had cursed the enemies with one of his strongest spells, he could feel that they were not dead, one of them had used a mysterious treasure to forcefully break the curse, he didn't die but sustained some internal injury. The other was killed easily along with his family, but later, he also found out that it was the clone that died and not its true self. So his curse couldn't do any real damage to their foundation, it could only prevent them from advancing further for a while. He could also deduce that they were both stronger than he was. Worst case, they might have giant backing with formidable depths of connections. "But if you never cultivate and become like me, you might not have any other chance to save your own daughter again. If you have power, then you could have both of your family members lived peacefully." The man tried his hardest to convince the maiden to cultivate, not for his own good, but for hers and his brother's. "I have faith in our daughter, she would soon become the influential figure, an imposing sorcerer who reach the peak. I am a bad parent who let her daughter suffer unjustly, but this is also her chance to be extraordinary." She had completed faith in her daughter, she knew her child full well. The girl would suffer a lot, but she was adaptive and smart, she would soon learn to live in the harsh environment. She was destinated to become a historical figure engraved in the eternal history of the sorcerers. After having said so much, the weak woman coughed softly. The man also walked toward her and supported her up, her legs were very weak that she couldn't walk if nobody helped her. Her condition was very bad, the only way to save her life was to practice the art of sorcery or having the almighty sorcerer of the higher rank personally helped her, but they were too few and far between, those beings would always be in seclusion and hardly came out. "I will have to trouble you again, Mister Intor. My body was too weak to walk, I could feel that my death was approaching." She calmly said so. She was happy that she could reunite with her husband even in the underworld. "No problem. This is naturally my compensation for causing this tragedy, I am willing to help you and be with you until you died. I could also temper with your destiny in the next life so that you will meet him again." Intor Ander, the little brother of Forus Ander. He was willing to do everything to atone his sin, if not for tending Meria, he would have risked his life to slaughter those who separated the family. ... Time flew by, on a blink of an eye, Forus had been in this new room for months, perhaps years. He would never be able to remember the exact time he was tortured. He had been through hell and back, he almost gave up his little life for many times, only to be forcefully held back by the blue-robed man. One of the only things that held him in place and preventing him from scattered away was the warming memory of the past. When his family was still intact and peaceful, when his daughter was still within the range of his arm and when his wife was still there for him. His only hope lied on the speck of grey light within his soul, it had been continuously fused with his soul, allowing him to recover and strengthen his mental ability. It could also help him control the mysterious dart that was stabbed into him by that man. But, all of those enduring was the foundation of today. From this moment onward, Forus had already completed all of his preparation. He only needed to endure this for one last time and use the moment of weariness of that man to escape and kill him. "How are you feeling today? I've got a surprise for you." The blue-robed man chuckled as he pulled out a dark-blue seedling. Its roots were twisting continuously, it was more like a parasite than a plant. "What will you do to my body this time?" Forus spoke with intense hatred. If he still couldn't speak after such a long time, the man might suspect him of hiding something. "There is no harm in telling you anyway. This is my new creation, it still doesn't have a name. But after I used it on you, depending on the result, it would be either Blossoming Soulflower or Undeath Floret." The man obviously liked his new creation very much that he thought out two names for it. "Judging from the name, it would have the ability to at least make me your slave. You think that you could indirectly obtain my power by controlling me?" Forus sneered as he mocked the man, provoking him into fury. "I really want to see your expression after you became my servant. But don't worry, you won't die easily. I will take good care of your body." Having said that, the man sent the flower floating toward Forus. If the flower successfully planted itself into his soul, that would be the end. But before the plant could touch him, Forus decided to risk everything and exploded with countless Death Aura that was concealed in his body for a long time. The Death Aura that Forus emitted was very powerful and in great quantity, if the enemy was not the blue-robed man who took precautions against it, they would be overwhelmed by it and had their lifeforce sucked dry. "That was unexpected, but still within the range of my preparation." The man was not tensed at all, he was relaxed and carefree. He had prepared for this moment for a while now, he would not let the same thing happened to him again. Forus saw the man took out many paled-white pills and processed to pinch them, the pills were dissolved into dusk and greedily absorbed the Death Aura, reducing the overall amount of it. Gritting his teeth, he used every bit of his force to break free from the chain and gave himself many wounds in various parts of his body. Finally, his endurance paid off, the chains couldn't withstand the flow of time and his strength and collapse. Forus jumped toward the man, aiming his hands at that man's neck, he only had one chance to strike him and robbed him of his life!

Thunder rumbled as rain poured down from the height of the ever-expanding white sheet of space, stretching both horizontally and vertically towards the lofty summit of infinity. The pale drops of rain froze in their shape as they descended from the ghastly void, joining with the death-still soil which reflected the recurring shades of grey and brown. Amidst the monotonous sequence of neverending reproduction of liquid downpours, a minute speck of light reintegrated itself from the deep cold nothingness into the corporeal reality which eagerly accepted its presence, not bothering with the consequences of before-mentioned behaviours. The newly-formed ray of light shone with its colourful light, resisting the aseptic atmosphere of the timeless domain and its unearthly-still elemental scraps. However, the phlegmatic quantity of worldly pressure nevertheless insensately pulverised the insufficient brightness into its former infinitesimal state. The struggling flare could prognosticate its ineluctable dissolution. The blazing point of flame decisively debilitated itself, using its final fruitless endeavour to grow into the astonishingly small size of a gateway which conjugated the eternal nothingness and the sorrowful plane together. From such miniature vacuum devoid of dismal might of the callous realm, two unique humanoid contours advanced forwards, grounding onto the unexplained cosmos. Their eccentric disposition emanated out the pinkish amorphous quality, permeating the depressing surrounding with slow-witted sentiments. ... Unable to penetrate her vision into the colourless mist, Forus decided to turn her attention towards both her conditions and Ocelia's. The act of travelling between realm was only possible with the help of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, and it was remarkably dangerous. Strangely, the robe that both of them wore had changed their colours by themselves, turning somewhat pink and lovely. Numerous runes resembled the shapes of hearts and roses appeared on the clothes of the couple. Their clothing style had almost become that of a bride and a groom. Feeling the heart-warming heat, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare set their sight at their entangled and inseparable hands, keeping their partner close without any intention to part way. Without their knowledge, some unknown force had embedded a symbol of love and affection onto their hands, taking the shape of the two deliberately twisted structures. The first structure assumed the shape of a blooming rose, expanding its petals outwards, covering the sky with its beauty, shielding the world from calamity and negativity. The other structure had the appearance of the wilting lily, using its roots to keep the blooming rose in place, supporting it from collapsing due to its limitless petals. With their roots entangled with each other, the flower represented the two opposing concepts, fighting yet complementing each other. The source of the heat was naturally these imprints, emitting the vapour that had the faintest shade of pink, fighting against the invading dullness of the pale world. The fog of love also created the thin layer of membrane, shielding the sweet pair from the destructive raindrops sent down from the infinite height of the firmament. After finished checking for any abnormality that might occur after the void-travelling experience, Forus fell into contemplation state, trying to make sense of the world around her. Seeing Forus' relaxed state, Ocelia curled his mouth upwards before starting to put out some formation arrays. However, after powering just a few of them, Ocelia stopped his actions before she closed her eyes, trying to detect the presence of the sorcery energy in the atmosphere. To his expectation, the world around him was like an empty vacuum, devoid of sorcery energy and any usable elemental particles. Looking at Forus, Ocelia sighed before letting go of their entangled hand, causing the imprint to dim down, slowing its process of releasing the hazy pink mist. Ocelia decided to walk around, surveying the surrounding, hoping to find some noticeable landscapes to later mark as the reference before they could obtain the outline of the region. After walking away from Forus, Ocelia noticed that the mist started to dissipate, causing the invading soulless vapour to come into contact with his skin. He swiftly retreated towards where Forus was sitting, escaping the invading gas. After getting closer to Forus, the imprint started to emit the life-saving fog again, fending off the callous gas. Sensing that the pressure had lessened, Ocelia was surprised that the tiny amount of mysterious gas had made his flesh rot and disintegrate, revealing the bloody wound that exposed a part of his bone. The body that Ocelia was currently occupying was very extraordinary. It got created uniquely by the enigmatic grey soul that fused with Forus after her first death as a gift from the formidable devil in their exchange. The body could withstand the invasion of the Death Aura, which could completely obliterate any ordinary first-ranked sorcerer, while it was still at the stage of the sorcerer apprentice. Thinking about the consequence of his action, Ocelia started to feel uncomfortable and could only resign in his fate, going back to guard Forus, patiently waiting for her to open her eyes. Although Ocelia would be bored after a while, he could still have a chance to immerse himself to the breath-taking features of the matured maiden. After a moment of peace, Forus silently opened her eyes, revealing the glowing light of understanding as she did. She abruptly stood up, settling Ocelia who was staring at her face. Seeing the tender eyes glared back at him, Ocelia could feel his rampaging blood that turned his face red from embarrassment. "Taking advantage of a helpless maiden, don't you feel any shame at all?" Forus forcefully held back her giggle as she teased her lover, feeling pleased after seeing his panicked face. After a moment of playfulness and giggling, Forus and Ocelia had finally relieved themselves of their stress and returned to their formerly calm and collected mindset. This state of mind would help them in their upcoming crisis where their critical thinkings needed to be precise and swift. From both of their observation, the records of the realms in the Fleeting Emotions Ruin that the sorcerers had created had no mention of this strange realm. So, either this realm was extraordinary enough for the higher-ups of the sorcerers to hide it from the mass, or that they were the first pair of sorcerers to come to it. No matter which scenarios were the real one, the couple would have encountered the enormous treasures trove, waiting for them to pick. If they weren't the first to come in, then the realm would be extraordinarily valuable, having more treasures then other ordinary regions. If they were the first, then they would have to be careful about its mysteriousness, but in turn, all of the treasures were intact and waiting for them. Then, there was the last possibility of why there was no record of this realm. It meant that there was never once a single sorcerer who could escape this realm alive to share their story. All of them died despite the countless sorcerers that had ventured into this land. Its impossibly hellish challenges caused the downfall of all the sorcerers, not even one could survive until the gate appeared. The two also found that the space around them had no sight of elemental particles at all. They could only detect the trace of the degraded elemental particles that couldn't do anything meaningful for them. With this discovery in mind, they would need to use their sorcery sparingly, not wasting any precious resource. Although they had prepared immense amounts of restoration potions, they didn't accord for this type of isolation scenario. After all, no records had stated that some challenges would isolate the sorcerers from the elemental particles. Ocelia also told Forus about his experience, telling him how the imprint dimmed down and stopped emitting the pink gas after walking away from Forus. It would mean that they had to cooperate if they wanted to survive. If any of them died, the other would soon follow after the lack of pink mist to protect oneself from the invasive force of the mysterious realm. After a moment of silence, the two gazed into the windows of the souls of each other, seeing the faint glittery light, they nodded at each other and immediately did their part. Ocelia slowly used his sorcery to write runes in the air, before using his hand to grab them and crushed them into powder. Silently, the shadowy sphere actualised itself in front of Ocelia, gaining its former shape over time. The orb began to emit the red and orange light, gushing out flaming particles, flowing violently towards Forus. Because of their deal, Forus would receive potions and Ocelia would get the refined flaming-particles from her. Using them, Ocelia managed to consolidate one of his Orbs of Element, the Flaming Orb. With time, Ocelia also condensed the Freezing Orb and Light Orb because of his talents in these elements. Also, with the help of the Steel Cauldron and Forus Ander, Ocelia used his wit to employ the elemental waste that the spiritual seed created to form the Plant Orb. These Orbs of Element would increase his affection with the said element and empowered the elemental spells. It would also faintly generate the same type of elemental particles as theirs. Although it would unmistakably help the couple in the situation, the rate of generation would be too slow for the continuous usage of sorcery. Using the help provided by Ocelia, Forus attentively channelled her sorcery, applying them to create a symbol on the greyish ground. According to her mind, the flaming particles dissolved themselves and became the fuel of the ritual, powering the frame. Bit by bit, untold amounts of elements started to stack on each other, forming the visible shape of the tower. The tower of flame assembled itself as the flaming particles powered the ritual, raising from the ashes of history and stood tall and high. Once the leaning tower finished itself, numerous blazing shapes rooted in their places, showing their devotion as they exerted their scorching heat, trying to gain the favour of their master. After advancing to the first-ranked sorcerer, the leaning tower had gone through another phase of enhancement, improving the overall power of the fire spirits and constructing the last top floor of the tower, which contained the entity that could battle the first-ranked sorcerer, the Flaming Guardian. However, because of its costly consumption, Forus decided to send only the lower fire spirits that resided on the first floor to investigate the world for them. While the couple waited for the report of the servants, they would find a secure place to stay for the night, which was fast approaching. The night of the still realm was not because of the sun and the moon swapping place like any ordinary worlds. Forus and Ocelia gazed at the infinite whiteness as they gradually turned from pale-white to depressing-grey before becoming pitch-black. The mist was intensifying, and the destructive rain never seemed to stop. Before long, the couple was able to find a large tree that stood as tall as the hill and as wide as the sea, its branches broke off into various shapes, creating many natural shelters for them to choose. The strange tree that successfully grew to the size of a hill was ghastly-white, mirroring the texture of the bones, as well as its durability. Venturing through regions of emptiness and whiteness, the two hadn't seen any living creatures, other than the hill-size tree. Every tree and plant they encountered had died long before their arrival, and it seemed to be the same case with this shrivelled tree. After finished preparing hand-made traps and sorcery-less arrays, Forus and Ocelia sat before the campfire that they casually created. Because of the constant downpour, the temperature of the realm had reached the freezing-cold point, making the normal flame an impossible dream. The couple instead used the cold-flame that released the cold wind, providing light like the natural fire but could sustain itself in the cold environment. Feeling the tickling sensation, Ocelia glared at his shoulder, only to see the soft face of Forus, leaning onto his body, sharing the warmth and happiness mutually. Her pink cheeks invited his hands to caress them, so he did as they hinted. After touching her face, Ocelia could see Forus smiled faintly, before turning her face towards his, tapping her hands at his lap. The pinkish mist suddenly increased its concentration, showing only the silhouette of the pair of lovers, releasing their playful-self and engaging in their teases.

Forus was walking along the road toward the exit. Now that the Coruscare Family knew that he was still inside their city, it would take several minutes for them to surround the town and blocked off his escape pathways. "Why would she be at such a monotonous and uninteresting auction?" While thinking about all the possible explanation, Forus could feel the subtle feeling of the out-of-body and weird sensation of satisfaction. The sentiment had begun to display itself after he had made a slight eyes contract with her, Ocelia Coruscare. Forus could sense the questionable origin of the sensation. He could feel the location of her. Such a thought filled his body with a cold and ruthless sense of insecurity, making him uncomfortable. Before he could ponder about the feeling, he noticed that someone had been following him. They were the young master in yellow with his servant in grey. Forus had already expected them to track him down after he begged them in the auction, but they were faster than he had expected. "Where are you going, young man? This young master is interested in your treasure. Mind if I had a look?" The servant in grey immediately walked toward Forus as if what the young man said must be carried out. Forus looked around the surrounding. After making sure that no sound would travel to the city, he slowed down his pace for the pursuers to catch up. Only by getting rid of the trackers could he escaped from the Corusarce Family. Acting as if he was afraid of the master in yellow, Forus clumsily took out a small chest and handed over the servant in grey. The servant then checked around before sending it toward the young master. Upon touching the surface of the box, the chest started to implode from the inside and shot out waves of aftershock. The powerful waves of energy slammed into the young master in yellow, causing him to stumble backwards and fell onto the ground, coughing out blood. Not only that, after the first wave of aftershock, a large amount of mysterious liquid also gushed out of the chest, melting everything that touched it. The acid liquid that Forus personally created touched the face of the young master, deforming it at a visible rate. The scream of the young master echoed the forest, but due to the dense trees and bushes, the sound couldn't travel anywhere far, eliminating the chances for reinforcement. The servant panicked and immediately rushed toward his young master, giving a healing potion for the young master to recover. He looked at his young master worriedly before pulling out a ring from his hand and crushed it, sending the signal toward the family of the young master. "You evil! The Ninguis Family will never let you go!" The servant jumped forward toward Forus, banishing his dagger and slashed it toward him. That was the last scene before the young master died, the healing potion didn't work as intended. The death of the young master of the big family was a very grave matter. Even if that young master was a lecherous and idiot person, the dignity of the Ninguis Family was not to be belittled. It was undeniable that Forus would become the enemy of the Ninguis Family. The dagger that was about to hit Forus suddenly changed its trajectory before hitting him, missing his prepared shield and landing on a rock beside him. The servant then retreated toward the corpses of the young master before setting flame on him, directly eliminated the evidence. After making sure that the corpse turned into the ashes, he turned his attention toward Forus and offered him a warming smile. Responding to the smile, Forus threw a bottle of liquid toward the servant. The potion broke down, forming a big ball of floating liquid that sped toward the servant. The dagger flew toward the incoming ball and crashed against each other, the floating ball caused the knife to dissolve easily before continued its way toward the servant's heart. The servant rolled backwards and pulled out a bracelet before chanting sorcery into it. The bracelet let out a cracking sound before transforming itself into a metal shield with the multi-colour formation extending outwards, absorbing the impact instead of his fragile body. At the instant that the ball struck into the shield, Forus empowered his fist with the Death Aura before punching it toward the defence. The collision directly destroyed the protection and sent the servant flying into a rock, shattering bones on his left arm. Forus looked at the corpse of the young master coldly, the first trap that sent shockwave toward the young master was not his. It was a plot that shifted the blame on the death of a member of Ninguis Family onto him. He could easily tell that the healing potion was, in fact, a poison. Even though he had already planned to kill the man in yellow to erase his track and escape the mistress of the Coruscare Family, he mustn't let any witness leave and spread rumours to ruin his life. However, before he could even walk toward the servant in grey to finish him off, the uncontrollable and profound emotion rushed into his soul, forcefully occupied the space within his mind. The sudden change caught him off guarded, causing him to fall onto the ground. His entire body fell as if it was continually changing, from solid to liquid, from male to female, from alive to death. His control over his body began to overlap and loosen. A new and foreign vision overlapped his old vision. His body felt the exotic sensation of pleasure and ecstasy. In the new Forus' vision, Forus could see the short red hair hanging down and obstructed the vision. The surrounding was very luxurious and comfortable. It was the mansion of the powerful family. In Forus' new body, he could feel the rampaging fire element and superb sensation of delight. The clearness of the floor reflected the appearance into his eyes. At that moment, Forus' mind shook violently, and nearly descended into the state of unstable madness. The reflection of his was that of a female. Even worse, he became the person he feared the most, Ocelia Coruscare. In the reflection, the face of the mistress twisted into a strange smile. She was experiencing extreme pleasure. The invisible string of fate slowly expanded itself as the connection between the two strengthened. As the connection between them intensified, the memory of Forus began to overlap with the memory of Ocelia Coruscare. The two resonant souls shared the control over the two bodies equally, but once one could advance in their sorcery, one could dominate the mind of another into submission, turning them into slave or toy. The string of fate slowly crept toward Forus' soul, desiring to combine it with Ocelia's and made the two became one, but once the line touched his soul, a mysterious ray of grey light manifested itself and tangled with the line, causing the line to decay and retreated back. Soon, the strange sensation slowly left his body. The overlapped visions also started to cease, but the fragmented memory remained in his memory. "I will be seeing you again, my loved." Before the connection between them ceased, the mouth of both bodies opened and uttered the same sentence with two tones of voice. After gaining control over his body again, Forus noticed that the servant in grey had already escaped. He immediately ran away from the scene and disappeared into the wood. After he felt that he was safe, he slowly sat down and contemplated over the demonic spell that connected two souls into one. Even though he had escaped the first ambush that aimed to take over his body and soul, he could feel that Ocelia was about to breakthrough and entered the first ranked sorcerer. When she obtained the power of the first rank sorcerer, dominating his soul and enslaved his mind would be as easy as drinking and eating for her. His body and soul would not be in his control, but it would be for Ocelia to do anything as she pleased. In just one event, Forus had found himself trapped inside a never-ending and endlessly complex maze with pitfalls inserted in every other step. His back was against the all-devouring wall of flesh, and the hidden blade was hovering above his head. He would die if he never moved, but moving carelessly would also be risking his life. "I need to advance my sorcery power as soon as possible." With this thought in his mind, Forus pulled out the Decaying Dawn Ring to inspect it. The dense Death Aura that covered the surface of the ring was an excellent external power to quickly cultivate and strengthened his soul. Although it would create some obstacles for his future sorcery development, the time had never waited for anyone. If he didn't grow as fast as possible, the day the next forceful control came would be his end. The Death Aura inside the ring invaded the body of Forus as soon as he laid down all his defence. The terrifying pain continued to rampage within his every muscle and vein, causing his body to turn pale. Due to the torments of the past, Forus could easily endure the numb feeling that would cause others to lose their mind. The Death Aura began to seep into his grey soul, devouring his soul little by little, but the grey soul was also tried to consume the foreign Death Aura to strengthen itself. The process of mutually absorbing each other would refine his soul and caused it to become stronger. During the process of consumption, the pain that originated from the loss of one's soul was a different sensation from the physical pain. Forus could feel that his mental state was slowly descending into the state of madness and absent-minded. If he lost his control over his mind for even a moment, his body would turn into a mindless shell, using only basic instinct to survive. After enduring for what felt like an eternity, Forus was at his wit's end. Before he could try to stop the transformation and stabilize his soul, a blurry figure revealed itself from inside the ring. The image of an old man was floating above the ring, eyeing the trembling figure of Forus. "Today is the day Lord Phasma will return to this world again!" The distorted voice of the old man contained a hint of excitement. He was a fragment of the soul of a sorcerer whose lifespan was at the end. In order to extend his life, he spilt his soul into different pieces and sent them to different locations, waiting for an unlucky person to obtain it and used it. Although Forus had already checked for many possible traps and formations within the ring, how could a lowly sorcerer apprentice detect the mysterious soul fragment of the lofty sorcerer? The blurry image of Lord Phasma turned into a ray of light and forcefully entered the consciousness of Forus. He hadn't known about the fierce fight between the grey soul and the Death Aura, so when he witnessed what was happening inside Forus' consciousness, his soul fragment shone faintly due to his surprise. "Such a powerful soul, capable of defending against the decaying power of Death Aura. It would be a waste if this soul belongs to someone other than me!" Seeing that the Death Aura was invading the soul, causing it to weaken, Lord Phasma instantly rushed toward the grey soul, trying to consume it and took its power as his own. The disturbance within his consciousness caused Forus' expression to worsen. He could not stop the invasion of the Death Aura because he needed it to temporary fend off the foreign soul that tried to overtake his body. He also needed to endure the pain from the forceful injection of the old man's soul. The longer this battle dragged on, the more he would suffer. Eventually, he would be unable to stay concentrated and fell into the mindless state. "I'm finally catching up to you!" Unknowingly, a young girl walked out of the bush near the location of Forus. Her eyes were full of justice and righteousness. She had been chasing the bad man that had bad intentions for a very long time, but due to Forus' high attainment in disguising and concealing track, he had delayed her for quite a while. "By the name of the Flying Green Garden and my mentor, I shall capture you, the criminal who slaughtered other!" Little Florie spoke confidently before rushing toward Forus, waving her hand and created many vines out of thin air.

With the combination of strength, willpower, and hatred, Forus managed to cross the distance between him and the blue-robed sorcerer with just one single decisive jump. "Die!" Forus moved his hand as fast as he could towards the sorcerer, aiming it at the chest. Although he knew that hitting the face would yield more damage, hitting the centre mass was easier. Forus knew that he could not afford any mistake, for it would result in his definite loss. He only had one chance. "What a disappointment..." The originally broken black chains abruptly manifested behind the sorcerer. The new chains emitted greater pressure than the ones previously used to bind Forus. Before the strike could land, Forus disregarded his safety and forcefully controlled Death Aura to condense into the revolting mist. He fused it with his fist and let it empower his explosive strength. The Death Aura quickly devoured the flesh it came into contact, creating the appearance of the deformed hand. Forus could see his skin gradually blackened and rot away at a visible rate. The pain was heightening every passing moment, but Forus never let it slow his movement or dim his determination. In an instant, the fist and the chains collided. The collision between the defective fist and the black chains birthed countless sparks, resulting in various colourful shades floating in the air. The spectacular scene could only serve as concealment to the devastating damage hidden within. As a mortal, Forus could not handle the aftershock of the crash. By the force of the impact, Forus flew back and crashed onto the wall, creating a deep crater on it. The blow produced a noise that weaved the entire underground chamber. On the other side of the impact, the sorcerer stood motionless, uninjured and nonchalant. Except for the broken black chains, the entirety of the man was clean and spotless. There was not even any dust on his cloak. "It's truly a strange way to use Death Aura. Sadly, your body can't handle the burden brought by it." The sorcerer strolled towards Forus, revealing merely a slight trace of fascination. Regarding the current situation, the sorcerer remained confident and had not yet chanted any spell. He reacted with a carefree attitude and also allowed Forus to slowly get up on his feet. To the sorcerer, this was merely one strange experiment. Everything was under his control. Forus struggled to stand up on his own. His legs were numb, and his arms hardly responded to his will anymore. If not for the constant tempering from the experiments and Death Aura, Forus would have collapsed from exhaustion and died from that single collision. "Do tell; if I double the current explosive power, will I be able to hurt you?" Knowing that the sorcerer gave him time to relax, Forus asked as he tried to calm his body down. If he had more time to familiarize himself with the dart, he could potentially double or even triple his current power. Unfortunately, Fate did not give him and more time, and he had to make do with the current situation. "From my estimation, you might be able to break the barrier if you amplified your output five more times." The sorcerer calmly stated his speculation. His honest answer caused Forus to shake his head in disappointment. Even if he tried his best, he was not sure if he could scatch the invisible barrier. Maybe he would be able to do it, but he would surely die in the process. Finally stood up, Forus willed, and the Death Aura erupted from his skin, burning his flesh more fiercely than before. He used his body as the momentum and rushed forwards with reckless abandon. The sorcerer, however, did not have his chains prepared. He merely covered his hands with a changing sphere of ice. The freezing sphere was so cold that Forus could see bluish shade radiating from it. Even from the distance, Forus could feel his legs trembling from the icy coldness. As his speed slowed down, Forus gritted his teeth and added more Death Aura into his body, causing it to burn stronger. Like the previous exchange, both sides collided, creating yet another round of flashing light, but this time, Forus was not going to let the same happen to him. He forcefully twisted his body to let only his fist endured the impact. As crimson blood splashed into the air, red hue covered the room as the bloody fragrance enveloped both Forus and the sorcerer. The impact, endured solely by his fist, blew Forus' entire arm to smithereens. In quick succession, Forus spun his other fist and hurled it towards the sorcerer. As it travelled its trajectory, the black flame erupted from his skin, rotting it by each passing second; its intensity was even more potent than before, revealing Forus' actual plan. The fist struck the sorcerer directly; however, before it could damage him, an invisible barrier manifested and blocked the deadly blow; the blue-robed sorcerer had always been cautious. After all, he would not survive if he was lacking in prudence. Although the barrier could not withstand the strike, it managed to hold the fist out for a split second, successfully serving its purpose for delaying the impact. This time, after the exchange, the sorcerer was the one sent flying toward the wall. Dust flew as his body crashed onto the building, creating a deafening noise. Not letting the sorcerer any time to recover, Forus rushed toward the man, enduring the pain caused by his injuries. With every moment wasted, he risked having his only chance to survive extinguished. By concentrating all his power at his fist, Forus punched towards the sorcerer, creating a cutting sound produced by the destructive might of Death Aura. "The Snow of Remembrance shall cover all!" Amidst the leap, a strange chant echoed outwards from the blue-robed sorcerer, filling the room with an enchanting air of serenity. As the incantation ended, a unique ring on the sorcerer's finger shone faintly, creating an invisible wind that blew around him. Along with the wind, countless snowflakes manifested under their guidance. Without giving any chance to resist, the magical snow slipped passed Forus and landed on his body, melting into his skin and seeping into his soul. Upon coming into contact with the snow, Forus' body began to stagnate as his eyes turned unfocused. Before long, his breath stabilized as he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious and paralysed. ... "Dear, you're back." Worried, Meria had been waiting for Forus in front of their house since the sunset. She feared any harm would befall onto him. "Dad, let's play!" Before Forus could excuse himself, Matia sneaked up from behind and hugged him, begging for his attention. "... Am I home?" Forus extended his hands forwards. However, as he looked down, he saw a pair of rotten arms, burning in black flame. The blaze of Death Aura persisted in its intensity, magnifying itself every passing second. As its heat radiated outwards, the vision began to distort as Forus once again fell into the darkness. ... As his eyes snapped opened, Forus found himself staring at the panting sorcerer, evidently exhausted from the usage of the strange incantation. At first, Forus tried to move, but his body was restricted by the chains, creating a clanking sound which alerted the sorcerer of Forus' action. "How is this... even possible? How did you overcome the illusion?!" The sorcerer expressed an extreme amount of surprise as he stood up despite the pain he had to endure. Clenching his fist, Forus willed, and the black flame manifested once more. This time, the flame did not just rot his fist, but its power extended all over Forus' body, transforming him into a human touch. The chains which bound Forus instantly crumbled upon coming into contact with the Death Aura, freeing Forus from its restrain. "You're mad!" The sorcerer panicked, but on his face, a deranged smile manifested as he let out a burst of distorted laughter. His hands moved, and along with his gesture, countless ice spikes revealed themselves. Forus wasted no time to jump towards the sorcerer, facing off against his army of ice without any fear. With his body as a sacrifice, Forus could exert power beyond his limit and disregarded his injuries. By the time his fist came close to the sorcerer, numerous ice spikes had also reached Forus. He instinctively closed his eyes, even though he could no longer see anything. In the darkness before death, Forus imagined about various things. Although he could no longer speak, he still whispered his thoughts inside his mind. "Meria, wait for me. I'm going to see you soon." Forus thought about his wife, and how he would meet her very soon. "Matia, I hope you're doing well. I'm sorry, but I've to go." Despite knowing that his daughter would do well, Forus remained worried for her future. "Intor— in the end— I still haven't visited you." A face, so unknown yet so familiar, manifested in his mind. Forus thought about his brother, and how he was enjoying his life. Time slowed down in front of the inevitable death. During a single instant, before the blow happened, Forus managed to reflect upon himself every waking moment of his. "Farewell..." The burning fist hit the ice spikes. ... "Why am I crying?" The lady in white muttered as tears trickled down from her face. In her distorted vision, she saw a silhouette so familiar yet so distant, strolling towards the sunset. "Meria, wait for me. I'm going to see you soon." Forus smiled as he looked upwards. His body fading into the rose-like shade. That day, Meria found herself sitting alone, gazing toward the horizon. ... Intor Ander was meditating when he suddenly snapped his eyes opened in disbelief. He could feel that something unbelievably precious to him had been stripped away from him. As if an instance of wisdom struck him, Intor gradually calmed down and pondered about his experience. His mind had never become so clear, that he could comprehend abstract concepts as easy as breathing and drinking. "Brother, farewell..." Although he did not wish for it, Intor remained grateful for the blessing he received. ... Matia was an intelligent and hard-working lady. When she first joined Flying Green Garden at the age of ten, her talent for sorcery was classified as a genius-class. Now, almost eleven years had passed. Her mastery over sorcery had progressed beyond the expectation imposed onto her, making her prospect even brighter than before. Matia had no surname. She was an orphan picked up by one of the higher-ups of the Garden. Her memory before she joined this place was sealed; she would be able to break the seal once she advanced to the second rank. "... Who is trying to communicate with me?" Her dark-cyan eyes flashed as she tried to determine the origin of the power. With her high comprehension capacity, she could quickly decipher a part of the communication. Upon touching the invisible line, Matia felt a headache as the world around her lost their colours. Her vision faded into a monochrome tone as her surrounding turned into various shades of grey. Little by little, the seals created by higher-ups of the Garden began to break apart. The invisible line slowly corroded the seal, causing the repressed memory to leak out. ... "Mom... dad... where are you?" ... Countless images flashed past her eyes, and with them, the overwhelming emotions belonged to her previous self. They ruptured in anger and despair at the last scene before she fell unconscious. In her eyes, the only colourful thing in the entire world was her family. ... Outside the boundary of Flying Green Garden, a green-robed figure was holding a weak string of light. He examined it for a moment before crushing it into dust. "An interesting phenomenon... Unfortunately, there isn't enough time for her." The figure shook his head lightly before descending back into Flying Green Garden. Without the line, Matia failed to hear the last farewell of her father. However, with her gifted attributes, she was quick enough to receive his blessing before the line was terminated. ... The underground chamber, after the impact, failed to support the weight above it and collapsed onto itself. Although some parts were still in places, most of the structure was already ruined. At the centre of the wreckage, countless shards of ice and puddles of water lingered. The shade of their colour was crimson, covered in blood. "This is a serious miscalculation— as expected from the power of that being..." The blue-robed sorcerer crawled out from the wreckage, panting weakly as he froze his body into ice. His lower body was gone, blown away by the impact. "Still, I am the winner." Although the pain was unbearable, the sorcerer managed to sneak out a smile before groaning again. He needed to quickly stop the bleeding or else he would really die.

After finish merging with the new, superior body of the first-ranked sorcerer, Forus felt overwhelmed and uncomfortable within her new body. The weak soul of the third-ranked sorcerer apprentice wouldn't be able to control the strong physical shell of the first-ranked sorcerer freely. In reality, if not for the fact that Ocelia's soul got heavily injured and got restained by the mysterious string of fate, coupled with the illusion of the Ring of Recollection, whose origin was untraceable even by the second-ranked sorcerer, Ocelia could still retrieve her body back and instantly enslaved Forus' frail soul. Now, since Forus had overtaken the body, she got assaulted by the overwhelming memory of the previous owner, Ocelia Coruscare. In the vision, Forus received about various miscellaneous facts and pieces of information about the traditional path of sorcery. If not for the enigmatic grey light that fused with his soul, Forus would have gotten overwhelmed by a large amount of the clustered information and scattered memory that got crammed into his soul. The soul of the sorcerer apprentices wouldn't be able to process the memory of the sorcerers. After finishing the process of transmigration, Forus slowly felt the flow of pure flaming element inside of her body. She was trying her best to adjust the coordination between her soul and newly acquired physical shell. This process also helped her to gain experience of how the power of the first-ranked sorcerer operated. However, before Forus could control her new body, the seals that Ocelia had created also began his activation. Many tiny lines were crawling onto her body, preventing Forus to move. If Forus wanted to completely took control over her new body and integrated herself into the Coruscare Family, she needed to break the last line of defence that was the seals. Fortunately, the seals got set up poorly, as Ocelia didn't have time to set a strong seal carefully. After an instant, Forus had already gained control over the majority of her body. Before long, she would have become the new Ocelia Coruscare, the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. If it was the previous Forus who was still a measly sorcerer apprentice, he might be able to break the seals after going all out, but after she used the power of the first-ranked sorcerer, the seals got torn apart like a wet paper. It couldn't stand in the presence of such might. After she could move her body freely without any obstruction from the seals, Forus began to look at her beautiful figure and alluring features. The not too short nor too long red hair that danced with the gentle wind and the orange eyes that shone brightly like the sun could steal the attention and heart of any men that had their sight onto her. The feeling that the flow of pure elemental energy gave off was intoxicating, almost making Forus felt addicted to it. However, she still remembered her objective. She looked into the energy field, penetrating the space and saw the struggling former body of Forus. It was only a moment that Ocelia got caught inside the illusion of the Ring of Recollection. After all, a spell cast by a sorcerer apprentice couldn't do anything lethal to the first-ranked sorcerer. Even then, numerous wounds had already emerged on Ocelia's new body when she got out of the illusion. After Ocelia got pulled into Forus' body, her soul also got the memory of the Forus. Because of her soul that was the soul of a first-ranked sorcerer, she had no difficulty in receiving the vision of a sorcerer apprentice. Watching the past of Forus, she discovered that she could only see into so little of his life, as everything before his mysterious awaken in the hideout of the blue-robed sorcerer never got transmitted into her soul. However, in her situation, she had no time to ponder over such useless thing when she needed to find a way to survive the scheme. Fortunately, Ocelia could still see the various spells that Forus had learnt during his stay in the hideout of the blue-robed sorcerer. Ocelia also saw the moment where Forus struggled at the doorstep of the death when he almost killed the righteous female sorcerer apprentice, forcing the mentor of said sorcerer apprentice to act, nearly killing him with one of her casual spells. However, Ocelia couldn't see anything related to the Death Aura and the mysterious entity, as all information about it got blurred by the interference of the unknown power. Facing the death threat of the Death Aura weapons, Ocelia gritted his teeth decisively cut a chunk of his flesh and threw it outwards at a random direction. The Death Aura weapons quickly sensed the meat and moved towards it, aiming to annihilate it. However, inside of the chunk of flesh, various roots of the spiritual seed began to penetrate out of the meat, defending against the Death Aura weapons and trying to find its way back to the main body. The movement of the agitated roots caused a chain-reaction that made other roots in action, rampaging inside Ocelia's current figure. In the face of death, Ocelia only let out a low grown before repeating the process, sending out more and more chunks of flesh. The flesh then became the target practice of the Death Aura weapons, getting destroyed by them regularly. However, before Ocelia could catch a breath, he sensed a sudden looming feeling of danger appeared out of nowhere, causing Ocelia to become alert. He used his new-found spells of ice and light to protect himself. Suddenly, the faint silhouette of an old man appeared behind Ocelia. Lord Phasma snapped his finger, creating many rays of light. The rays of light then shot towards Ocelia, binding him in place and restaining his sorcery energy. If Ocelia still had the previous body of the first-ranked sorcerer, she could easily defeat this fragmented soul, but alas, the body Ocelia had now was at the rank of sorcerer apprentice, which was fragile compared to the first-ranked sorcerer. Without anyone to obstruct his path, Lord Phasma released attacks after attacks, targetting her soul to ensure that the defence of her soul to get weakened as much as possible. After all, after he decisively destroyed his Decaying Dawn Ring, Lord Phasma had lost his hideout. If he couldn't succeed in this takeover, he would disappear for good. However, to his surprise, Ocelia could still hold on even after suffering from various mental attacks. Lord Phasma had no mean to know that Forus had used the extraordinary mean to capture the soul of the first-ranked sorcerer. "Why are you still idling? Go and save that child!" Outside of the energy field, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron had already begun their rescue mission. After all, they couldn't bear to pass with such a great talent alchemist. "That man, Falsus Nomen, is currently under my protection. How could I stand and watch as someone I promised to protect dies?" A firm and gentle voice softly echoed the testing ground. Accompanied by the graceful speech, an old man swiftly rushed into the energy field. Ocelia Coruscare, or her body which got controlled by Forus, expressed her motive to rescue Falsus Nomen, trying to rope him to join her Coruscare Family. However, her goal naturally crashed against the Steel Cauldron, which also wanted to recruit Falsus Nomen. If Falsus didn't exhibit such a grand talent in both alchemy and sorcery, the Steel Cauldron would back down and gave this successor of the sorcerer family some face. However, now that Falsus had exhibited a sign of an unparallel talent, the Steel Cauldron could potentially have a next grandmaster alchemist. After Forus got the memory of Ocelia, she knew that the Coruscare Family couldn't contend against the actual might of the Steel Cauldron. Naturally, after staying stubborn for a while to retain the dignity of the sorcerer family, she finally retreated after she got the offer of compensations. The sole reason why Ocelia in Forus could still survive was the fact that she managed to guess the absurd intention that Forus carefully hid beneath his suicidal surface. If Ocelia didn't dissipate the elemental energy that used to suppress Forus' body at the last moment, she would have died by the detonation caused by Forus. However, due to her keen sense that allowed her to guess Forus' intention vaguely, she had immediately destroyed all of her back-up measures as they could threaten herself. Although with the help of the Steel Cauldron, Ocelia-in-Forus had narrowly avoided the calamity, Forus-in-Ocelia also had much more time to plan her scheme thoroughly, and there would be no way to stop her. In theory, Ocelia could expose the fact that she and Forus had swapped body and soul, that would cause Forus' plan to fall apart, but, if anyone knew about this secret of soul transferring and the string of fate, at best, she and Forus would have gotten locked in the laboratory and experienced the endless experiment. At worst, both of them would get their souls extracted and dissected, forever suffered in the hands of the powerful sorcerers. After weighing the pros and cons, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare had tactically promised each other not to reveal the dark secret that they shared or their life would get ruined, and their soul got trapped forever. Forus, in her captivating body, watched as the Steel Cauldron carefully treated the dizzy and barely conscious Ocelia, who was in Forus' frame. She was showing to the surrounding that she got her interest fixed at the alchemy genius, Falsus Nomen. "Although both Abicel and Falsus didn't manage to finish their recipe, their superb talents had already won over the judges' attention. However, please let us have a moment to discuss before announcing the winner." After seeing that both Abicel and Falsus were safe, the Steel Cauldron quickly ordered their judges to review the potions and pills as well as examining the procedures. Even if no one said it, everyone in the testing ground silently agreed that the top of the test should be Abicel and Falsus. They had already given up on obtaining the first and second place. After a short while of heat discussion and speculation, the judges came out of their meeting room and slowly announced the scores of the test. At this point, there were many rounds of crying and rejoicing. Some were even trying to hear the reasons why their scores were as such. Naturally, the third place belonged to Mabilis Sagunien. Although he was the rare genius of the Sagunien Family, he didn't solely practice the art of alchemy. He, who wished to become the next head of the family, only practice alchemy to widen his circle of influence further. In contrast to Forus Ander, who had the personal diary and research papers of the second-ranked sorcerer, and Abicel Pingre, who didn't have any political scene and had better talents than him, Mabilis stood only a low chance in getting the first place. "The first place of the test goes to Falsus Nomen!" Various acclaims and encouragement sounded the entire testing ground as the last result got announced. Hearing that Falsus Nomen had won the competition, Ocelia Coruscare, whose body got controlled by Forus, smiled faintly before channelling her sorcery power, sending a minute speck of pure sorcery energy towards Falsus. Although the real Ocelia didn't want to take the tampered sphere of energy, he nevertheless absorbed it casually, seemingly without any concern. "As I have promised, this pure sorcery energy will unquestionably help you progress in your cultivation. Not only that, I shall personally help you recovered from your injury and try my best to restore your unusable eye." Her voice gentled and her gesture beautiful, Ocelia gave a declare in front of everyone that she had taken her full interest in Falsus. However, while everyone busily envied him, Falsus Nomen, whose body contained the soul of actual Ocelia Coruscare, paled at the sentence of her real body. "Mistress Ocelia, your grace and magnanimity are as bright as the sun that dispels all the darkness and evilness of the world. However, to go to your Coruscare Family with this dirty and tattered attire is nothing short of insulting your dignity. Please let this one prepares himself." Falsus struggled to kneel and bowed, trying his best not to offend Ocelia Coruscare.

As the voice commanded, the crystal hallway lost its colour, turning dull and still. Along with it, the dominant force descended from the void into the physical realm, occupying the area as its sole ruler. It rapidly enveloped the struggling Ocelia and quickly took control over her body, forcing her hand to move closer towards the tome of forbiddance. "You will not regret it once you had taken a liking to your new appearance. Just let fate takes its course." The emotionless yet kind voice whispered into her ears, drowning her in an endless sea of warming concern and peace. Although Ocelia knew that this was just an illusion created by the mysterious being, with her current trivial power, she could only resist it futilely. She watched as half of her arm turned transparent and smooth, becoming like a masterpiece of elite craftsmanship. Her delicate skin changed its hue from the subtle pink to flawless azure with a reddish shade blended in. Her body hair disintegrated into nothingness, enhancing the reflective property of her firm surface, making them glittering with sparks. As her body slowly converted itself into a different structure, Ocelia didn't experience the previous heart-breaking agony as she expected, she could only feel the blessed sensation of pleasure rushing through her conscious. However, Ocelia tried her hardest to resist the conversion as she could, she knew that if she felt delighted about the current situation, there would be no turning back. Her strong gripping motion caused her unrelenting hand to crack under its pressure, making tiny parts of her hand to fall apart, turning into dust as they hit the ground. The rift continued to spread from her fingertips towards her arm, breaking several patterns of herself, changing her figure from a beautifully created statue to a ruined artefact. By destroying her hand, she had widened her distance between herself and the tome. "Quite stubborn, but worry not, dear child. Your physical appearance would matter not as you embraced your new nature. The limitation of the material realm would no longer restrain you." The calming voice returned once more with its melodic speech. Accompanied by her criticism, the scattering dust slowly merged into pieces of fragmented crystals. They flew towards Ocelia and reassembled themselves into a new arm, attaching itself onto her broken limb. Taking her by surprise, that miracle caused her to doze off for a moment, giving the opportunity for the entity to control her hand and grasped the tome elegantly. Even if Ocelia recovered from her distracted state of mind, it would be too late for her to stop the fate that she needed to go through. However, the total transformation from a human being to an elemental creature didn't occur after she had realised her failure. Instead, her hand had stopped itself from touching the tome, leaving the distance between the forbidden book and the crystal hand within a hand's grasp. "Foolish creature! How dare you defile the body of the next guardian?" The hallway trembled under its fury, distorting the space and destroying the beautiful scenery. Because of the entity's anger, Ocelia's body violently shook as she coughed out her blood. Watching it dropped onto the ground, she found that her blood had shifted from its usual crimson hue into the bluish shade, hiding a hint of reddish tone inside. "Ocelia, I'm sorry for coming in late." Hearing the unique yet intimate apology, Ocelia almost let out a sigh of relief as she instantly let go over the control of her body, giving it into the care of the owner of this voice. "Child, no matter how you denied it, you will come here in the end." A white figure manifested herself in front of Ocelia, reaching out its hand at her. In both Ocelia's vision, the delicate palm of whiteness expanded endlessly before covering all of her viewpoints, turning into the white paper sheet that encompassed the sky, akin to the firmament at the top of this dull, senseless world. As the distance between them shrank at an unimaginable rate, Ocelia's vision turned white as the crystal hallway crumbled under the might of the palm, alternating from the luxurious chamber into the lost ruin. Opening her eyes, Ocelia surveyed the surrounding before laying back onto the ground as she had confirmed that she was back to where she once was. Surprisingly, Forus was looking at her face with his hollow eye sockets, caressing her palm gently, massaging it to relax her muscle. Without any care, Ocelia gripped her hands onto Forus and pulled his head down, meeting his mouth head-on with her sweet lips. They continued to expel themselves of the stress and occasionally let out some awkward noises before Ocelia finally let go of her lover, feeling accomplished and worry-free. The person who had forced Ocelia's hand to stop was naturally Forus. After he discerned that Ocelia had fallen into a state of unconscious, he tried to look for any lingering wounds and monitored her condition in the hope to find the cause of her slumber. Even then, he couldn't detect any abnormality even when he scanned the sorcery energy inside of her. As he didn't have his eyes, Forus wouldn't be able to see the strange shape of Ocelia's eyes and how the rose imprint on their hand shone faintly. In the end, Forus decided to connect himself with Ocelia again, sending him inside Ocelia's vision right when she was about to take the mysterious book that changed her corporeal body into a spiritual one. Although he had successfully stopped Ocelia from crossing the line of unreturnable change, he also angered the mighty figure that appeared in the end. As Forus connected his vision with Ocelia's, he also saw the ever-expanding palm that dominated the hallway, crushing every bit of resistance without any chance of resisting. Along with the destruction of the chamber, the sentence the lady of white spoke echoed his mind, reminding him about the inevitable of their end. Because of their sweet activity, Ocelia could only notice that her hands had turned smooth and dull, just like when she was in the vision. The rate of the transfusion was getting faster and more dominant as time passed, constantly whispered into their ears about the time limit. Although she didn't know what would the raging lady of white would do if she didn't go back to the crystal tower, Ocelia knew that if the figure wanted to kill her, she would have already ended both of them long ago. If the two needed to go back to let Ocelia face her destiny again, they would try their best to drag out time to find the hidden quest and completed it before escaping back to the real world. This way, the white figure would never be able to locate them again as the system of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin would not allow that. If not, the monsters of this realm would have already escaped the ruin long ago. On the other hand, if they could not find the secret mission created by the realm, they would have to face the impossible-to-defeat entity, losing the chance for Ocelia to remain human in both soul and body. Then, they could only hold on until the dimensional gate opened itself and used it to go back towards their homeworld, forsaking their secret mission and escaped the wicked world. First, the two needed to find a way to get stronger at an extraordinary rate to enhance their chance of survival. Having organised their thought, Forus suddenly moved closer towards Ocelia, telling her to guide him to the collapsed area where the judgement of the dark hand took place. Although she was confused at first, Ocelia naturally had the undying trust for him and immediately led him to where he desired. Forus then asked Ocelia to find the drop of black blood that spilt out during the stalemate that they fought in the darkest night of their life. At that moment of crisis, Forus couldn't be bothered to check if the blood could bring them any surprise. As the realm was designed to help the sorcerer-in-training honed their skill, it would give out rewards after rewards to indirectly encouraged them into giving more of their effort. Using the grey soul within his mind, Forus began to spread the grey tendrils outwards, creeping towards the drop of blackness. The tendrils gently vibrated as they detected the essential Death Aura that leaked out from the darkness, getting excited about the upcoming feast. However, according to Forus's will, the tendrils didn't dare to head straight into the blood and could only hover around it, waiting for Forus to check for any side-effects. Because the tendrils were a part of his soul, Forus could sense their desire, and in turn, felt a little excited as well. With the combined knowledge between the couple, Forus could not find any abnormality that would happen after he absorbed it. In the worst case, he would feel the pain from the overflowing of the Death Aura inside his body. Without any hesitation, the tendrils listened and obeyed, rushing towards the drop of blood and sucked the Death Aura into itself. The instant Forus started to absorb the Death Aura, he slowly sat onto the ground, trying to calm his breath, resisting the pain that slowly spread through his bloodline. His hand violently combusted into a liquid-like state as numerous tentacles extended outwards, aimlessly twisted in joy as the Death Aura slowly penetrated Forus' very existence. His skin turned rotted and decayed, only to recover in the next second before starting to rot again. The endless creation and destruction of his physical body caused sweet to form, dropping down from his face. Despite all of that, Forus still hadn't let out a single cry of pain. He silently endured the suffering as if it was nothing, gaining more respect from Ocelia who was slowly retreating to the safe distance as time passed. She knew that Forus might be breaking through at any moment now, and disrupting a sorcerer's breakthrough was akin to humiliating their bottom line and identity. No ordinary sorcerers would never let anyone see their advancement in sorcery, however, due to their infallible trust, Forus could relax his guard and tried his best in advancing into a first-ranked sorcerer while Ocelia was guarding him. While setting up defensive arrays and the like, Ocelia would occasionally gaze towards Forus, who was sweating like mad due to the overdosed of Death Aura and the rapid usage of the sorcery energy inside his body. The more the Death Aura started to act, the more Forus needed to use his sorcery energy to speed up the recovery of his body, battling against the process of decay created by the overflowing Death Aura. His skin would turn black, then grey due to the decay, and finally fell apart and disintegrate into dust, disappearing into the foggy surrounding. However, the pain that he felt did not lower, but instead, the process of escalating his recovery would bring an even higher amount of pain to him. Not only that, but the abundant amounts of Death Aura also caused his transformed arm to turn frenzy, madly rushing around without any destination, trying to eat every bit of dissipating Death Aura. After a series of skin and flesh fell and got replaced with a new one, the Death Aura around Forus had already intensified to the point where it condensed into the dark mist, decaying everything within its touch. His new layer of skin would become rotten after it came into existence before decomposing into nothingness and repeated the endless cycle. The sweats that Forus previously produced would never drop onto the ground as they would immediately dissolve into physical particles after coming out of his pores. Countless black dust started to gather around Forus, forming a demonic shape that resembled the summoning ritual, looking utterly sinister and ambiguous. Brought by the completion of the terrible array, a faint laugh of amusement and joy echoed the whole surrounding, travelling outwards to the world of dullness, pushing the white mist away from the ceremony of the wicked. With the gathering of the Death Aura and the completion of the advancement formation, Forus faintly grinned as his mind span countless times over, trying to engrave this feeling into his soul. He was about to press on and started his advancement towards the first-ranked sorcerer!

Forus Ander stood there, watching the henchmen of Coruscare Family destroyed his store. There was no emotion in his eyes. He felt nothing. He was indifferent. His lack of emotion surprised even himself. He only pondered for a moment before stopped thinking about it. He could feel that it had something to do with his return from the dead. He gazed at the henchmen who had very low sorcery mastery, but, he did nothing. He felt that it wasn't worth his time and the drawbacks outweighed the benefits. He also couldn't reveal his identity at the moment. "I must use this period of peace as efficient as possible." He muttered to himself. In this peaceful time, he had to establish his identity and solidified his status in the city. He concluded that joining an organization would benefit him greatly. Almost no one would want to offend the person with a great background. Even the sorcerer family would also have to rethink their decision. They wouldn't charge in and demanded the detail of their members' personal information, or worse, demanded to capture said member. He would no longer need to worry about material for alchemy practice after he joined the alchemy organization. He could even obtain the sorcery techniques and used them to improve his method. He also needed more variety of sorcery spells to help cope with his long-range weakness. After paying some gold for the bartender, Forus could easily get the general information about the independent organization within the city as well as their influence within the Mountain Union. With this piece of information, Forus began to construct his long-term plan. Time flew, in a blink of an eye, the sun had already set, the moon had already risen and floated majestically on the night sky. Forus left the cafeteria and went back to the inn. He had decided to join the organization named Steel Cauldron. The organization was created for the rogue alchemists to unite and defend against the suppression of the sorcerer family. With that thought in mind, Forus began to prepare himself and went to sleep early. Although his body didn't require eating or sleeping, it was a great way to relax his mind after days of scheming and dancing with life and death. ... "Greeting, mister. How could I help you?" The receptionist spoke her usual script as natural as possible. She had said this particular lines for countless times, so much that it became a kind of habit for her. "Hello, I would like to join the Steel Cauldron as an alchemist apprentice." Forus spoke and tossed a Mystical Orb toward the young receptionist. She caught it nicely and smiled before handing out a paper for him to fill his information. Falsus Nomen, a second layer sorcerer apprentice, joined the organization as an alchemist apprentice. He filled everything that needed to be filled but left most of the sensitive detail remained vague. "Mister Falsus, the recruitment and examination day would be a month from now on. We will send a letter to your place when the day is approaching." The receptionist had noticeably become more respectful toward Forus after he gave her a Mystical Orb. To everyone else, the orb was very precious, it could be used to buy potions or to fasten the cultivation speed, but to him, it could only be used to buy materials and some low-grade treasures. Falsus smiled back at her and walked away into the distance. Once he had gone out of the sight of the receptionist, a group of sorcerer apprentice gazed toward his direction, subtly revealing their greed. They nodded at each other and quietly walked out of the building. ... Forus continued to stoke into a remote location of the city. This was where all the pubs and motels were located. Everyone would get in and out without causing any disturbance, or else the attention would be on them. "Young man, instead of spending your gold and time on these useless women, you should give it to use. Consider it as a form of investment." The same group of people that followed him slowly surrounded him, threatening him to hand them the Mystical Orbs he had. "Why do you think that I personally walk into this remote place?" This weird and unexpected question caught them off guard. Why would Forus trap himself here instead of staying in the public area? Forus silently tossed a bottle of strange liquid toward the group. As they were just ordinary sorcerers, they instinctively catch it, causing the container to break off and the liquid inside to leak out. Followed by the scream, a series of punches were thrown out. Not long after the scream, the group was lying on the ground, trying their best to hold their cry of pain in. Getting beaten by an unknown person was bad, getting noticed by their friends was worse! Forus walked off as he was contemplating about the news that he got from those men. A small auction for the sorcerer apprentices was to be held in the next week, any sorcerers could join by paying a deposit of some Mystical Orbs. The deposit would be kept by the host if it wasn't used to purchase the items in the auction pavilion. It was a very good opportunity for him to acquire some treasures to analyse and used as another layer of protection. As for the Mystical Orbs, he had more than some of the first rank sorcerer, after all, his business had the foundation as the greed of the human which was, by nature, boundless and senseless. When he came back to his room in the inn, he sat down and meditated, reconsidering the actions and choices that he took earlier in the battle. He was trying to improve his fighting style and reviewed his overall performance in every aspect. Aside from cultivating his Death Aura, he didn't find any meaning in doing all the pointless actions such as going out or playing with girls. The loneliness in his heart was unable to be filled by an ordinary feeling of happiness. His empty heart was unmoved by the tragedy or grief of others. His heart was strangely yet fascinatedly indifferent toward the world. That day, Forus spent his night cultivated his Death Aura until the sun raised up to the sky. He looked up only to find the boundless sky with one bright star on it. Although the sun was big, in comparison with the sky, it was as insignificant as other things. "If I stopped changing, would the world also stop?" A question that needed no answer echoed in his mind. Shaking his head lightly, he stood up and prepared himself for the auction that would soon take place. ... "Old man, prepare me a carriage in the next week. I agreed to join that small auction." The beautiful yet cold female commanded her butler, in which he responded with a respectful bow. "Your will is my order." Although he didn't know why his mistress would want to go to such a poor and insignificant auction, he still had to carry out her request. The mistress lightly shook her hand, the sorcery energy that leaked out immediately formed an image of a leaning tower. The tower had six corporeal floors and one last incorporeal floor at the top. Many small balls of fire were floating inside the six floors, they were the fire spirits that she had created for many years of her cultivation. Although the seventh floor of the leaning tower was not formed yet, it still gave off the feeling of mightiness. None of the fire spirits dared to approach the stairway toward the incorporeal floor. They could sense the unknown entity that slumbered within the unreal floor. "I shall get you soon, I could sense it within my soul. Your everything will be mine." Her voice was like the decree of the empress, causing every fire spirits in the magical tower to bow their head when they received her decree. ... Walking on a lively road, little Florie tried to buy every little tasty thing and stuff them into her mouth. When she was still in the school, she could only eat the old and boring salad. She, as a little girl, had always wanted to eat the delicious food from all around the city. "Young miss, from you graceful aura, you must be one of the esteemed sorcerers! Please receive this invitation to an auction. Your presence would surely brighten up the whole event!" A young boy said to her while handing out an invitation, he had said these words for countless times to countless sorcerer apprentices. The little miss was sent into dazed for a while because of the sudden bombardment of praise before excitedly took the invitation letter. From what her teacher had told her, she needed to experience the life of ordinary sorcerer apprentices to refine her mental state. The safest place to do so was to join an auction as an observer. "Next week? Very well, this lady will go and brighten the mood for everyone!" She had decided to join the fun. Although she couldn't defend herself from the true sorcerers by herself, her teacher had gifted her many protective treasures. She could at least survive an attack of a second-ranked sorcerer. While thinking about the exciting event that she would soon be able to attend, her eyes wandered into another form of candy. They had the shape of a bloomed flower and looked extremely tasty, causing her mouth to crave for them. She wasted no time to abandon her train of thought before rushing in to buy some of them to eat. She was having the time of her life, extremely carefree and relaxing, without any sadness or grief. ... In a private room of an inn somewhere in the city, two men were having a conversation about the auction that was about to come. The first man had the air of arrogant and wore some kind of smooth yellow coat, judging from the material of the clothing, the coat was very expensive and wasteful. Another man was the exact opposite temper and air of the first man, he wore an ordinary grey coat and was very calm and passive air around him. "I heard that the auction this time would be a bit different, what could it be?" The arrogant man spoke while sipping his tea, obviously every relaxing. He had total confidence in himself at fighting any second layer sorcerer apprentice one in one. "From what this one heard, a rare middle-grade treasure would be sold at this time auction, but, the price would not be just ordinary mystical orbs." The man reported his information to the young master respectfully. He knew his limit and also knew when to back off and lay down to avoid the calamity. "A middle-grade treasure? Interesting. I wonder who was the owner of this treasure. Get his identity for me." He coldly ordered the poor man without any care of his feeling. They were only commoners, not enough for his attention. "Yes, young master." The grey-robed man responded with a bow before leaving the room. Once he closed the door, an uncontrollable smile broke out of his face, he chuckled to himself before forcing himself to remain expressionless as natural. "You think you could play me all you want? I will give you the same feeling of suppression like when you snatched my sister away from me." The words he uttered were filled with madness and hatred. This man had a deep and dark past. His family was torn apart by the big sorcerer family due to the beauty of his sister. Since then, he had been trying to avenge his parents. He had joined the big family as a servant and slowly advanced to become a henchman of this yellow-robed young master, he was the one who wanted his sister. Now, his life-long plan was about to hatch, just by thinking about the expression of despair when that man finally crumbled and died could make him trembled in excitement. "Sister, I'm going to save you. Just wait for me." He was reminiscing about his past happiness that couldn't be achieved again. A drop of tear was all he could do for those memories.

"Dear father, your daughter wishes to ask for your consent to let her venture outside and has a chance to train herself." Forus, whose soul was controlling Ocelia's balanced body, slowly sat down on the ground, expressing her respect towards the aged man who was sitting above the highest seat of the Coruscare Family. Accompanying the eldest mistress of the family, all other servants and the members of the Coruscare Family kneeled onto the ground and kowtowed, showing their devotion and loyalty. Not a single member of the family dared to raise their head and look into the abyss-like eyes of the seated figure. The figure was naturally the person with the highest control over the Coruscare Family, the current family head of the sorcery family, the enigmatic second-ranked sorcerer, Levota Coruscare. Levota was not the most talented member of Coruscare at his time, but he was the most cunning and decisive member of the upper echelons. In reality, his talent alone couldn't help him to advance to the first-ranked sorcerer, however, using his great mind and ruthless nature, he had seized the talented and special elemental affection from one of his siblings, crippling them and wasting their sorcery cultivation. Not only that, but he also managed to win over the majority of the upper echelons of the family, using nothing but his initial connection inherited from his mother, an insignificant concubine that got poisoned to death due to the vengeance of the victim of his power seize. In the end, he schemed with the Ninguis Family to take down his obstacles between him and the seat of the successor before finally staged their betrayal, dealing an immense blow to the Ninguis Family, causing their hostility to intensify from that point onwards. However, after reaping the benefits from betraying the Ninguis Family, Levota had amassed enough resource and had unexpectedly broken through the limit and advanced into the rank of the second-ranked sorcerers. With his newfound power, he forced the previous head to retire from his position and became a rightful successor of the family. Because of the power of the second-ranked sorcerer, the Ninguis Family could only watch the success of Levota in silent, not daring to do anything reckless. After all, the might of the second-ranked sorcerer wasn't something anyone could ignore, even for the sorcerer families like them. Recalling the accomplishments of the current family head, even Forus Ander, who wasn't related to the Coruscare Family in any way, except for her irresistible affection towards Ocelia Coruscare, admired and respected the man. "Falsus Nomen is the man you yearn to be with, isn't he?" Ignoring the request, Levota Coruscare directly mentioned the open secret of the family, asking 'Ocelia' about her choices and decisions. "Dear father, your daughter shall follow your arrangement. Even if she has to sacrifice her life." Forus immediately answered Levota's question, not wavering even in front of the mighty second-ranked sorcerer. Her love was real and would not cower beneath any external force. Since her first life, after experiencing the hopelessness and despair of the weak, Forus had long since valued the memory of her past and her freedom in dictating her fate the most. "Falsus Nomen, having no background, having no records concerning him anywhere. What are you going to deal with his mysterious and unknown identity?" Seeing his successor exhibiting her firm confidence and absolute resolution, Levota suddenly thought about his past, seeing his faint shadow in the keen eyes of 'Ocelia'. "Dear father, although his identity is a mystery, his talents in the arts of alchemy are too good for any organisation to risk having him come in contact with the danger. He also had already offended our rival, the Ninguis Family, almost making Glacies lost his cool during the Steel Cauldron recruiting event." Having prepared of the questions, Forus immediately answered Levota about her 'speculations' and 'discoveries', perfectly disguising Falsus as a wanderer from afar. "Well done, Ocelia. Embrace your love well, that man will forever become your supporting pillar, helping you overcome your mistakes, going through heaven and hell with you. With his talents in alchemy, he is an excellent choice as your husband." Despite the approval of her love, the only reason she got the approval of Levota was that Falsus was a genius in the arts of alchemy. He could quickly become one of the precious assets for the Coruscare Family to use. After all, being the head of Coruscare Family, Levota would always put the benefits of the family first, and the happiness of the members later. However, because of his mediocre talents in sorcery, only being able to advance to become the second-ranked sorcerer by cheating the Ninguis Family, his descendants would sometimes have inferior gifts in magic. Due to this reason, the descendants of Levota would have to struggle harder than the previous generation to complete against the Ninguis Family. With only his eldest descendant, Ocelia Coruscare, becoming the only one currently in the younger generation that advanced into the first-ranked sorcerer at a young age. Still, talents in sorcery didn't make one achieve everything. If not, Levota wouldn't be able to become the lord of the Coruscare Family. Learning from his experience, Levota would almost never restrict and controlled his descendants' freedom and their decision-making process. Only through mistakes and failures would one become stronger and wiser. "Thank you, dear father, for your blessing. Your daughter will work harder for the sake of our family." His approval was also the indirect approval in her journey. Overjoyed, Ocelia inadvertently raised her voice, sounding like an excited child whose father had allowed her to play outside, acting childish and cute. However, seeing his daughter displaying incompetent behaviour, Levota immediately stared down his daughter, using his gaze to pressure her to lower her head and ceased her nonsensical response. Forus, whose body got constrained by the gaze of the second-ranked sorcerer, suddenly turned pale and quickly reduced her voice, kneeling silently, enduring the stress and pain. "Take it. With this, you can save yourself once from a full power strike of an ordinary second-ranked sorcerer." Levota expressed no concern over the silent weep of his eldest daughter. He snapped his fingers and hurled out a solidified flaming particle, impaling into the chest of Ocelia, joining itself with her flesh and skin. "Your daughter thanks her father for gifting her such a great treasure." The process was painful beyond compare, however, learning from her experience, Forus gritted her teeth and stopped herself from letting out any sound nor showing any pained expression. After the pain of fusing with the flaming particle ended, Forus said some superficial words before expressing her desire to leave, wanting to go back and started preparing her properties. After the eldest mistress of the family bade her farewell to her father, the family head casually waved his hand, permitting the others to leave. Noticing his hand gesture, no one dared to disobey. The upper echelons expressed their praise while the servants saluted in an orderly manner, emitting out the air professionalism. Once there was only Levota Coruscare in the meeting hall, his emotionless face turned into a thoughtful one, tapping his finger across the throne in a constant rhythm. The approval of the desire of Ocelia to be with Falsus Nomen was an unanticipated surprise for him. However, it was a welcoming one. He had plans to draw Falsus Nomen to his side, helping his bloodline descendants to gain a useful asset. As a second-ranked sorcerer, he had already known that Falsus Nomen didn't have any background and had no real threat towards his family. If not for Ocelia's affection towards Falsus, he would have pitted Falsus in a scenario where he would unknowingly offend the Ninguis Family, dealing a blow towards their benefits and fame, forcing him to become their enemies. Then making use of his plan, his Coruscare Family would be the only helping force that could contend with the Ninguis Family. The associations that span wide and far would not intervene with the local's affairs and political scenes as they didn't wish to offend someone with the home-ground advantage. However, the main factor was that these sorcerer families had strong support from the second-ranked sorcerers, making them hesitated to help a sorcerer apprentice from their wrath. However, now that Ocelia and Falsus had fallen in love, which got confirmed by both surface-level and in-depth observation, Levota didn't need to run those meaningless schemes now. By helping them realised their love and attachment, wedding them together, Levota would have the absolute loyal from Falsus. The best contract that could bind the strong and the wise was always the contract that based on their emotions, especially love. Still, there was one aspect regarding Falsus Nomen that made Levota hesitated to immediately arranged their marriage, which was why he had agreed for Ocelia to go adventuring with Falsus for the time, trying to collect information and observed his potential. Thinking about something, Levota couldn't help but kept smiling, feeling please about himself. "With this in my mind, I might even reap even more than I thought." Chuckling to himself, Levota slowly rose from his throne. His robe swayed with the heat that his body emitted before suddenly froze. In the blink of an eye, his existence melted into the flaming particles, disappearing into nothingness. ... A faint light shone, accompanied by the vibration sent out from the unimpressive necklace. Because of this phenomenon, Mabilis who was concentrating over revising his daily works got distracted and accidentally wasted his papers. However, despite he had wasted one of his work, his face had shown nothing that could indicate him to be bitter or annoyed, only his grave and solemn expression remained. Slowly walking towards the glowy necklace, Mabilis adjusted his attire and checked his overall appearance twice before clearing his thought, focusing his mind into thinking about what he should do after activating the necklace. After an instant of pausing, Mabilis held the necklace up and gently pressed his thumb on the gemstone at the centre of the said necklace. The instant Mabilis pushed his finger onto it, various spell formations immediately poured out of the accessory, covering the entire room with many detections and isolation spells. A faint white mist leaked out of the necklace, slowly forming a single circle, condensing itself into a humanoid shape. A part of the white cloud at the core of the mist turned into the black mist, recreating the facial features of a human and mimicking the expression said a human was trying to display. "Lord Elder, Mabilis extended his greeting." Seeing that the communication device activated successfully and didn't go out of control, Mabilis spoke his prepared line before bending his back into a bow, showing a sincere expression of admiration. "Listen well, Mabilis. I have peered into the wave of Destiny and saw an incomplete fragment of the future. Inside the ancient ruin of Fleeting Emotions, there lied a great fortune, an opportunity for one to change their destiny!" The elder quickly spoke his vague statement that could very well come from the mouth of a madman. However, Mabilis had trusted this elder unconditionally, not even thought about the possibility of its falsehood. "Lord Elder, Mabilis will not disappoint you!" After receiving the guidance of the elder, Mabilis only asked about the overall situation of his clan before bidding the elder farewell, wanting to go and prepared for his exploration. The elder was naturally one of the upper echelons from Mabilis' family, succeeding in advancing into a first-ranked sorcerer. These sorcerers would sometimes get a chance to peer into the future, seeing the possible scenarios and performed to reap the benefits for their clan. Moreover, this elder was also on his side, helping him to win over the successor seal of the family, causing Mabilis to trust him the most. "The Fleeting Emotions Ruin? Very well, Falsus Nomen, it is fate that brings us together again." Thinking about the mysterious man whose alchemy talent exceeded many, Mabilis felt that there was much more beneath the surface. Once again, the wheel of fate started to move, coming closer and closer towards the inevitable end.

With one Mystical Orb, Forus could easily pass through the inspection of the city's guards, after all, none of the guards would want to offend any sorcerers, even if they were only the first-layer sorcerer apprentice. Any mortals would fear the supernatural power that the sorcerers wielded. Forus took many detours and turned around at many corners to avoid those who tried to follow him and finally arrived at his rented house. He quickly wrote all the details about the incident into his daily. No matter how useless or insignificant they were, he would not neglect them as they could provide some unexpected results. Now that Forus couldn't use his Death Aura and decay-related spells, he needed to strengthen his power by practising his ice-element and light-element manipulation as they were the easiest for him to control because of his affection. After he rearranged his thought process, Forus dressed himself up and went out of his house, making his way towards the Steel Cauldron's recruitment examination. Along his way towards the Steel Cauldron, he had deliberately chosen to detour towards the remote and secondary roads where not many people would walk. Forus needed to avoid the crowded place and the eyes of the sorcerer-bloodline families. Although they were silent and didn't actively try to find him, the damage he had done to them was beyond their bottom line. Even if he didn't do anything to damage the reputation of the sorcerer-bloodline families, the mistress of the Coruscare Family would still try to find him. A moment of careless of his had created this situation, and now Forus had to live with it. Thinking about all his past mistakes and how to avoid them, Forus unknowingly arrived at the destination. Noticing that he had reached the Steel Cauldron's recruitment area early, he went and found himself a random seat to relax and read his daily, trying to improve his understanding of his powers and tried to formulate unique and useful methods of employing his limited skills. Losing in his thoughts, Forus tried to comprehend the features of his spells. He envisioned them inside of his head and practising them in his mind. Although this would increase his mastery of the spells, it also took a considerable amount of his mental concentration, causing his soul to wear down. Once he regained his consciousness, Forus found that the sound of the ringing bell was the one that woke him up. The ringing of the bell signified the start of the examination. "Greeting mister, how may I help you?" The smile of the receptionist was still the same as last time Forus saw it. Her smile was refined and elegant. She looked at the man in front of her, his appearance still hadn't changed one bit, except for his eyes. He had covered his right eye with an eye pad, making him looked mysterious. "I came here to participate the Steel Cauldron's recruitment. My name is Falsus Nomen." Throwing a Mystical Orb at her, Forus cooly announced his intention. His expressionless face caught the attention of some people, but upon seeing that he was an unknown guy, all of them quickly stopped paying their attention to him. "Oh. I'm sorry about your right eye, Mister Falsus. I hope you get well soon." The receptionist carefully held his hand as she voiced her worry. Her action caused jealously to appear within the heart of the onlookers, but seeing his mysterious and cold face, they all backed off. "Here is your pendant, please don't lose it." After handling some paperwork, she took out a pendant with Falsus craved on it and handing it to him. Her behaviour was very soothing and attractive, winking at him seductively. "Thanks." Forus looked at her coldly and took the pendant before walking into the examination ground, not even batting his eye at her. In his eyes, she was merely trying to get close to him to leech off his property. Although he could avoid this issue by not showing off how wealthy he was, he needed to establish his reputation as a foundation for his member status in the Steel Cauldron. It was the same as when he lured some thugs to beat them up. He needed to have some exploitable weaknesses for the higher-ups to take notice of him. Naturally, his action caused the male sorcerers to become annoyed at him, attracting a lot of envy and dissatisfaction. Other people would feel joy when a pretty girl tried to get close to them, but Forus himself wasn't a person of this generation, not to mention that he had already had a wife and a daughter. His personality and mental state weren't the same as ordinary people. After experiencing the state of nothingness and came out of it, Forus knew that he wasn't regular human anymore, he had struck between the border of life and death. The very thought of death had numbed him of almost all emotions. Nothing mundane could stir his feeling anymore, except for the memories of his first life. Forus even asked himself that if he forgot his past, would he be able to feel emotion anymore? "Everyone, you are very fortunate today. There is a special guest that would like to see the process of recruitment. If any of you could rise her interest, consider it your good fortune." An old man made his announcement abruptly, causing everyone to look at his direction. Behind that man was an orderly row of servants, standing completely still, welcoming their mistress as respectful as possible. Forus could see a figure covered in a veil of mysteriousness in both physically and mentally. Her manner was refined and elegant, causing a lasting impression in others' mind. Forus instantly froze when he saw the maiden covered in the orange veil. Her long reddish hair and dark orange dress danced with the gentle breeze, creating a unique scenery to the eyes. If not for his great self-control, Forus would have stood up and tried to get away as soon as possible. Between him and her, Forus could see an infinitesimal thread of fate connected between him and her. Forus slowly lifted his hand to pull down his robe, further concealing his appearance before taking out a book and read it as if he was killing time. He intentionally slowed down his actions to make them as natural as possible. He could feel that something was different from the usual Ocelia that he feared. Her temperament seemed to experience a comprehensive change, becoming much more delicate and refined. Her supernatural aura also became a lot more dominant that it could suffocate any weak-willed person. Although Forus didn't want to admit it, he had already figured out that she had already reached the stage of the true sorcerer, a genuine first ranked sorcerer. The difference between his power that got restained by the spiritual seed and her unrestrained strength was enormous. "Greeting everybody, the Steel Cauldron had invited me to this wonderful event. How could I refuse them? I hope every one of you would become famous and successful." Her smile was alluring, igniting the burning desire of the onlookers. Even some ladies started to blush just by witnessing her smile. There were only some unique people that kept their indifference altitude towards her, including Forus. Those people had tempered their mental state to a great extent, enabling them to become unfazed by that smile. "Thank you for your kind words, Miss." The same old man walked towards the mistress of the Coruscare Family and offered her some praise before instructed his assistants to start the tests. Due to the strange appearance of Ocelia Coruscare, Forus had to keep things under control. He mustn't exhibit too much potential, as it would attract her interest. His plan to grow his reputation needed to change immediately. "Follow me, everyone." A female assistant spoke with her lovely voice, magnified by magic, making it possible for everyone to hear her. She led everybody to the examination ground before leaving the rest of the tasks with another assistant. "The first test is for all of you to record down all the components that you could recognise. You could also write down the recipes of any potions you could remember. We will check for the correct version of the answers, as well as their rarity and property. The more rare and high property it has, the more point you would get." A man cloaked in a green robe that was the uniform of the Steel Cauldron walked into the testing ground and announced the content of the examination. The atmosphere of the examination ground was very solemn and heavy, coupled with the presence of the special guest, they would need to perform better than the rest for her to take notice of them. If they succeed in getting the interest of that guest up, their future would be limitless, but if they performed poorly, the wrong impression would develop inside everyone's mind, causing their reputation to worsen. With that frightening thought in their mind, virtually everyone was nervous, except for a few extraordinary and confident people. These people would be the one with great backgrounds, having the backing of a large family, or a prodigy of a great clan, excelling in the art of alchemy. Sitting down, Forus didn't begin the profound and rare medical ingredients yet. He wrote the basic ones while surveying his surrounding, looking for the location of Ocelia. If he did too well in this test, he would gather the attention of both the higher-ups and her, which would be disastrous. ... Ocelia Coruscare swept her vision across the testing ground, looking for any abnormality. After her breakthrough, her temperament had changed completely, becoming more refined and less hot-blooded. She could also vaguely feel that there was some connection between her and that mysterious man. It was as if a string had connected both of them like a knot of love. She could sense that the man she desired would meet with her again here. That was why she agreed to come to this dull place. She could see that some of the descendants of the big family of the city had come here to register as an alchemist. These people had lost in the internal war for the successor, so they had to come here to build their faction. Only a few people could make her glared twice. The man with a plain black robe who relaxingly wrote down the spiritual plants on his paper, the man cloaked in red cloth had already finished his writing and was now meditating, the woman in purple who elegantly wrote her paper at lightning-speed. On the closer look, she could see that the black-robed man had a complicated injury at his right eye. His right eye also occasionally emitted faint icy cold breeze, making the temperature around him dropped for an instant. Ocelia's interest perked up as she carefully observed his condition. Due to her talent and great comprehensive ability, she could deduce that the man had suffered a strike from a powerful actual ice sorcerer. The blow was so devastating that it bound his regenerative spell and disabled his right eye, making him blind. Thinking about how the man had survived an attack of a true sorcerer while he was a third-layer sorcerer apprentice, her interest in him jumped up a little before died down afterwards. After all, she was there for her target, not for watching some random alchemists. "Greeting, Miss Ocelia. Why is it that you, the eldest mistress of Coruscare Family, come to this unworthy place?" A male voice disrupted her thought process, causing her to glare that the incoming figure. Her indifferent personality instantly returned when she saw that figure. "Pleased to meet you, Mister Glacies, the eldest young master of the Ninguis Family." Ocelia bowed down elegantly, but it was without any hint of emotion or interested, completely disregarded the person before her. "I just came here to congratulate you on your breakthrough, and also to find a criminal that disrespected our family." Behind him, a timid servant in grey walked out. After he had escaped death and returned to the Ninguis Family, he had spread the words of the incident, painting Forus as a bloodthirsty murderer who killed their young master. "Sorry, Miss Ocelia, but the information we received from this servant tell us that the criminal will reveal themselves at this meeting." The words from Glacies caused the servant to tremble for an instant before regaining his composure. In his eyes, a hint of confusion quickly manifested itself. "Very well, let us watch the show then." Ocelia smiled lightly before returning to her seat.

Facing such an unfortunate event, Forus couldn't do anything other than to ignite his soul and used it as the emergency fuel to fight both the old man and the newcomer. His entire body visibly rotted away as the black flame burnt his body, emitting an unpleasant and disgusting smell. His body couldn't move like natural because of the stain on his broken soul, causing him to be unable to dodge the piecing vines and got impaled by some of them that didn't disintegrate when came into contact with his black flame. With one attack, Forus lost his ability to move steadily. Due to this, he had to change his offensive method. In an instant, Forus had thrown many bottles of liquid toward the young lady, aiming to obstruct her offence and to maintain himself. The female stomped her foot lightly, creating a giant leaf beneath her feet. The leaflet quickly enveloped the girl and floated on the sky, evading the trajectory of the flying bottles, but the bottles exploded before it landed and managed to damage the leaflet, causing it to crash into the ground. The female rolled backwards to avoid falling injury, but instead, a black ball of flame flew over and hit her left leg, devouring a part of her skin and caused her muscles to rot. Screaming in pain, she triggered one of her treasure, creating a wild dome of plants that span over ten meters, trapping everything from coming and leaving. On the wall of the dome, many white flowers blossomed and released a faint fragrance that would loosen the mind of the enemies and healed the wounds of the user. Before Forus could throw another series of potions, the mysterious old man inside his consciousness spread out his soul and tried to attack Forus' mind while creating pathways for the Death Aura to invade his soul, weakening both his physical body and mental mind. The action of the old man caused him to black out for a moment, losing the precious chance to stop the girl to maintain herself and heal her wounds. Despite the searing pain, Forus forced himself to stand up on one remaining leg and jumped forwards towards the fallen lady, punching his rotten fist towards her. He couldn't waste any time dealing with her, as the more he ignited his soul, the worse his defence against the invading soul and foreign Death Aura. If he couldn't finish her off before time was up, either he died by her spells, or the old man would take over his soul. Before his destructive punch could strike onto her fragile body, the vines hanging on the dome of plants shot themselves forward to restain the blow, weakening its momentum and absorbed the total damage that would otherwise seriously injured the woman. "Die, you criminal!" Shouting angrily, little Florie pulled out her treasure, Staff of Green Flower. Her mentor had given it to her when she advanced to the second-layer sorcerer apprentice. Such was the benefit of having prominent and caring supporters. The advantage that Forus wouldn't be able to obtain. The sorcery energy she channelled into her staff started to transform into wooden elemental power. If anyone used the elemental power according to its element, the power of the spell became explosively powerful, but the power would decrease if one used it on the opposing energy. Little Florie was a wooden elemental sorcerer. She didn't need to use any others elemental spells, so the downside of the elemental power wouldn't cause her any inconvenient. Countless spiked vines suddenly penetrated out of the ground, charging towards Forus. This time, the plants had a faint jelly layer that covered all of their bodies, radiating faint green light. The quality of the newly created vines far suppressed the previous set. Ordinary dagger and weak spells wouldn't do anything against the imposing wooden elemental spells. The spiked vines grew until they blocked the sky, causing the darkness to reign over the forest. Many white petals that fell from the white flowers on the dome of plants moved orderly under the manipulation of Florie. They formed a deadly formation that would change from offence and defence easily, creating an artificial army of flowers. While fighting and avoiding the fatal strikes of the floating petals, Forus needed to fortify his mind and soul to defend against the exotic soul and foreign Death Aura. The burning soul of his continued to wither away slowly, causing his concentration to drop steadily. The combined effect of everything caused his overall fighting power to drop down, making him unable to dodge some attacks, further weakening him again. "The Snow of Remembrance shall cover all things!" The snow-like ring manifested itself from the Storage Ring, along with the mysterious chant, the ring faintly emitted pale light, creating many crystalized rays of light before turning them into transparent snow that drifted freely across the sky. Little Florie tried to dodge and block the snowflakes but to her surprise, the floating snow would bypass and traverse through every defence that she could use, undeviatingly touching her white and smooth skin, upon the contact, the preserved memory of the old time started to construct itself inside her mind, causing her focus on the real world to loosen. She sat onto the ground, crying silently without any tears. She was immersing inside her own memory, gaining Forus some precious time to strike back at the invading soul and cleaned up the issue of destructive Death Aura. At the same time that Florie lost her sense and collapsed onto the ground, a wave of distorted information gushed into Forus' mind, forcing itself into his soul, causing him great pain that made the defence on the soul weaken, allowing the invading soul to slowly seep inside his soul. A great power would always come at a great price. The Ring of Recollection was a powerful treasure that could cause the victim to fall into the boundary between reality and illusion, losing the sense of self and truth. However, the user must also have a strong mind that could withstand the overloaded information that rushed into his or her soul when he or she used the treasure. The feeling of pain and depression came pushing into his mind, threatening to replace his memory and sense. Facing the thoughtless emotions were very easy for Forus to suppress, but when he had to scatter his focus to control many battlefronts at the same time, it would be very hard for him to divide more attention las everything would fall apart. "Young man, you even had the treasure of Thought Domain. It seems that you have a very interesting story behind your adventure." Seeing the Ring of Recollection, the eyes of the old man flashed excitedly. He started to burn his soul to maximize the offence and tried his hardest to destroy the protection around Forus' soul. Finally, Forus collapsed onto the ground, releasing an ever-expanding Death Aura that covered his body. The Death Aura condensed itself and became thicker as time pass. Everything that touched the strain of Death Aura would crumble into dust. His death was approaching nearer and nearer. His eyes became cloudly as he heard a familiar footstep echoed around him. He was laying inside a huge dark torture chamber, waiting for the next experiment. "Hello again, mortal. You have already successfully advanced into peak second-layer. Very interesting." Forus looked toward the source of the sound. He looked toward the source of his very first end. A dignified man whose blue robe would occasionally sway with the wind walked toward Forus calmly, giving off the aura of supernatural and almighty being. "Did you think that you could escape me?" A wicked smile spread across the blue-robed man's face, his bloody lip tore the skin off and extended further until it reached his deformed ears. Forus shuddered uncontrollably, turning pale from fright and madness. He watched as countless dark chains moved to tear his body apart, trying to force out all the Death Aura inside his body. The day at the torture chamber began once more. "Dear, are you all right?" A soft voice travelled into his ears, causing the pain to cease from his body. Meria walked toward Forus who was sitting on a table, gazing absent-mindedly toward the horizon. "Sorry, Meria. I was spacing out for a moment. Let go see how our lovely daughter is doing." Forus smiled as he held his wife's hand and walked toward the backyard. "Your hand is very cold. Meria, do you have a fever?" Forus asked his wife worriedly. Her hands were as cold as corpses. "Matia! Where are you?" Forus paused for a moment when he saw a beautiful figure sitting on a platform that floated above the ground. She wore a delicate green robe. Her beautiful face was out of the mortal's world, causing Forus to daze for a moment. Her greenish hair flew as the warm breeze passed her by. "It had been so long..." The female sighed and looked at the ruined building before floating away with the vines platform, acting as if Forus and Meria were not real at all. Feeling amiss, Forus looked at the ordinary house of his, only to find that the wooden floor had already rotten away and filled with grasses and mushrooms. He panicked and held his wife in his arm, only to find that he was walking with a pale-face and lifeless body of Meria. In his madness, he tightly held the skull of his loved one before running out of the backyard, rushing out into the direction of the city. "May the string of destiny between the bride and the groom forever attached to each other. For they had vowed to always exist within other's soul." Forus opened the broken door, only to find himself surrounded by many people, cheering and blessing him and her to forever achieve happiness. "Today, in the presence of the World Will, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare had vowed to everlastingly pursue the truth for all mysteries, for all eternities!" The sound of happiness caused the hall to rumble, reaching far and wide, taking over the entire city. Forus looked at his wife dazedly, immersing in her otherworldly beauty. Her short orange hair shone a faint light that could rival the beauty of the moon. He handed the rotten head of his former wife, now the magnificent red flowers, toward his lovely wife. She took it and caressed it gently, creating a harmony atmosphere that engulfed the lively hall. "The two may announce their eternal bond by a gentle touch between their lips." Memorised by the beauty of his Ocelia, his face moved elegantly toward her, closer and closer. He could feel her breath quicken as their precious lips caressed each other. Suddenly, a feeling of disgusted and hatred blossomed in his body, causing him to violently push his wife away, knocking her unconscious. In his hand, a trace of rotten flesh and blood of his true wife started to devour his body, causing him to scream in pain. His handsome body began to break apart, causing his smooth skin to fall off on its own, revealing his true body. Looking at his rotten flesh, Forus discovered that there were many black tentacles growing out of his body, slowly turning him into a lunatic monster. "How could this be?!" The blurry old man inside Forus' consciousness paled from terror as he witnessed the horror that was unfolding before him. Innumerable black tendrils stretched themselves infinitely out of the grey soul, devouring everything in its way. The old man tried his best to get out of the consciousness, but the grey soul had already sealed the consciousness shut. "Why is this thing here?" The old man' last question was never meant to be answered. The tendrils devoured him completely without any resistance. "What are you?" Little Florie spoke while she struggled to stand up, her legs were shaking violently due to fear. The man before her suddenly twisted rapidly and there were many black tentacles growing out of him, turning him into a big mess of monster. The echo of suffering and pain resounded throughout the forest, covering it with the sense of ominous.

Forus Ander felt that someone was watching him. He focused his conscious and unleashed a detection spell, only to receive nothing suspicious, but that only caused him to become even more anxious. "Undetectable and unseen, the treasure of the sorcerer family is very amazing." For someone was keen as him, this was very obvious to deduce who was behind this feeling of uneasiness. Without any hesitation, Forus immediately direct his mental energy into an ordinary ring on his left hand, causing it to shine brightly before shattered into fragments of light and flew toward the sky. The light smashed into an invisible object and destroyed the space around it. The explosion sound echoed the forest before everything returned to its state. Forus watched everything unfolded with his emotionless eyes, but inwardly, he felt pity that the treasured ring which he got following the struggle against blue-robed man would be employed this quick. After a while, Forus felt his whole body became paralysed. The sensation was very valid and genuine, causing him to frown. He promptly accelerated his speed before he blended in with the forest. He would leave this city and hide away from the Coruscare Family, more importantly, he would never appear in front of that woman again. "Found you." Interrupted by a voice, Forus quickly jumped away from his current location and threw a bottle of unknown liquid into his former position. The spilt liquid didn't catch its target and dissolved the plants around it. "As expected of someone who could escape the encirclement of the Coruscare Family, you sure have some awareness." A figure approached Forus casually. His yellowish hair was very eye-catching, coupled with his reddish eyes, it gave him the air of a hunter. Forus slowly retreated back while observing the man before him. He was waiting for the man to make his move first. The man smiled and stared right back at him, waiting for Forus to make his move first. The deadlock was formed after a short while. The one who moved first would lose. "What do you want?" Getting stuck in the midst of escaping was not an ideal situation Forus wanted. He had to break the deadlock or else the Coruscare Family would get hold of him. "Nothing much, really. If you could obediently go back with me and fought the Coruscare Family for my family, that would be for the best." The man was one of the opposing families that had their eyes on the asset of the Coruscare Family. Forus relaxed his body and nodded his head without any hesitation. The man also smiled back with a warming smile. He had the upper hand in the negotiation because he had nothing to lose while there were consequences waiting for Forus. Forus kneeled down and bowed his head, giving an image of a servant greeted his master, but, Forus instantly threw out three tubes of corrosion liquid at the man and jumped toward him. Facing the sudden turn of event, the man expression darkened. He couldn't escape the corrosion radius of the potion. Half of his face rotted away upon the contact, causing him to scream in pain and despair. The body of the sorcerer apprentices couldn't withstand the corrosion of the exotic liquid. "How dare you?!" His question was met with an empowered punch. Forus wouldn't let his enemy stabilized himself and used their treasures to fight him. He took the initiative and punched the man consecutively, leaving that man to helplessly defend for himself. Although the man was one of the young masters of the noble family, his combat ability was very high. After being on the losing side for a bit of time, he decided to weaken the force of a punch and used the remaining force to send himself flying and land on the safe distance, effectively widen the distance between Forus and himself while giving himself an ample time to balance himself. But how could Forus give him any time? He instantly jumped to the man, closing in rapidly without any care for the obstructing plants or rocks in the way. Along with his flight, the black flame engulfed his fist, causing the skin to turn black and released rotten smell, the smell of death. His fist accurately landed on the man's chest, creating a cracking sound of bone-shattering. Despite using both of his hands to block the hit, he still couldn't defend against the ruthless and destructive strike. His body was sent flying and struck into a giant boulder, causing him to cough out blood. Without any moment of resting, another round of flying bottles was thrown toward the location of the boulder. Although Forus himself didn't have any strong and explosive long range spells, he still had his various types of potions to compensate for his weak points. The sound of the explosion could be heard as the giant boulder was blown to smithereens due to the strange reaction that was created by a mixture of different potions. During the moment between life and death, the necklace that was concealed within the man's robe flashed, creating a one-time barrier to protect its owner. The invisible barrier spontaneously enveloped his entire body, protecting him from the large explosion. Although the treasures of the sorcerer family were great, no one would give the best treasures just for one of the descendants when he or she couldn't even become the true sorcerer. Even then, the barrier absorbed much of the impact before it shattered. Without any treasure to protect his severely injured body, the man was once again launched into a nearby tree, slamming into it and knocking the tree down. His broken body lied on the ground, his legs were broken during one of the explosion, incapacitating his ability to move freely. "Why? Why did you do this? Don't you afraid of the power of the Ninguis Family?" Ninguis Family was another clan that rooted in the city. It was an opposing force that rivalled the Coruscare Family. They had received the information about Forus getting the attention of the strongest mistress of the Coruscare Family, so, they decided to use him as a pawn to destroy the reputation of Coruscare Family before finally disposing of him. "Such bad luck, escaping the superpower only to find another one. Constructively offend both of them at the same time." Without wasting any precious time, Forus created a sealing dorm of ice and snapped the man's neck while concealing his appearance and disguised his aura as one of the Coruscare Family. He never trusted himself to be able to avoid the detection of the giant powerhouse, so, he had openly disguised himself as the Coruscare Family for Ninguis Family to get an excuse to demerit the fame and demerit the influence of the Coruscare Family. None of the families would be free enough to chase a junior like him, effectively giving himself a buffer time. But all those results would only matter if he could avoid this crisis first. Everything would be void if he got caught by either of the families. They would certainly involve him in their political battlefield and disposed of him off once they exhausted his usage. Forus turned around and started running again. This time, he skillfully hid his track and instead of running outward away from the city, he slowly navigated his way toward the city again. Although both families would be at war soon, it was simply impossible for their clansman to not try to search for him. They would naturally order their servants to keep watch of him, both of them would race against each other to find him. In order to not waste any time, they would begin to search around the forest and at the nearest city, none would have thought that Forus would dare to come back and hide in the city. "My new appearance needs to be much more convincing than the first one." Making up his mind, he quickly pulled out a short dagger and slash his own face, causing blood to gush out madly. Forus suppressed the pain and used his healing potion to heal his wound but he intentionally let the scar remain. He used his dagger to create holes on his own robe until they looked worn out as if they had been used for a long time. Satisfied with his new look, Forus began to hunt some preys to further solidify his disguise to be the real hunter. ... Since the incident that shattered her confidence, Ocelia Coruscare hadn't spoken any word that didn't relate to him, the man who had blue eyes. She had become obsessed with his sky-like eyes, no, she had become obsessed with his entire existence. Her sorcerer power had risen to a greater height after she experienced her first failure. It was a hidden fortune under a disaster. Her state of mind had been unchanging ever since. "Mistress, the respected lord had dispatched an expert to capture that man. With the help of him, you will have his eyes as soon as possible." The old butler who was pouring black tea for his mistress reported the news to Ocelia. Seeing that she stopped her train of thought and stared at him, his mind trembled as sweats ran down from his aged face. He was suppressed both physically and mentally by her gaze alone. After her transforming, she became like an entirely new person. Her gaze could peer into the deepest part of the observed one. "His eyes? They are not enough. All of them, I want all of his. His body, his mind and his soul, I want every bit of them." Her eyes flashed and slowly transformed into that of a snake. They were the eyes of a hunter. "This one shall inform the respected lord about your command." The butler's voice was shaky. There were hints of profound emotion such as fear and respect in his words. After that, the butler went to inform the family head, leaving Ocelia Coruscare sitting there alone, thinking about that man. Thinking about that beautiful eyes, she touched her own eyes. She could know that her eyes would feel the same as that man's eyes. "My lovely doll, I shall have you soon. Very soon, I could sense it with my eyes." Chuckling to herself, she smiled and took a sip of her favourite black tea. Although it used to be delicious, she couldn't differentiate between it or water anymore. She knew that she herself had lost control over her emotion when she thought about him, but why should she care? It was very beneficial for her to catch him because she might break through the third layer and become the true sorcerer. To embrace one's inner self, to accept one's obsession. The more obsessive you were, the harder you would achieve your goal and the stronger you would be once successfully completed their wishes. ... "Mistress, your disciple had broken through the bottleneck and become the peak of the third layer today." A beautiful lady spoke to her teacher, her voice contained various emotions and gave off the cheerful mood. Her every movement was adorable and gentle to the utmost, anyone who saw her would appreciate her beauty. "Little Florie, remember that the outside world is not like our flying garden. The sorcerers outside of our sect are ruthless and evil." The teacher reminded her disciple again. She had had a very tragic experience in the past. She waved her hand, causing the wood element energy to gather around her and condensed itself into a ball of green light. She extended her hand and gently touched the ball of light, reforming it into a wooden ring that had an emerald gem engraved in it. Not only that, but the kind teacher also pulled out a staff that was covered with small and delicate flowers and handed the treasure to her disciple. There were an enormous amount of sorcerer energy and various protection spells sealed inside the staff, they were made to protect the little miss when she met with danger. "This is all I can do to help you. The path toward sorcery was filled with sadness and grief. You must not lose to the temptation and forget your root." Little Florie bowed her head to show respect to her mentor. She bid her farewell and slowly departed out of the resident that she and her teacher always lived in. "Don't worry, teacher, I shall not disappoint you and breakthrough as soon as possible. With my talent and your guidance, it won't take long for me to come back." The little miss muttered excitedly, this was her first time to go out of the sect to gain experience. Although she tried to be cautious, her unrefined state of mind still thought that the outsiders were no match for herself and her teacher.

The sounds of chains clanking echoed the whole chamber. There was no end to his struggle, but if Forus decided to stop, he knew that it would be the true end for him. Forus had lost track of time long ago because, in the torture chamber, there was nothing but darkness and lanterns. He felt like he was here for an eternity, but maybe it was just one second. Nevertheless, he felt more at ease when he was alone. It was better than he was not. The gate creaked, and a figure stepped in. The man donned in a blue cloak lit up the lanterns and looked at Forus, examining his body in closer detail. Seeing the familiar silhouette, Forus turned pale as his struggle intensified. However, no matter how he tried, the pain shocked his mind, and the fatigue numbed his body. He could not get himself to move. On his body, countless scars and wounds remained bleeding, with various worms and maggots inside them. Strangely, although the bleeding should lead to his demise, Forus could only feel pain, but never tasted the relief of death. "Scream, and despair more, little one. As long as you produce the Aura of Decay, then your suffering will end." With that remark and that wicked smile, Forus felt a suffocating air of blood drowning onto him. So, the scream continued where it left off. The body got torn and rebuilt. The mind broke and reformed. The soul went back and forth between the boundary of life and death. Gradually, Forus stopped screaming, and he began to keep everything to himself. His eyes, concealed beneath the lifeless and despair, was a hint of coldness. He was waiting, waiting for the chance. ... The pain lingering inside his chest gradually expanded and intensified, but Forus, after a prolonged period of suffering, screamed no sound and revealed no pained expression. In contrast to his silence, the blue-robed sorcerer started to smile more, and he sometimes would talk to Forus about his experiments. Forus' body had degraded from the healthy one into a thinned, weakened one. In the torture chamber, he ate no meat and drank no water. Only the sorcery within the binding chains had supplied him with strange energy to fix his body. "If my calculation proved to be correct, then today, we'll get to see the fruit of our collective effort." The sorcerer faintly shivered as he spoke, not bothering to hide his excitement. As he had been with Forus for a long time, the sorcerer began to lax his attitude towards the mortal. What followed was not what Forus expected. Instead of using all kinds of torture instrument to torment him, the blue-robed sorcerer pulled out a pitch-black crystal and placed it onto the experiment table. "This is one of my toy, called the Jewel of Death. Born from resentment of hundreds of mortals, it should be the best catalyst for this experiment." Its shape was like a raindrop, but its strange light-absorbing property betrayed away its magical nature. Once again, Forus watched as the sorcerer placed the Jewel on his chest. A searing sensation radiated from the area touching the Jewel, and it strangely merged with his body. The skin where they merged turned black, and a rotten smell diffused from it, leaking into the surrounding. Aside from the physical pain, a groan leaked from his mouth. Not because of the rotten sensation, but because of another kind of pain that, no matter how much he experienced, he could never get used to it. The mental pain assaulted his very core of being. Forus felt an overwhelming sense of panic. It was as if he was drowning under the ocean, but aside from the suffocating pain, he experienced a strange conflicted between his body and his mind. The body was telling him that there was no harm, but the mind was screaming in pain. Forus was barely conscious, but he knew that no matter what, the chains would never let him taste the sweet relief. "The experiment had been going on for ten years... And now, it's coming to an end." His voice reeked of profound emotions, and the sorcerer gestured his hands in a strange motion. As soon as the motion ended, a crimson line manifested on the floor of the torture chamber, forming a bizarre shape of a goat-head three-wings monstrosity. Its dark shadow cast out from the line, and the candlelight that illuminated the room turned blood-red. The temperature of the room began to drop, and its walls strangely deformed, turning slimy while remaining strong. The shade of the surrounding turned red as if something had dried the world with blood. The sound of scream and songs of madness reverberated the room, chilling Forus to his core. However, before he could do anything, an invisible force pinned him and dragged him towards the blue-robed man, destroying the chains in the process. "Great one, I have brought to you, the Aura of Decay." Witnessing the demonic summoning, the blue-robed sorcerer bowed down gracefully. The dignity he had shown disappeared in an instant before turning into a respectful attitude. In response, the entity sent its tentacles toward Forus, stabbing them into his body. They wrapped around his soul, caressing it as they wanted to consume its content. Their movement caused Forus to feel the sensation of pain. He also felt a familiar feeling radiating from them which puzzled him greatly. "For this offering, I requested for my wish to come true." The sorcerer spoke again, and with a wave of his hand, an invisible force once more pushed Forus towards the entity. At this moment, Forus' mind raced, and he finally came up with an insane idea. He was unwilling to die, as he needed to go back to see his daughter. He needed to live, and he had to live. "Great One, I shall bargain with you! This Jewel of Death and this Aura of Decay, all of them, I'll give it all to you, and you'll help me survive!" As Forus approached the entity, he shouted as loud as he could, disregarding the pain he experienced once he opened his mouth. Strangely, the entity paused its action, and distorted sound of laughter echoed the whole chamber. Then, a piece of goat-skinned paper manifested in front of Forus, detailing the condition of the deal. "Impossible! This isn't supposed to happen!" Looking at the scene, the blue-robed sorcerer laughed weakly. His mind was in chaos, and he thought that Fate was toying with him. Gradually, anger began to build up inside his mind. The sorcerer felt as if his heart was going to burst. Blood-red shade had already dried his soul with rage, and he was going crazy. He had spent too much time for this ritual, and it was nearing its success. If not for his extreme excitement to blind his judgement, then he would not be careless like this. "Deal!" Without any hesitation, Forus immediately completed the contact and used his blood to sign his consent. The paper slowly turned black, and it melted and morphed into the strange black mist. It then shot toward Forus and seeped into his body, fusing into his soul. With this sequence, an unbearable pain, comparable to when the Aura of Decay invaded his mind, surfaced. Forus felt a lot lighter than before, and his mind became clearer than ever. His broken and exhausted body was repairing itself at the terrifying rate, shocking even the blue-robed sorcerer. "You maggot! How dare you destroyed my plan and ruin my wish?!" Losing control of his anger, frozen snakes formed in front of the sorcerer. They dashed toward Forus as he pointed his finger at the mortal. Forus tried to shift away from the trajectory of the snakes, but his feet got frozen by the blue flame concealed beneath the room. It was one of the traps the sorcerer had prepared for an unexpected ambush. The snakes stuck Forus and pushed him into the wall. His body, paralysed by the freezing venom, could not move at all. He could only watch as the man walked toward him. His eyes were shining with anticipation, and there remained no trace of the previous madness. "Now that my plan had failed, I'll have to reconsider my future path. Although I want to kill you, there are still many things for me to gain from you." The blue-robed man chuckled lightly, feeling delighted for his new toy. The sorcerer lived alone, as he was a rogue sorcerer. He had no friends nor love, and he had no intention of seeking one either. He had learnt to control his emotions to avoid unnecessary recklessness, and he had already subdued his outburst. "What... are you going to do to me?" Forus spoke with difficulty. His body was numb, so he had to delay the time to regain his breath. In response, the sorcerer used his invisible force to injure Forus, cutting his flesh apart. It was only when he could confirm that Forus could not move his body did he relax. "We'll begin our experiment anew, and this time, I'll make sure to let you experience the real pain." The sorcerer spoke slowly and clearly, he wanted his every word to engrave in Forus' soul. "... Again? Don't you worry that I would do it another time?" Forus answered sarcastically. Despite his spiteful words, he knew that he could not move, so he had to provoke the sorcerer into coming closer to him. The cut previously hurt, but Forus simply revealed a numb expression to lure the sorcerer in. Suddenly, laughter echoed as Forus felt a strong force hitting his abdomen before he flew up and crashed onto another corner of the chamber, falling onto the ground with several more broken bones. "This time, I'll be making sure that you won't be able to do anything." As the sorcerer kicked Forus, he made sure to break all crucial joints in Forus' body, preventing him from lifting even a finger. It only then did the sorcerer slowly advanced towards Forus. Before the blue-robed sorcerer reached Forus, he flicked his hand and sent out a strange dart. He watched as the dark stabbed onto Forus' heart, and glowed in faint, black light. "The dart will continuously send a fixed quantity of Death Aura into you, so you can give up trying to move again." As if he was describing his favourite toy, the sorcerer took his time to introduce Forus to the magical dart. After making sure that Forus was indeed immobile, the sorcerer used a new set of chains to bind Forus and dragged him out of the torture chamber, into the small wildness that he had never seen before. For the first time in ten years, Forus came back to the outside world. The ray of light shone onto Forus' face, piecing into his dimmed pupils. The brightness caused him to instinctively close his eyes, despite his desire to look around. From what he had heard from that man, he had been in that torture chamber for ten years straight. Although he felt like he was in there for an eternity, the sorcerer had no reason to lie to him, so it was up to him to come to term with the reality. The scene of greenery lasted not very long, and before Forus could accept it, the sorcerer threw him inside another dark room and bound him back onto another experiment table. It was apparent that the blue-robed sorcerer was a paranoid man, so he had designed many traps and underground shelters for himself. Like before, Forus tried to struggle, but this time, not only the chains were a lot stronger, but the dart on his heart also pulsated, causing him to feel immense pain as if the Aura of Decay had manifested in his body again. The Death Aura ran among in his body, bringing Forus to the state of living dead, but, unlike before, Forus could feel something strange inside his body, slowly yet steadily consuming Death Aura without any break. As he closed his eyes, Forus could somehow see a strain of grey light flickered inside his heart. Whenever Death Aura circulated into his heart, the light would devour it a little, turning slightly bigger and larger every time it feasted. Before Forus could explore this strain of light thoroughly, the sorcerer opened the metal door and came in unhurriedly. His cloth was now clear-white, and its surface glowed in faint, multi-coloured light, evidently covered in magical symbols. Forus then realised that the cloth was for protection against the spilt blood, and he was going to get tortured again. However, at the thought of the mysterious grey light, Forus forcefully calmed himself down and showed the expression of panic and dread. "Don't disappoint me, mortal... As long as this experiment bears fruit, I'll let you die peacefully, so cooperate and let me study your new power thoroughly." The sorcerer smiled wickedly. His laughter echoed the silent chamber as he began to dissect Forus alive. Forus, paralysed and bound, could only watch as his blood get drained, and his own skinned get cut. There was no sight of the end in this torment.

The entire forest descended into the state of stillness, the wind and cloud faded out of existence as every life stopped their movement. The swaying plants froze in place, not daring to move. The blooming flowers and singing birds instantly stopped their activities and cowered in fear. The overwhelming power of unrestrained sorcerers could potentially suffocate every mortal within the large area. If not for the presence of other sorcerers, the female teacher of little Florie would have released all of her power and disregard everything and tried to capture Forus. "Miss, we won't intervene with your matter, but this is our territory, not a wasteland. Please give us some consideration." The floating figure spoke politely, but his hidden intention was as transparent as the sky. The female didn't show any intention to comply, but she did not cross over to the other side either. If the opposing force only had one second-ranked sorcerer, she would have already destroyed him. Her sorcery mastery was extremely powerful, barely below a handful of ancient monsters in her garden. "The Green Flying Garden will remember this event." The female sighed before pointing her slender finger at Forus, sending a spiritual seed flying toward him through the portal. The power within the seed disrupted the distortion of the space, causing the portal to shake. At the same time, the soft vines had already brought little Florie who had fainted into the gate. She was lying on her mentor's lap. The seed moved at an inconceivable speed, crashing into Forus' right eye and implanted itself in his eye. Not a single true sorcerers had made their move. It was utterly too much of a waste of their effort to help a nameless weakling and offended the mysterious lady. "Thank you for your consideration, miss. We hope to see you again." With a wave of his hand, many spell formations appeared and released multi-colour flame, destroying the portal and sealed the distortion in space. After the commotion ended, every consciousness of true sorcerers began to dissipate. None of them took any interest in Forus at all. In their eyes, this useless sorcerer apprentice was already dead. No matter how strong a sorcerer apprentice was, they could not compare to the might of the true sorcerer. Once all of them retracted all of their wills, Forus began to use his dagger to get rid of the seed that impaled his right eye, causing him to lose his vision. He could feel that the root of the magical seed was crawling inside his body, polluting his sorcery energy with the wooden element and weakening his body. When his dagger almost landed on his right eye, the seed immediately started acting up, causing him to lose his focus. The blade in his hand slipped and grazed his chest, creating a deep wound. Without any way to destroy the seed by himself, he could only use the Death Aura inside his grey soul to suppress the chaotic wooden element and delayed the process of invasion of the spiritual seed. With almost all of his Death Aura containing the seed, Forus wouldn't need to worry about the same incident. The roots of the spiritual seed immediately felt the incoming swamp of Death Aura, causing them to strangle each other, forming a sturdy wall that would protect the core of the bulbs while slowly advancing toward Forus' soul. Presently with the ongoing battle inside his consciousness, Forus needed to find another way to protect his soul and took control of the mysterious grey light. Until then, he could only use his ice and light elemental spells. Suddenly, the mysterious feeling of sadness and grief emerged in his heart, producing translucent tears on his face. The weary memory resurfaced from his heart as the soul-tearing scene replayed itself in his mind. Forus found that there was still happiness existed in him. ... The female sorcerer looked toward the sky at the direction of the Mountain Union, at the Ferrum Country. She knew that the evil monster who massacred her family had a disciple around there. She smiled lightly, thinking about the suffering that the man was undergoing made her feel relieved. The only way to get rid of the spiritual seed was to advance into a true sorcerer to achieve greater control over their flow of sorcery energy and manipulated it to inject the contaminated energy out. With that thought in her mind, she relaxed and began to treat her disciple's body, improving it with her wooden element and strength her soul. Little Florie had experienced enough to try to advance her sorcery cultivation. "Once you advance and become the true sorcerer, I would let you kill that man by yourself. When you kill him, you would be free from his shadow that would otherwise plague your soul." She said softly into Florie's ear before continued to caress her pinkish cheek. She was the only colourful thing in this colourless world. Suddenly, her hand stiffened, and her face twitched, causing her to frown. She could sense that something was obstructing the pathway of the spiritual seed and hindering its progress to weaken that man. Thinking that the man had a benefactor that could prevent the magical roots' advancement, her emotion fared up as she recalled about that blue-robed man. "Again and again, you would always destroy my happiness and separated my family from me. Father, mother, I have found the culprit who ruined our life." The female sorcerer clutched her fist tightly. Her sorrowful emotion caused her sorcery energy to go rampant and caused the atmosphere to turn solemn. Many elders of the Flying Green Garden had turned their attention toward the source of the power, but once they saw that it was from the lonely abode, they immediately retracted their sense and continued to do their usual business as if nothing had happened. The maiden gently lifted her disciple and placed her on top of a comfortable bed before kissing her cheek once, a flash of satisfaction appeared inside her greenish eyes. "In the name of mine, Matia Ander, I would ceaselessly hunt down that man and his disciple. I would burn their soul under my burning flame of hatred. I would skin their body alive and break every piece of their bones." With each passing word, her voice got more distorted and terrifying. In a fit of her rage, Matia made an eternal oath with her name. As long as she lived, she would try her best to avenge her family and torture the source of her misery. The faint laughter of an unknown entity softly echoed the whole world, seemingly amused at an unexpected turn of the event. How ironic, for a filial daughter to swore with her life to unknowingly hunt down her father and torture him for his non-existence sin. Once Matia finished her oath, tear of blood rushed out of her eyes, causing her colourless vision to turn red. It filled her empty soul with grief and sorrow. She collapsed onto the floor and cried out blood while knowing nothing. "Why am I crying? Father, I miss you." Her weak voice couldn't travel far before dissipating into the wind, thus, leaving her alone in her world. ... "Father, I miss you." Forus watched as his lovely daughter stabbed him with a bloody knife, over and over again until his vision darkened and turned black. The sound of stabbing turned quieter and quieter, but the mysterious sound of mocking laugh echoed within his mind, causing him to wake up from his nightmare. His grey soul resonance with the sound of demonic laughter as if it was his soul that laughed at the world. He could feel an indeterminable feeling of loneliness assaulted his heart, filling him with negative emotions. While he was checking the abnormality within his body, a delicate string of light connected itself with his soul. The line was pitch black in colour and contained endless grief and hatred. Forus immediately identified it as the string of fate as it was the same as the previous one that bound him with Ocelia Coruscare. Without his Death Aura, his body would take much longer time to heal from fatal injuries. Fortunately, he had already stopped the blood loss and treat his wounds. He only needed to rest for a while before he could resume his normal movement. With his injured body, he dragged himself across the wildness and found himself a small cave of a giant bear. He quickly calculated the strength of the beast before killing it as it was much weaker than him. Forus was now a third-layer sorcerer apprentice. While his way of advancing sorcery cultivation was different from the ordinary way, the power he had was about the same with them. While other would need to apprehend their feeling and desire to either cut them off or embraced them to shed their mortal-self and became something above insignificant mortal, Forus would have to refine and purified his soul to use it as a supporting pillar to build his Elemental Cores. He would achieve greater control over elemental power when he successfully condensed his cores. Now, the problem was that his path as a sorcerer ended here. His sorcery cultivation method didn't have anything after the peak of the mortal realm. He needed to find more cultivation methods to continue developing his path. He still needed to go back to the city and tried to join the Steel Cauldron. "Once I advanced into the true sorcerer, I would need to find that female sorcerer." Thinking about the strange vision that followed the incident, Forus had deduced that the female sorcerer had some connection with his remaining relative, presumedly his only daughter. In the blink of an eye, Forus found himself completely healed and ready to head back towards the city. While he needed to treat his wounds, he also went out and collected many herbs and fruits to use them as ingredients for his potions and disguise purpose. With his traditional clothing on, Forus made his way towards the city. There was barely one more day for the Steel Cauldron's recruitment event. He needed to attend this event to become a member of Steel Cauldron. Once he got in, he would try his best to obtain merit points and used them to exchange for cultivation method and references. Even more, when he gained fame within the alchemy circle, the Steel Cauldron would become his supporter and deterred the sorcerer-bloodline families. ... The thin lines of web intertwined with each other, producing a vague image that continually altered its shape. The ghostly aura they emitted dimmed the whole room with a faint glow, creating the creepy atmosphere and cold temperature. The entire room was devoid of sound. Here, the stillness reigned supreme. However, one of the numerous lines abruptly twisted uncontrollably, causing it to clash with the different web, creating a ripple of sound that informed the owner of the place. The gate that connected the sacred room with the outside world opened itself automatically, revealing the figure of a middle-aged man. His black cloak gave off the feeling of mysteriousness, invoking the curiosity of the onlookers. His mouth twisted into a smile. He waved his hand and created numerous runes on the air and sent them towards various directions. The runes would travel to the residences of the influential people of the sect, informing them about the change that happened to the complex web. "My brother, soon, I will personally annihilate the Flying Green Garden that destroyed your precious family." His bloodline fared up for an instant when he mentioned the oath, causing terrible memories to emerge from his soul. Intor Ander could still taste the despair and grief of that day as if it was happening to him again. His brother's dying silhouette still haunted him whenever he lost his focus, reminding him about his decision that caused that bloodshed. "Everyone, the dawn of the war is right in front of us. I have used my divination skill to deduce the fate of the Flying Green Garden. The catastrophic event would threaten to consume the higher-ups of the garden. The location is at the Mountain Union!" Intor's intimidating voice echoed the whole sect, shaking the earth and raising the moral of the disciples. Very quickly, the whole sect decided to gather in a meeting, discussing the plan to destroy the Flying Green Garden and obtain complete domination over the entire territory.

The sound of the soft sigh was like a wedding melody, uplifting and spiritual. Forus felt as like his wife had returned to his side and was hugging him from behind, whispering to him about their olden memory. Countless transparent hands manifest itself around him, blocking most of the bloody spears. Some of them were caressing his body, giving out a friendly and familiar aura. Most of them went forwards to intercept the ruby spears, nullifying their destructive power. A faint and invisible pair of eye gazed at Forus, savouring his features and committing them all into its consciousness. Its gaze contained the yearning for a companion, and its touch stirred a profound emotion from his past. Although the invisible hands could stop the bloody spears, it wasn't able to stop the greenish droplet or could it destroy the spiritual seed within his right eye. Forus had to stop using his Death Aura and focus them into suppressing the empowered spiritual seed again. The empowered seed instantly sprung out a pale flower that came out of his right eye, rooting itself permanently onto his right eye. The pale flower had a group of yellow pollens, continuously emitting out a unique fragrance. Now that the seed had become a flower, its root had also extended deep into his body, causing its removal to become much more difficult than before. The flower was also subtly influencing Forus, making him more sensitive than usual, invoking his suppressed emotions. Before long, all of the bloody spears got obliterated by the transparent hands smoothly, but once the pentagram arrangement got crushed, the transparent fists didn't continue to retaliate. They slowly faded away, not doing anything other than necessary. "Because of my respect towards my only rival, Ocelia Coruscare, I will not pursue this matter." Glacies snorted before waving his hand, causing the raging blizzard to die down and disappeared. Only then were the spectators saw the panting Abicel lying alone. Due to his declare, Forus Ander subconsciously looked at Ocelia Coruscare, who was also staring at him. Her face was smiling brightly, inviting him to come and see her. However, her gaze only served to hurt him. Forus felt as if endless daggers were stabbing into his heart. The sensation of bittersweet was enveloping his mind. He quickly turned his head away, avoiding eyes contact with her. He felt as if he was back in his past, seeing his lovely wife's figure overlapping with the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. Such a blurry scene had forced him to ponder about his tragic past again, making him rewatched how his family fell from their peace and entered the abyss. Merely a thought about his incompetence ability caused Forus to clenched his fists, silently vowing to take his daughter back before everything was too late. With his resolution will, Forus frantically bit his tongue, almost tearing it apart. He used this torturous pain to regain his rationality. "Don't worry, my loved. I will always be there for you." A soft reply echoed his mind, causing him to tense up. He could feel that the strange string of fate that previously caused him to undergo an unbelievable experience started to crawl towards him, desiring to connect him with her again. Seeing the approaching string of fate, Forus waved his hand and forced some of the bluish flames, which was burning the protection of Lord Phasma, to move towards him, helping him defend against the strand of fate. The act of dividing the force of the bluish flame created a small gap of power between it and Lord Phasma, creating an opportunity to relax his pressure. Once he established his foothold, Lord Phasma began to resist the might of the all-consuming bluish flame, pushing it back into the cauldron. "Something is wrong." Glacies Ninguis furrowed his brow while observing the unexpected development. He saw Forus started struggling against the figure of the old man and suddenly divided his bluish flame to protect himself from something invisible. Although at first, it seemed as if he was acting on his emotion when he attacked Forus without any warning, he was aiming to get rid of the potential enemy for the Ninguis Family. From the performance that Forus displayed, it was clear that he was gifted in the art of alchemy and would become a great asset for the Coruscare. Using the moment when Abicel got injured as an excuse to launch a life-threatening strike to finish him off, Glacies almost succeeded if Ocelia didn't interfere with her spell. Even then, his last resort still slipped away from her protection and struck into Forus' right eye, causing a tremendous disturbance inside his body. It was natural that he was able to detect the strange seed that rooted within Forus, as it continuously emitted the wooden element into the air, forming an invisible spack that attracted attention from others. However, the fact still stood as he failed his plan and let Forus live. The second chance wouldn't be there for him as the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron wouldn't tolerate the blatant act of murder under their watchful eye, even more so when the victim was the talent that they desired. It was an exceptional tolerance showed by them that they didn't pursue the first attempt to kill their participant. If Glacies didn't have the backing of the Ninguis Family, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron wouldn't turn blind eyes easily. After all, the power of the Steel Cauldron that spanned across multiple countries must not waver under any circumstance. Ocelia Coruscare also didn't do anything else other than watching her lover struggled cold-heartedly. She felt and knew that her dearest one would never fail at these things, as the string of fate that almost connected them was still shining brightly, implying that their future would continue to entangle with each other after this disaster. Mabilis Sagunien, who was watching the situation from the sightline, was trembling in awe and fear at the sight of the exchange between a true strike of the first-ranked sorcerers. After all, he was still a third-layered sorcerer apprentice. Seeing the actual power of the genuine sorcerer would help him gain insight into the might of the true sorcerers. Not only that, from observing the battle, he could tell that Forus' sorcery was very strange and unusual. He deduced that Forus must have stumbled into an inheritance ground and acquired the ancient path of sorcery cultivation. Other than his unique sorcery power, he also had a decisive mind and ruthless characteristics. Now that his superior mindset had crumbled down, Mabilis began to think about how to befriend Forus, instead of roping him in. After all, Forus was a genius and naturally had his pride. Mabilis wouldn't recklessly ask Forus to come under him. While everyone was observing both Forus and Abicel, another battle that Forus had been fighting against the string of fate had gone unnoticed by others. The persistent line of destiny would extend towards Forus endlessly, only to get burnt by the bluish flame before retreating and extended outwards again. This perpetual cycle was slowly draining Forus' sorcery energy. If he didn't do anything to break the cycle, in the end, he would exhaust himself and let the string of fate connected him with Ocelia, effectively becoming the sole property of the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. He would lose his will and had his personality and memory overwritten. Seeing that the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron didn't have any intention to help, Forus gritted his teeth before stabbing his hand into his right eye, grabbing at the pale flower and ripped it out. The roots of said flower twisted violently, rampaging within his body, creating myriad pain all over his body. Others could see the little roots twisting beneath his skin, violently rooted themselves onto his flesh and tissues, refusing to come out. The pale flower also sensed the danger of being ripped out. It absurdly rotated and emitted out the stronger fragrance. Anyone who smelt the fragrance would feel their soul relaxed and their energy flow to stagnant. Although the pain of forcefully removed the flower was unimaginable, Forus never once let out a scream. During the whole process, he did it flawlessly and cold-bloodedly that it sent chills down the onlookers' spine. The onlookers also heard a faint cry of a lady that echoed around Forus, cursing him whole-heartedly. Once the flower sensed its impending doom, the roots immediately severed themselves from the said flower and sealed off Forus' right eye, blocking the foreign force from entering. The said roots also began to retreat into its shell and started to condense its essence to create a newer flower. Looking at the withered flower that was steadily leaking the wooden element, Forus used his icy elemental energy to freeze the struggling flower and slowed down its movement before throwing it into the cauldron. The bluish flame greedily devoured the flower, which sent out a dry and pitiful wailing every time its petals fell off. The cry of the dying flower caused the other alchemists to feel sad for the flower and hatred towards Forus. After consuming the rotting leaves, the fire which was brimming with the wooden element naturally became hotter and more destructive, becoming more and more challenging for Forus to restrain it. However, after the deadly flame consumed the pale flower, Forus' left eye was brimming with madness and ruthlessness. He instantly severed the connection between himself and the bluish flame, causing it to go berserk. His hands then manipulated the flow of his sorcery and sent the remaining ingredients into the cauldron and used his icy element to compress the container, causing its outer shell to turn red from the terrifying heat from the inside. Seeing his abnormality, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron began to activate their prepared formation, creating an energy field that covered the whole testing ground, preventing any sorcery spells to leak out and injure the guests. Some of their personnel were also paying their attention towards the safety of both Forus and Abicel, after all, they wouldn't want their soon-to-be talents to injure themselves and their potential. Finally, other alchemists couldn't take the pressure of staying near the ticking bomb any longer, many of them decided to stop their concoction and requested to come out. Only Abicel who was unconscious and Mabilis who had already prepared for the worst case was still staying near Forus. Mabilis was observing the strange process of concoction that Forus was performing, etching every single detail into his brain. Lord Phasma who got trapped inside the cauldron was reconsidering his priority. If he couldn't take over the boy's body this time, there would be almost no chance in the future to control his body again, but if he overreached himself, he might die by the bluish flame before he could get close to Forus. Although his original body had engraved his soul into many treasures, most of them couldn't withstand the passing of time and have decayed into nothing but junks. If he missed this opportunity, there would be no guarantee that he would have another chance to take over a body again. After a moment of hesitation, Lord Phasma's eyes turned blood-red as he decided to gamble all of his cards into this one chance. The thought of slumbering for countless more years without any knowledge of when would he come back again had already terrified him out of his mind. He decisively overloaded his ghostly body with Death Aura, causing his lower-half to explode. The impact of such explosion caused the cauldron to shake violently, increasing the rate of destruction caused by the bluish flame. The container was gradually crumbling into pieces. The explosion slightly damaged Forus, causing him to lose his focus for a moment, making it easier for the string of fate to creep towards him. Although his sorcery energy reserve was nearly empty, Forus was still devoid of panic and fear. His mind was bidding for the right opportunity to save his life from the overwhelming assaults. The closer to dead Forus was, the calmer he became. His first death had made him became numb from the fear of nothingness. If not for his promise before his demise and his concern as a father and a faithful husband, he wouldn't risk his life to become a sorcerer.

Placing the book down, Forus stared at the sky for a long time, thinking about his future path, and how he should progress. Time marched on, and Forus had been staying inside the abandoned hideout. He scavenged everything he could find, and read every book he could read. With his new body, Forus sought to step into the path of sorcery. He who tasted the mystical quality of the sorcery could not let go of his mind of its power, as well as its necessity. If Forus could not use sorcery, he reckoned that his future path would be bleak. He would never be able to control his fate, let alone going out to explore the world and meet his daughter. After all, Matia had been dragged into the world of sorcery, and as a father, Forus had an unending worry for her well-being. Thankfully, the blue-robed sorcerer was resourceful and had left many things inside his shelter. Although the most precious information got destroyed during their battle, most of the experiment results and basic theories remained intact in another place. However, before he could embark on his journey, Forus encountered a serious problem. No matter what kind of sorcery cultivation manual, Forus could not practice them at all. His special physique would devour the impure sorcery energy produced by them. Without any alternative path, Forus could only compile his knowledge from various references and attempted to create his unique sorcery manual for himself. Fortunately, with Death Aura shrouding his body, Forus could regenerate from almost all injuries and backlash from his experiments. ... The good thing about his new body was that he did not need to eat or rest to survive. Forus had been taking advantage of his new-found time to spend on experimenting with his sorcery manual and practising his sorcery. Watching the black flame gradually melted his skin, Forus slowly felt the rate of his regeneration stabilized. Although the pain he felt was great, it was insignificant compared to when he burned himself into a human torch, or when he resolved to take the sorcerer with him. Strangely, after experiencing death, Forus' mentality had entered a mysterious state where he rarely felt anything. His mind was numb, and his eyes dull. Pain and misery no longer bothered him; he could only feel a foreboding sense of isolation. After the flame subsided, Forus examined his body, which had turned even more pale and smooth than before. His new muscle structure was stronger and more sturdy than before, signalling the completion of his first step. Before one could become a fully-fledged sorcerer, their body must be compatible with the sorcery energy. The user of sorcery would have to temper their body, mind, and soul, to prepare them for the incoming ascension. Those who tried to become a sorcerer were called sorcerer apprentice. They were divided into three layers, signifying their progression. First-layered was for those who had begun to temper their physical body, allowing them to become the vessel for sorcery energy. Without this stage, a mortal body would not be able to take in much sorcery energy before mutating into mindless beasts. Second-layered was for those who manage to circulate their sorcery energy inside their body, stabilizing both their physical body and mental mind into equilibrium. At this stage, the sorcerer apprentice could manipulate their sorcery energy to strengthen their body and mind. Third-layered was for those who tried to break through their mortal limitation. They would search for their deepest desire and the Element with most affinity. At this stage, they could use simple spells. For now, Forus managed to craft a simple sorcery manual for himself, detailing his path to the third-layered sorcerer apprentice. Although it was not optimal, it was all he could do at the moment. Forus needed more references to proceed further. "Time to test my strength." Forus muttered to himself as he prepared his clothing and bags. He was going to explore the forest and perform experiments on his Death Aura and his body. ... Placing a wooden spear on a rock, Forus did not hesitate one bit before slamming his fist straight into it. Surprisingly, the spear broke into pieces while a crack manifested on the rock. His fist easily crumbled it and left a noticeable mark onto the rock. Although there was redness on his skin, the fist quickly healed itself within a moment, as if nothing of significance had ever happened. Finally, Forus could manage to estimate where he stood with his new body and power. With the enhancement of Death Aura, Forus became extraordinarily strong, enough to forego any conventional weapon for the sake of using his fist. If he ignored the pain, he could easily shatter rocks with his hand, albeit not without any injury. ... After making sure that he had prepared everything, Forus packed his bags and spared clothing before turning back to look at the greenery before him. The tranquil place of rest, the abandoned hideout— the place where he died. "Never again..." Forus found himself absent-mindedly muttered to himself as he walked into the wilderness. ... By silently camping at the road, Forus managed to catch a merchant caravan travelling to another city. Although he did not need their protection, trailing them was better than going alone in the open. After all, he could let the group dealt with the trouble that might arise. With that thought in mind, Forus managed to easily travel across the wilderness without much problem. Although there were occasional bandit raids, most of them retreated after seeing the middle carriage's symbol, which signified an extraordinary status. In fact, from Forus' observation, the caravan itself seemed to be an escort for the middle carriage. When the caravan arrived at the city, the guards let them pass without checking. However, before the caravan got in, the middle carriage slowly opened its gate, revealing a dazzling figure inside it. With a row of neatly-dressed people around her, the lady, donned in light-orange two-part dresses, stepped out from her seat. As if greeting her, a gentle breeze caressed her silhouette as her red short hair fluttered with it. Although her physique was not overbearing, her demeanour and disposition remained elegance and noble. "Young Mistress, the carriage is ready." The servants uniformly announced the arrival of a newly-prepared carriage. Its exterior was exquisite, designed with a vision of a master craftsman. With a flame emblem as the symbol at the centre, it was truly a carriage worthy for her. Nodding at the announcement, the lady stepped into the carriage. Her motion was like water, flowing flawlessly, uninterrupted by the external world. However, before the gate of the carriage closed shut, her crimson pair of pupils stared deep into the forest, landing onto another pair of azure eyes. Subtly, the young mistress smiled as she watched the hidden figure retreated rapidly into the darkness. "The azure colour of the sky. Only with them would I breakthrough..." The young mistress giggled to herself as she forced her smile down. Although she had come back home, her mind could not help but wander towards that pair of azureness. ... In a quick step, Forus rushed into the deep wilderness as he suppressed his urge to cry out. As his step slowed down, flame spontaneously combusted around him as a muffled sound of something big collapsing echoed inside his mind. With his first-layered sorcery, Forus could do nothing to ease the pain, so he had to endure the burning of his body until it used up the sorcery energy powering it. Fortunately, he had encountered a worse scenario and could easily handle this amount of pain. As his body erupted in flame, the black mist slowly emerged from his skin and seeped in and out of his pores, fusing into his burnt flesh and healing them in the process. Moreover, the black mist also devoured the remnant of sorcery energy, quickly putting the flame off. Thankfully, Forus managed to outlast the destruction of the flame, making him narrowly survived from falling unconscious and left defenceless in the wilderness. Before long, Forus leaned onto a sturdy tree, trying his hardest not to lose his consciousness. Although he had persisted under the pain, his body could not keep up with his mind, so he had to rest. Thinking back at the encounter, Forus remained vigilance even in his resting state; after all, he had no idea if that lady would send someone to capture him. However, even after what seemed to be an hour, Forus could not spot anyone. In the truest sense, Forus narrowly managed to survive due to the urgency of the young mistress, having to rush to meet her father, the Family Head, as well as not anticipating that a mere first-layered sorcerer apprentice could withstand her power. Even after all of this, Forus still decided to go back to the city. He had to find more references to further his self-made sorcery manual to get stronger and finally having the ability to search the world for his daughter. However, with his current appearance, he appeared too eye-catching and would invite trouble such as the previous young mistress. How could Forus know that the sorcerers were an eccentric group of people? More unfeasibly, why would a person as resourceful as the young mistress of a powerful status take a special interest in him, a nobody without any background? ... A middle-aged man sat alone, casually eating his meal while listening to the chatter of the ordinary workers, mercenaries, and simply the passersby. His action perfectly fitted into the realm of an ordinary man daydreaming about his future. Appearance-wise, the man donned in simple clothing of a commoner and had a look of a hard-working man who could never get rich no matter how much he tried. His soft aura and quiet disposition made him a perfect background for any event. After stumbling around the forest, Forus decided to change his appearance by using natural products. Thankfully, the blue-robed sorcerer had left quite a huge sum of knowledge, both regarding sorcery and various methods to survive in the wilderness. The man was a loner, and so he had amassed various techniques and knowledge the sorcerers from big organizations could not hope to attain. Even more so, he also excelled in the art of alchemy, leaving behind notes and damaged equipment for Forus to experiment. However, knowledge was not the same as experience. Forus could not do anything advanced as the sorcerer could, but he still managed to craft a good disguise for himself. Although he could not change his body structure or body scent, as long as he did not meet with that lady himself, he was sure that she would never find him. Looking into his bag of holding, Forus found a few Mystical Orbs lying inside, as well as a bunch of silver coins and a few gold coins. Although the sorcerer lived in solitary, he had quite a wealth for himself. Shaking his head, Forus found himself thinking about how to increase his wealth. Although a silver coin was enough for a man to live for a month, providing that he merely lived from meal to meal, for Forus, who needed resource to further his sorcery and alchemy, it was not enough. "Those nobles, they are quite good at suppressing my influence." Forus muttered to himself as he recalled his moment of greatness during his first life. It was his greatest achievement, deriving from various studies and collaboration with other merchants. With it, Forus managed to stabilize his standing as a rich merchant, realising his dream of settling down and meeting his faded one, Meria Ander. However, as his business progressed, the nobles came crashing down onto him, trying to steal his idea and monopolized the profits themselves. Nevertheless, Forus persisted, with his amassed wealth and connection, and managed to strike back, protecting his idea from the hungry wolf. "Let start with this, then." Despite the fear of gaining the attention of the strong, Forus had to bear the risk, if he wished to rapidly amass fund for his sorcery progression. After all, what was more important; his measly life or his daughter's well-being?

Feeling that the rays of light had touched his skin, Forus instinctively stopped his cultivation and opened his eyes. The sun had chased away the stars on the sky and eclipsed the moon, shining brilliantly at the summit of the world. As expressionless as ever, Forus began to remind himself with all the necessary information he had written down on his journal. He also remembered that today was an important day. It was the official opening of the auction. He thought for a moment before coming up with a series of plans. To go to the auction, he needed to forge his identity and appearance to avoid the suspicion of the influential sorcerer families in the city. The eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family was still the massive shadow that loomed over his mind. Her unpredictable personality and mysterious abilities had reminded him of the dignified sorcerers. Putting on a simple robe, Forus channelled his sorcery energy to change his bodily structure and facial appearance. His new body was now a slim man with a pale face. Coupled with his worn out robe, he looked like a poor random street citizen. Walking away into the distance, Forus strangely bent in with his surrounding, as if he was always there. The way he walked resembled all those civilians beside him. Only a ring on his hand would stand out from his unimpressive appearance. Without paying any attention, one would never be able to see Forus within the crowd of mortals. With a moment of thought, Forus had already stood in front of a tall pavilion. There was an enormous wooden sign hung above the entrance, radiating an aura of mystical power. The title of the building, Oak Forest, had been carved on the board with some help of a sorcerer. When the onlookers saw the board, the lingering power would ease their mind and relax their body. "Please show us your invitation card." The servants of the auction repeated the same words over and over again. He would ask to verify the authority of the card and sent the guests into the building, but there would be some exceptional cases why the managers needed to come out and greeted the guests personally. These guests were unmistakably from the influential families with a great background. They always had the arrogant bearing and superiority complex. Treating everyone as an inferior being was their mindset. Fortunately, Forus got into the building without any trouble. His regular appearance wouldn't get any attention from the young masters at all. They even disliked the plainness of the poor. Once he got inside, another servant came in and guided the guests into the chamber. Because of his low-status ordinary invitation, he could only sit at the outer layer of the room. Only the higher-class cardholder would be able to sit near the stage. Then there were those from famous families. They would stay in their private rooms with all sort of services. No one would be able to know who stayed in the room without his or her permission. The sound of chatting between friends and acquaintances gradually built up, but as soon as the manager walked in, the whole room quieted down almost immediately. Everyone's attention remained fixed on the stage. Only the welcoming speech of the manager echoed the hall. He spoke slowly, trying to build up the hype surrounding the event. If not for the uneasy feeling he had, Forus would have relaxed his mind and took a nap. After all, he was merely a peak second-layer sorcerer apprentice. He was nothing compared to those who had the support of their family. "The first item is the Wooden Liquid Bow. It is a perfect bow for the sorcerer trains in a long-range assault. It could empower the arrow with natural elements." One after another, the manager introduced the treasures tirelessly. Those who wanted the treasures bid until their pocket ran out. Most of them were the people who sat near the stage, but the one on the private rooms rarely bid. Once they did, none would dare to bide against them. "Next is the Decaying Dawn Ring. A ring found in the ancient ruin, but because of the passage of time, the resentment of the owner had fused with the ring, making it unusable." After hearing the introduction, Forus' mind trembled. His gaze instantly locked onto the ring, trying his best to memorise the feature of the entire ring. There was the familiar aura floating around the ring. It was a dark and depressing aura that could stress one's mind. Observing the dark particle, Forus smiled faintly and made up his mind to obtain it. It was the Death Aura! "One hundred Mystical Orbs." Forus slowly stood up and clasped his hands together and bowed his head for those around him. He was begging them to let him had the treasure. After seeing his manner, many others sorcerers from the influential families wouldn't compete with him unless it was necessary. After all, they had their reputation to protect. If they bullied the rogue sorcerers for something so disappointing and useless, other would have looked down upon them. "One hundred and fifty Mystical Orbs." A man in a yellow robe spoke arrogantly with the evil intention to toy with Forus. He sat near the stage, indicating his higher status than ordinary folks. "Two hundred Mystical Orbs." Gritting his teeth, Forus spoke louder than before. Fear and anxiety filled up most of his pale face. Why was he so unlucky? "Two hundred and fifty Mystical Orbs." The same sound echoed the whole room. At this time, no one was willing to bide now. They didn't want to be insulted like this unfortunate man. "Young master, please let this one have this little thing. Three hundred Mystical Orbs." Tears rolled out of his eyes. He bowed toward the man in yellow before bidding for one last time. Sensing that this was the young man's limit, the young master in yellow laughed out loud, feeling satisfied because of the begging. The servant in grey behind him looked at Forus silently. Seeing that no one would bide any further, the manager waved his hand, and a female servant walked toward him. She held the ring and put it in the box before walked toward Forus' seat. Forus took out a bag filled with Mystical Orbs and handed it to her before reaching out for the box. He tightly held the crate and sat down, not talking to anyone anymore. After there was no exciting story of revenge waiting for them, the bystanders lost their interest and stopped paying their attention to Forus. The auction then continued as if nothing had happened. Once no one had paid any attention to him, Forus pull the robe over his head, concealing his expression and appearance. Without anyone's knowledge, his earlier emotions were just a facade to evoke the pity in the mass, so that he wouldn't have to pay for even more amounts of Mystical Orbs. Forus would gladly abandon pride and do anything if the benefits were good enough. After he had died once, his lingering emotion was suppressed, making him felt detached from this unfamiliar world. A little while later, the hall dimmed its candles and lamps, preparing to show the main item of the auction. The sound of chatter quieted down as everyone was eager to examine the best treasure of this time. It was without doubt that there would be a grand bidding war between the influential families. Maybe those in private rooms would show up to suppress other with their status. "Ladies and gentlemen, the time is now. This last item is the Underworld Copper Coin, an undoubtedly middle-grade treasure. Any sorcerers could use its mysterious sealing power to suppress weaker treasures." A coin that was empowered by the mysterious might of the ancient appeared on the stage, radiating the sealing power that could seal the world. "Ten thousand Mystical Orbs and a middle-grade spiritual technique Revolving Blazing Comet." A feminine voice echoed the hall, chilling the body of the onlookers. A stunningly beautiful figure walked out of the private room. Her body radiated the freezing air of coldness and indifference. "She is Ocelia Coruscare of the Coruscare Family!" The crowd took only a moment to realise her extraordinary identity. She was the talent sorcerer who would become the head of the family in the future. Her elegant bearing of the leader had already earned respect from others. At the same moment when the voice rang out, Forus' body shivered uncontrollably, but he suppressed his chaotic state of mind before casually stood up and walked toward the exit. He needed to get out of the auction as soon as possible before she noticed him. Little did he know, the mistress had already noticed his behaviour and locked her glistening gaze at him, observing his appearance and committed them into her soul. When he turned his head to look at her for the last time, their gaze met, causing both of their eyes to brighten in their respective colour. The colourful light that was invisible to others twirled around themselves willingly, causing the two to feel the intimating sensation created from the resonance of their soul. The two rays of light fused together gently, creating an invisible string of fate that tied the two with each other. After a moment of confusion, Forus instantly rushed out of the auction and disappeared into the crowded area, leaving the mistress to savour the wonderful feeling of soul resonance. Little by little, the seventh floor of the leaning tower that floated inside her plane of conscious actualised itself into existence. The sudden change in the leaning tower caused her indifferent emotion to stir up. Only that man could cause her feeling to stir up. She could feel that they were about the same being as if she and he was once the same entity. "I'm leaving now, prepare me a carriage. I could feel the resonance between us as clear as ever." Ocelia smiled warmly at the thought of their union. She could feel that if she and he joined together, their future would be limitless. ... "Young master, the man had unexpectedly left early. Should we go after him? Your heritage is not to be tarnished by such a lowly commoner!" The servant in grey reported the news to his young master in yellow. His young master had taken interested in the poor man that just left. "Very well, I shall bring you with me to find him, that man had taken what I wanted. His punishment is only death and suffering." The young master in yellow spoke as if it was natural for him to kill someone. The arrogant in his words presented itself perfectly for everyone to hear. "This one shall prepare you a square of hunters to bring that man and his little treasure for you." The servant bowed his head while leaving, but the young master stopped him unexpectedly. "I will be the one hunting him personally. There is no need for those useless hunters. If the victim is delivered to me easily, then how would the hunt be enjoyable?" The young master in yellow laughed loudly, feeling excited from all the thought about the hunt ... "The man with a mysterious ring is unmistakably a criminal. He is trying to avoid contact with the maiden of the influential family, probably because she knew his identity." Little Florie also stood up from her seat and walked out of the auction. She was trying to tail behind the criminal, trying to help the city rid of the evil man. She would try to capture that man and brought him to the maiden in the private room. The maiden from the Coruscare Family would be happy to have a criminal arrested. "With the unique treasures that my teacher gave to me, I could see that he is only a second-layer sorcerer apprentice. I could easily arrest him, even if I couldn't, my life wouldn't be in danger." Little Florie had some confidence in herself and her teacher. She wouldn't be afraid of a random sorcerer apprentice.

Inside an ordinary house, a sound of writing was constantly echoing. Forus Ander was a busy man, and he had been reading and signing reports since dusk. His little business needed his full attention, and he had given it his all. It was his proudest achievement, and it helped him created his foundation. As the sun began to rise, Forus found himself looking at it with his eyes half-closed, thinking about the earlier days of his life, when he was poor. It was a dark past, but he embraced it with acceptance, as it built him to become strong and independent. Before he could become a successful merchant, he was once one of the peasants, helping his parents doing labours and watering the fields. Due to his gifted mind, his parents allowed him to study at the school, and that let him develop his intellect, and finally winning a scholarship. "Dear, you should rest some more. You've been working since last day, and it won't be good for your health." A lovely voice resounded as a pair of hands warped around his back. Suddenly, the person behind him leaned onto him, and her head delicately snuggled with him. "Just a little more and I'll finish this batch. I'll rest after this, don't worry." Forus stopped his work and kissed his wife, Meria, for a moment before getting back to read his papers. He could hear his wife getting touchy, but he ignored her. As he progressed in his career, Forus found the love of his life, Meria Ander. She was the daughter of another merchant, and they met accidentally during their travel, and then again during the actual meeting. Gradually, their feeling matured, and the two decided to embrace each other and started a new family. Once their wedding went successfully, Forus moved out and bought a new house, and they settled there. Everything was going uphill for both him and Meria. Signing his last paperwork, Forus realised that time passed quickly, and the sun had already risen. The warm light signified a new day, telling various wildlife to wake up and begin their routine. The fresh sunlight reminded him of his now impossible dream. When he was young, he wished to travel around the world, to see the wonders and landscapes he heard from other travellers. It was also partly why he chose to be a merchant. However, after marrying Meria, Forus struggled to have that many free time, and for the better future for his family, he had decided to settle down and vanquish his dream. After all, his younger brother was already doing it for him. Intor Ander, the second son of Ander Family. Although he was not talented in business, he had his way of living and had gone to learn aboard since he was a teen. Nowadays, from the letters he monthly sent, Forus learnt that he was doing well as a renowned architect. "Daddy, I want to become a merchant like you! Will you be happy if I do?" A high-pitched voice echoed behind Forus, causing his tired face to snap out of his daydream and edge into a heart-warming smile. "Matia, don't annoy your father. He is working right now." Forus could feel the gaze of his wife as he momentarily stopped working and turned to hug his daughter, Matia Ander. The only daughter of their family, Matia was an adorable child who inherited her mother's graceful disposition and her father's intellect. Although at times, she would be playful and teasing, as expected of her age. "Father will play with you after you finish cleaning your room, promise?" Forus extended his pinky toward his Matia, waiting for her to agree to his request. He would take a nap to replenish some of his energy while waiting. "Yes!" Matia yelled happily as she ran into her room, going back to clean her room after a night of good sleep. It usually took a while for her to do everything, which gave Forus enough time to grab a quick rest. ... Time passed, and the day went by. Before long, night arrived, and the dim moon moved in. Its soft light brought pleasure to the eyes and signified the regular wildlife to go back home and rest. "Happy birthday to you, Matia!" After playing with her father, Matia came back home to see a lovely cake placed upon the table, with her mother standing beside it. She had completely forgotten that today was her birthday. "Daddy, Mommy, thank you!" Matia walked over to hugged her father and her mother respectively. Then, she blew all ten candles and watched as her father cut the cake into eight pieces. "Look, mommy got a present for you." While eating, Meria spoke as she produced a small wooden box in her hand, grabbing the attention of the little girl. Matia grabbed it and inspected it joyfully. It was a picture frame containing the portrait of their family, with Matia in the middle and her parents on the side. "Mom, you're the best!" Matia smiled from ear to ear and turned to look at Forus attentively, revealing a hint of hope in her sparkling eyes. "This is what your uncle brought for you. He is my little brother. Unfortunately, he couldn't come here by himself, so I have to gift it to you for him." Forus pulled out a necklace that was designed especially for his daughter. As a famous architect, Intor could easily buy Matia some precious jewels. Just from its appearance alone, one could tell that it was expensive and delicately designed. The gemstone engraved on it was green, and the light it reflected off brought peace and tranquil to the onlookers. Once the necklace was in Matia's hand, the jewel in the middle shone faintly. As soon as Matia wore the necklace, its gem shone brightly in both green and blue shades. "Matia!" At that moment, an unseen force exploded out, blasting both Forus and Meria into the wall, causing it to crumble. Pieces of wood and stones flew in every direction and injured them severely. In the sky, space distorted, and the ground shook. Countless leaves manifested from emptiness, creating a dome of greenery. The land surrounding the house became an enclosed space, sealed by a thin layer of vines, preventing any exchange of information. "Meria! Matia!" Forus tried to shout, but every time he moved, the pain intensified, and he almost fell unconscious. His body was full of wounds, and blood showed no sight of stopping. In his vision, aside from the ruin of the house, he only saw green. The vines surrounding the house extended and formed a humanoid figure. It floated beside Matia, who had immersed herself inside a sphere of blue and green light. The figure, dressed in a green cloak, stood motionlessly before the ruin, revealing no emotions. Its action of almost killing two fragile lives meant nothing to it. It was cold and ruthless. It was supernatural. The figure looked at Matia for a moment before turning its attention to her father and mother. "Mortals, for your descendant to become one of us, it is your eternal blessing. A quick, painless death shall be your rewards." Its voice, distorted and emotionless, echoed the ruin. Although it softly spoke, the sound somehow managed to travel to both Forus and Meria. The figure lifted its hand, and a green light manifested soundlessly. It gathered around at the tip of the figure's finger before slowly moving toward Forus and Meria. It was a tip of Death God, and no mortals could stop its advance. Sensing the inevitable doom, Forus, with his remaining willpower, turned his head to look at the unmoving body of his wife one last time. She was, although battered and injured, still beautiful in his eyes. As green light slowly filled his vision, Forus felt his body going numb, and various scenes flashed past his mind. It was hot, then cold, then hot. His mind was in chaos, and only one emotion remained strong during the entire instant. It was unwillingness. Forus was a stubborn man, and he was unwilling to die here. He wanted to see his daughter becoming successful, and he wanted to see his grandchildren. He wanted to meet his brother again after so long... There were still many things he had not done yet. Alas, life comes at you unexpectedly, and before Forus could prepare himself, he was already on verge of death. Before his life was about to end, a minute cracking noise echoed throughout the sealed space, and the dome of vines trembled along with it. Gradually, a hint of coldness spread itself the ruin, freezing everything that came into contact with it, including the moving green light. At last, the dome of greenery could no longer hold off the invader, and it shattered into bits of frozen crystals and disappeared into thin air. Outside of the dome, a person wearing a blue robe remained floating in the air, slowly descending onto the ground in front of the green-robed figure. "Long time no see..." Many massive ice spikes appeared behind the blue-robed man and positioned themselves to threaten the green-robed figure. Responding to the threat, countless colourful flowers bloomed all around the ruin, producing a pleasant fragrance. With their collective power, they created an invisible pressure to weigh onto everything within their surrounding. "... I only want this girl, so you can have the rest. Deal?" The figure covered in green gestured its hand, and a white wooden box magically manifested before floating toward the icy-cold man. The blossomed flowers also began to rot away, lessening the pressure that weighed upon everything. The figure had revealed his sincerity with his action. The man took the box emotionlessly and watched as the figure swiftly departed. Only after a long time had passed that he recalled his ice spikes and looked at the remnants of the house. Forus could see a wicked smile as the man looked at him, causing his body to turn stiff. However, before he could think of anything, a cool wind blew past him, and his body became frozen. In an instant, Forus lost his consciousness. ... A figure seated inside his room, meditating and reflecting upon his lessons. He had been doing this for one day and revealed no intention of stopping. With his eyes tightly shut, he comprehended the knowledge of sorcery alone. A silver ring on his finger lit up in both green and blue colour, causing the man to open his eyes abruptly. He sat in a daze before smiling as a talented had appeared. However, before he could celebrate, the light turned weaker and slowly faded away. This phenomenon caused the man to stand up, and his face to turn grim. In quick succession, he gestured his hands in a systematic style and chanted an unknown ancient spell. His mind was in the state of anxiety. Something unexpected had happened. After a while, space in front of him twisted and broke apart, leaving a path toward the darkness opened. Mystical energy flowed into the darkness, slowly revealing the scenery that the path led to. Without any hesitation, the man swiftly dashed into the portal and arrived in the middle of the ruin. It stood on what was once a lovely house. Now, the ruin was empty, without any sight of life. The man let out a scream and exploded in regret. His magic swept the surrounding, and the wind blew as if a storm had descended onto the world. "I, Intor Ander, hereby declare, that as long as I live, I will avenge my brother and his family. If they were still alive, I shall protect them with my life!" His formless soul began to emit a dark and depressing aura. Various complex hexagrams manifested themselves into the physical realm of existence, floating in front of him. "With my power, I shall curse the enemies of my brother. For them to be dragged into the everlasting abyss and have their soul suppressed! "With my power, I shall curse the enemies of my brother. For their descendants to have their bloodline rejected them, have them perished by their own bloodline!" The sky darkened, and space distorted. Time slowed down, and evil laughter echoed the whole world. With the price of his blood and precious vitality, Intor sent the curse into the world. As soon as he finished, Intor felt his body weakening, and he would need years of rehabilitation before he regained his lost power. As for his shortened longevity, although it was not much, he had no ordinary way to restore them. However, for his brother's peace, it was worth it. To atone his sin, he did not hesitate to do it. As he gradually struggled toward the portal, he saw a collapsed female buried under a broken wall. She was on the brink of her last breath, unconscious and barely living. The moment he saw her, his bloodline flared up faintly, and he suddenly appeared before her and injected his mysterious energy into her. He disregarded his pain and let the power nourished the woman, saving her from her critical condition. "Brother, I'll protect her for you, and I will let her lead a peaceful life, waiting for you to come back..." Intor said softly as his body turned soft and light, and he carried her with him as he departed from the ruin.

Although the Fleeting Emotions Ruin had gone under an unthinkable change, the calmness that came after was surprising and concerning. With the Decree of the Mountain Emperor, the Mountain Envoy took the lead and formed the most dominant faction of power. He made use of his connection and background to intimidate others and forced them under him. With each passing day, the alliance continued to grow in power, with other factions waiting with their anxious mind. If nothing could stop its growth, the Mountain Emperor would swallow everything within the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. "Forus, father has summoned us. It seems that the Mountain Envoy wants to hold a meeting." As one of the Coruscare Family, Ocelia was on the side of the Mountain Envoy, who had a special connection with her father. After taking a bath and dressed in new clothing, Ocelia's elegant figure became more pleasing and beautiful. Her smooth skin turned lively with the lingering fragrance of the herbal perfume. With her pinkish veil to cover her face, she retained the mysterious aura while subtly revealing her charm. "Is it possible to bring me along?" As Ocelia and Forus conversed, a lady in the green robe interrupted. Abicel wished to attain the meeting with her companions. Knowing that Ocelia would head out to the meeting soon, Abicel also prepared herself with fresh, cooling bath. Although she did not apply any herbal perfumes that Coruscare Family could afford, with the constitution of a Nature Fairy, her body naturally emitted a nature-like fragrance. "Abicel, you're always welcome. However, you'll have to come with me as an attendant." Not minding her interruption, Ocelia smiled and gave an offer to her friend. "I wouldn't mind at all. To get to attend such a meeting is already good enough. It would be impolite to ask more." Abicel smiled back as she complimented Ocelia's look while casually chatting with her. The two female friends talked a lot during their stay. Compared to the two beauties, Forus only donned in his azure robe, hiding his expression and his figure. Although he did not use any concealment spells, his presence had hidden itself to the deepest part of his aura. If one did not pay any attention, they could overlook his existence entirely. "Let's not waste our time and get on the carriage. We can continue our conversation there." Ocelia spoke as she led Abicel and Forus out of the manor. There was already the same crimson carriage at the front door. Walking past the lines of servants, Ocelia and Abicel led the way as they conversed on various topics. The servants knew their place and did not do anything except lowering their head. As the last person to enter the carriage, Forus turned back and gazed towards the peak of the mountain. Although he saw nothing of significance, he could feel that something was watching. Upon the cracked barriers, various runes appeared dimmed and flickering. They formed a sentence that no one could translate, and they changed their structure every so often. The runes reminded him of the mysterious messages that appeared on the last Door of Hope. It disregarded the blindness of his eyes and manifested in his soul, telling him secrets that he could not comprehend. "Is it a coincidence?" Muttering to himself, Forus shook his head and stepped into the carriage. Although he had prepared many things for the uneasy premonition that he had, nothing he did could erase it. The crimson carriage shook as it advanced forwards, heading towards the centre of the outpost. Along the way, many brown-robed sorcerers were patrolling the street, looking out for security as well as any anomaly that might happen. At first, Forus could see many people of various ages walking and chatting. They were ordinary mortals, sorcerer apprentices, and sometimes sorcerers. As they did not have any connections, they could only stay at the edge of the outpost. If not for their request, Ocelia and Forus would also live in the inner part of the outpost. However, because of their strange ability, they decided to live at the edge where it was easier to hide their abnormality. The further they lived from the strong sorcerers, the lesser their chance of getting found out. Like the trio, many similar carriages also headed towards the inner part of the city. They had different symbols, but all of them were the representatives of the sorcerer families. They took part in the creation of the outpost and wished to participate in the expedition. "Really? I've never heard of it before." As Forus lowered his head to rest, the voice of two beauties echoed softly in the carriage. They talked about various topics of interest, which Forus did not pay any attention to when he was still a mortal. Although the aroma from their perfume and natural constitution were not the same, they strangely merged and magnified their effects. The refreshing yet familiar fragrance helped Forus relaxed in his rest. Little by little, the surrounding began to quiet down. The chattering and the noises produced by the carriage slowly faded away, letting the silence of tranquil reigned in their absence. The soft melody resounded beside his ears, urging Forus to drift into the land of dream. The sense of relaxation drowned onto his soul as his consciousness dimmed down. As he was about to fall, something touched his cheek and caressed it. The heat from the mysterious hand warmed his pale face, reminding him of something that he seemed to forget. No matter how he tried, Forus could not remember anything. After she noticed his uneasy expression, the maiden placed her hand upon his forehead, checking for his body temperature. With a wet towel on her grip, she slowly wiped his face, cooling down the rising heat. "I know you'll scold me again, but I can't help but do it." The maiden mumbled as she covered Forus with a blanket, before kissing onto his forehead without any care. She did not seem to mind the illness Forus was having. "Sleep well. I'll be waiting when you're ready." In his muddled mind, Forus listened to the fading sound of the footsteps. The voice that spoke to him sounded so special as if he knew who said it. Contrast to the silence, a soft creaking of a door traversed into his ears. Although the maiden tried her hardest to soften the noise, Forus could hear it with his spiritual sense. "Please get well soon, and don't leave me, please." A grief-filled whisper slipped into the howls of the wind. This time, Forus did not hear anything other than the chirpings of the birds and the noises of the wildness. Only then did Forus snapped out of his dream, regaining his awareness of the surrounding. Before he realised it, the carriage had already come to a halt. The building in front of the carriage was golden in colour, reflecting the warm sunlight as they fell onto its surface. Along the pillars that supported the roof, many ancient runes were glowing in various shades. With the help of the runes, the palace was clean without any speck of dust. Its design resembled the golden palace of the ruler, which reflected its importance within the outpost. "Mistress, we've arrived." A servant gently knocked onto the door of the carriage and whispered, interrupting the chat of the beauties. Ocelia peeked at Forus who had just woke up and smiled, giggling as she thought about something. Only when Abicel asked her why did she stop and stepped out of the carriage. "Greeting, Young Mistress from Coruscare Family. Lord Envoy's waiting inside the meeting hall." As Ocelia approached the majestic palace, a row of brown-robed sorcerers walked towards her and bowed in respect. They were waiting to welcome the members of the meeting. Along the way to the meeting hall, only silence remained constant throughout their trip. The tranquil of the palace and the solemn atmosphere of the group deterred anyone who wanted to speak. In the end, everyone remained reserved and only focused on their destination. "The Lords are in the next room, and this is the limit of our patrol." The group stopped in front of a large gate, and the captain of the brown-robed sorcerers spoke out. Ocelia did not speak and only nodded her head. As she watched the guards departed to receive more guests, she looked at Forus one last time before knocking on the gate once and opened it. The meeting hall was as large as the previous hallway with many seats arranging in multiple rows. At the foremost front of the room, the Mountain Envoy remained seated on the highest throne, overlooking at various members of the meeting. Although there were many sorcerers inside the meeting room, most of them were just ordinary first-ranked sorcerers with only a handful of second-ranked ones. Among all of them, they separated into many different groups with the biggest being the group led by the Mountain Envoy. Without any intention to gather attention, Ocelia and the group bowed towards the Envoy and went straight to their respective seat. Their arrival did not cause any disturbance other than a few superficial greetings. After a period of silence, the gate that led to the meeting room began to close, sealing the inner region away from the outer world. The shadows of various guards also faded away from the chamber, indicating their departure. "Greeting, Lord Mountain Envoy, the Family Head of various sorcerer families, and the vagabond sorcerers." A soft footstep echoed the soundless hall as a figure appeared before the throne. "As everyone has already received the news, Lord Mountain Envoy had ordered the expedition into the Fleeting Emotions Ruin..." After he bowed to Lord Envoy, the man began to report the situation and the findings that they encountered within the Ruin. As their benefits linked together with the report, most sorcerers remained focused and paid great attention to the detail. However, the Family Heads and the lords had already received the news beforehand and did not pay too much attention. Although the information seemed essential to the benefits of the sorcerers, most of them were only the tips of the iceberg that was the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. Only the upper-echelon would know the full extent of the exploration. "... With all of that concluded, we estimate that we had explored half of the Ruin." After filling in with some praise and complementary, the reporter quickly paid his respect to the Mountain Envoy before retreating into the darkness, giving the spotlight to the Envoy. The room returned to silence as everyone fixed their attention at the Mountain Envoy. In this place, his words were absolute and could dictate the overall development of the expedition. "Lord Mountain Envoy, I have something I wished to disclose before we officially started the meeting." Just as the silence got unbearable, a voice echoed from the front row, attracting all attention. The man did not bother concealing his appearance. Hos slightly-smiling facial expression had a hint of ridicule and proud hid inside it. With his eyes fixing at Levota, he did not try to hide anything. "Go ahead, Corulem Ninguis." Although Lord Envoy did not like getting interrupted, he did not express anything and merely nodded his head. However, one could see his smile slowly faded as he stared at the Family Head of the Ninguis Family. A subtle discussion began to spread as the atmosphere became heavier and heavier in every passing moment. Even though most of the participants did not live in Flamedouse City, it was an open-secret that Ninguis Family and Coruscare Family did not meet eye to eye. With this opening declare as well as the deep stare, everyone could feel that something terrible was about to unfold. "Thank you, Lord Envoy. Although this matter hardly impacts the content of our meeting, I wish for my lord to address this grievance." Corulem bowed extraordinarily low to the Mountain Envoy before he announced his speech, attracting even more attention to himself. While some were rejoicing with the upcoming show, others were frowning in discomfort. People had a mixed opinion about the battle between two second-ranked sorcerers.

"Once a businessman, always a businessman." Forus found himself echoing the sentiment of this message after spending his time inside the city, trying his best to build up funds. Just like in his previous life, Forus— starting with a measly fund— quickly built up a considerable amount of wealth by exploiting the flow of goods and materials. He bought low and sold high, gaining profit and accumulated them until he had a significant fund to kick-start his real business. Thankfully, with the basic knowledge of alchemy, Forus could quicken his process of building his reputation by working at a medicine shop, helping those in need while gathering information about the current political landscape of the city. With the knowledge from the blue-robed sorcerer, Forus managed to brew low-quality potions for the sorcerer apprentices and some ordinary medicines for the mortals. After all, in this city, Flamedouse City, most mortals did not know about the existence of supernatural beings. In their ordinary eyes, two influential families, Coruscare Family and Ninguis Family, ruled Flamedouse City. They clashed against each other all the time to hopefully reign supreme as the sole ruler of the city. However, on the side of the supernatural, the two were sorcerer families, led by their respective second-ranked Family Head. Although there were various sorcerer organisations within Flamedouse City, most of them were either small branches or not interested in the power struggle. Unfortunately, Forus found out that the maiden who spotted him was the Eldest Young Mistress of Coruscare Family, Ocelia Coruscare. Born with a great mind and a talent for sorcery, she was the sole successor of Coruscare Family. Despite the looming threat, Forus did not cower under the pressure and remained active with his potion-making job. Through it, he received various rewards and connections with vagabond sorcerer apprentices. Before long, Forus managed to open his potion shop, selling various low-quality potions for Mystical Orbs. Although he could not absorb the impure sorcery energy within them, he could use them to exchange for knowledge and potion recipes. By using the same tactic with his previous life, Forus organized a lottery shop, making the grand prize be a huge amount of Mystical Orbs. Not only that, but he also added various smaller prizes in exchange for a little bit more expensive tickets. "Next time, I'm going to get the first prize." The lottery was gambling in disguise, sucking the money out of the addicts while promising a small chance of instant wealth. Those without self-control would easily succumb to their greed and endlessly gambled. However, taking too much without giving was impossible, and would anger the authority, namely the two sorcerer families. So, Forus made use of his potion shop as the front cover and organized the gamble underground. By creating a bar beneath his shop, he provided entertainment for his customers while keeping the addicts satisfied. He also maintained a certain understanding with the authority, gifting them various wealth and potions to keep their gaze away from him. Nevertheless, Forus did not think that Coruscare Family would be so persistent regarding the search of his whereabouts. Even though he decided to live quietly at the edge of the city, trouble still tracked him. "Mister Forus, you have a visitor." As Forus was detailing his plan, the landlord knocked on his door and announced his message. Along with it, footsteps echoed outside his house. They all ended their track in front of his doorstep, evidently waiting for his presence. "... Coming..." Forus gently placed down his paper before walking towards the door. Along the way, he took a dagger and concealed it on his back and picked up a potion with him. Opening the door, Forus revealed a faint smile as he greeted the visitors. Before him, a young man stood arrogantly as a few more people stationed behind him, obviously his servants and accompanying guards. "So, are you the rumoured alchemist, Forus?" The young man questioned without any sort of kindness in his face. His tone, putting himself on a superior stance, echoed his high status. Judging from his outfits and appearance, he was one of the Young Masters of Coruscare Family. "Greeting Young Master. What could have bought your presence to this one's house?" Listening to Forus, the Young Master was very pleased by how he conducted himself. A commoner should be respectful to him. "The Eldest Young Mistress has requested your presence. To meet her is your honour, Forus; not everyone could see the future Family Head of Coruscare Family." The Young Master delivered her order. Despite how irrefutable it sounded, his tone remained somewhat warm towards Forus. After all, if he could establish a connection with Forus, the Young Master could benefit from it when Forus went under the Eldest Young Mistress' wings. "Guards, prepare a carriage for this man. Remember, he is going to be the sole property of the Eldest Young Mistress; treat him well." Once the Young Master issued his command, the guards were quick to move away to arrange it. "Young Master, it is my honour to see the esteemed Mistress, but please, allow me to prepare myself for a little bit. If I go to meet her with this appearance, she would not be pleased." Forus carefully delayed the invitation of Coruscare Family. Although he could not out-right deny it, he could still make up excuses to delay it. "The Mistress demands your presence immediately." The Young Master hardened his voice. Although Forus would become a close-aid of the Eldest Young Mistress, in the end, he was only an outsider and not of Coruscare Bloodline. Right after the Young Master insisted, Forus immediately flung the prepared liquid at him. The bottle flew and cracked mid-air, spewing up its content. The water quickly evaporated and diffused into a swarm of faint mist. "Don't touch the mist; retreat at once!" The tallest guard shouted frantically before jumping backwards without any care. He knew better than to stand there and let the vapour touch him. Unfortunately, one unlucky guard contracted the mist. His face turned pale, and he screamed miserably— but strangely, nothing happened. Nevertheless, his legs gave in, and he collapsed onto the ground, tearing up in confusion and dizzy. The other guards, upon realising that Forus had tricked them, quickly rushed through the door into the house. However, upon entering, they found that the young man had already escaped. Forus had chosen this remote place as his residence because of its close distance to the edge of the forest. It was easy for him to escape from any potential pursue. "You, report to the Eldest Young Mistress; the rest will organise a search team to locate him. Remember, if the Mistress could not see him before the sun sets, your head will roll." The Young Master trembled in anger, but his words remained stiff and indifferent. However, the naked threat of his speech chilled the guards to their very bones. If they said so, it would happen. The reputation of the strongest sorcerer families within Flamedouse City was not without any evidence. Nonetheless, being influential did not come without any cost. For this search, Coruscare Family could not mobilize any of their main force, and could only do so in secret, to not tarnish their reputation. After all, it was a disgrace for someone— not even a full-fledged sorcerer— to escape from their grasp. "Now, get out of my sight!" The Young Master screamed and chased his guards out. Then, in contrast to his rashness and irrational behaviour, he regained his calm after he was alone, looking around the house with a satisfied expression. Slowly yet steadily, the Young Master wasted no time to walk around the house, surveying the treasure trove he found while picking only the highest quality potions he could find. Although all of them were good for him, he could not hoard everything to himself. Nevertheless, the Young Master planned to take only the best of the best before sending the rest in to exchange them for contribution merits. If he was lucky, he could gain some recognition from the Family Head. Once the Young Master reached the final destination of the house, the master bedroom, a beautiful and priceless sight greeted him. Beside the bed, two medium-quality potions laid waiting quietly. Their colourful liquid could stir even the stopped heart of a dead man. Low-quality potions were for sorcerer apprentices. Although they were precious, their worth paled in comparison to medium-quality potions, which were used by a full-fledged sorcerer. Even without using it, selling it would be akin to selling a sorcery treasure. The Young Master could gain enormous wealth from one bottle alone. "Maybe the World Will had finally acknowledged my effort and grant me a fortune!" Without any hesitation, the Young Master walked in and seized the potions into his grip. However, once he pulled them towards himself, the strings attached to them were ripped apart. Suddenly, the floor beneath his feet broke, revealing a pit of death. As the Young Master fell, countless wooden spikes greeted his body by penetrating through them, letting him dangle in the air. His body, punctured like a balloon, deflated and gushed out various organs and blood. They gave a crimson shade to the surrounding and blood fragrance to the air. Twisting, his body struggled against the cruel reality. With the strengthened vitality of a sorcerer apprentice, the Young Master remained alive even after getting pierced through by wooden spikes. Shortly after, a thunderous noise rang, and darkness quickly swallowed his blurry vision. The magnifying heat and forceful impact tore through his body, killing him instantly without any chance for him to realise it. Along with his death, the house exploded violently. The blazing flame engulfed every part of the building, destroying both the evidence of the trace as well as the presence of the medium-quality potions. ... "Young Mistress, it is as you predicted." The old butler whispered his message to his mistress while serving her the freshly-made black tea. "Then, take me to Orb of Wanderer." After gently taking a sip of the black tea, Ocelia ordered the butler. Her face did not betray any hint of panic or disappointment in the slightest. "Very well, let us see where will you hide..." Ocelia slowly stood up and let the butler escorted her deeper into the mansion. Her movement was elegant and graceful, with every step echoed in rhythm with each other. As she paced through the mansion, Ocelia could not stop thinking about those pair of azure eyes. They captivated her desire and heart— if she could get them, she was sure to breakthrough and become a full-fledged sorcerer. "Young Mistress, we have arrived." The old butler was quick to open the gate for his Young Mistress. Inside the room, various servants and guards were waiting orderly for the Young Mistress. They were mostly third-layered sorcerer apprentices, designated to serve Ocelia with all their heart and soul. Ocelia did not even need to lift her finger. She merely had to watch everyone working hard and wait for the result to manifest itself. The butler specifically led her to a tea table and poured her the black tea. As if the world aligned for it, just as Ocelia finished her black tea, the scene finally manifested itself before her. A middle-aged man was traversing along the wilderness, seemingly escaping from some kinds of pursuit. Watching that pair of black ordinary eyes, Ocelia was able to discern their original looks. She, entranced by their beauty, reached out and touched scene, trying to physically caress them. However, as soon as Ocelia touched the scene with her delicate hand, Forus abruptly stopped in his track and gradually looked up, staring deep into her eyes with that pair of azure sky-like pupils. The moment they made eye contact, both of them slightly jolted as a certain feeling arose within their heart. As if entangled through fate, an invisible and untraceable connection seemingly established itself between them. It took merely an instant before Forus to snap out of his trance and channelled his power. Using the ring on his finger, he overloaded his sorcery and sent out a wave of disruptive energy towards Orb of Wanderer. Clashing against the power of Ring of Recollection, Orb of Wanderer could not withstand it and crack, causing a backflow of sorcery energy. Without any moment to prepare, it exploded into a spectacular sight, causing various sorcerer apprentices to suffer severe backlashes. Although Ocelia was far away from the impact zone and did not suffer any backlash, her moment of entrancement did not end as fast as Forus. She got hit by the impact of the explosion. Her body got flung into the wall, but she did not suffer any internal injuries— only her mind was muddled by the strange turn of event. "Call the doctor and report this to the Family Head!" The butler's speech echoed inside Ocelia's mind, but she paid no heed to anything happening outside of her. She did not even feel any pain from the impact. At that moment, Ocelia— ever so strangely enchanted by Forus— felt a certain profound emotion. Her heart and her soul could not get rid of this strangely-wonderful euphoria of that stare— the stare she seemingly waited for since the first day she was born.

"Face your doubt from behind, and begin the process of understanding. By searching forwards, where to reach will manifest." Placing her hand and raced it across the surface of the Door of Hope, Ocelia spoke the new sentence for Forus. He stood behind Ocelia as his face frowned, sinking into his thoughts. In the moment of silence, Ocelia also had her assumption and did not want to disturb her husband, thus keeping her mouth closed and enjoying the soft music in the atmosphere. Before entering the Door of Hope, Ocelia would read the clue out loud for Forus to hear every time, and she would also wait for him to think about it until he either gave up or placed together all the pieces and formed speculation. Only after that would they process to push open the door and stepped towards the unknown. "Let's go. We need to get out of this place as soon as possible. If any powerhouses arrived and found our secrets, things would only get worse from there." Forus spoke softly as his hand touched the door, exerting his strength to force it open. After the last clue, Forus and Ocelia could deduce that they were the ultimate victors of the competition. The sight that greeted Ocelia and Forus was not the same as before. In the previous tests, behind the Door of Hope would be the same set of the chamber, having identical structure as well as design and decoration. Even the numbers of the torches and candles on the lanterns would number the same, not more or less. However, after entering the last Door of Hope, the hallway seemed to stretch itself towards infinity, showing no sight of the end. Although the other side of the chamber at the edge of the horizon had covered itself with a silver mist, both Ocelia and Forus could faintly feel the imposing presence emitting out from the fog, beckoning the arrival of the successors. Instead of the usual lanterns and torches as the source of light within the tight-shut chamber, this hallway had many transparent orbs of glasses that each held a glowing ball of brightness, having the appearance of a mini star. They hang themselves from the ceiling, sending forth yellowish rays in all direction. With the little stars, they dimly illuminated the dark hall to reveal the majestic lustre of the ancient time. In contrast to the empty hallways that Forus and Ocelia had encountered since the first test within the Tower of Succession, this hallway had filled itself with various statues of warriors, showing different postures and auras, wielding countless treasures and weapons. They positioned themselves along with the chamber as if they were the guards of this place. Each of them emitted their unique aura that represented their glory, overflowing with might and wisdom, overshadowing both Ocelia and Forus, dwarfing them into insignificant in comparison. Fortunately, with the careful design of the owner of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, the Tower of Succession had already restricted their auras from carelessly flowing towards Ocelia and Forus and unintentionally annihilating them. The weakest of the statues reminded them of the Dark Hand that appeared during the nightmarish nighttime that almost killed the two of them. If not for its sadistic tendencies of torturing its victims, Ocelia and Forus might not be able to last until the day time came. However, the couple could not feel the strongest of the statues, as at some point, their aura became so powerful that it was impossible for them to judge. They had surpassed the second-ranked sorcerers and went towards the legendary realm of the third-ranked, becoming the stuff of the legend. Only the grandness and majestic atmosphere remained within the hallway, encompassing all space within the chamber, overshadowing the faint music in the background. The tiny stars that hang onto the dark ceiling enhanced the aura, turning them more life-like and exalt. In the eyes of Ocelia, the ceiling extended towards infinity, turning from the tiny and narrow hallway into the dark sky of the night, illuminating the land with its stars. The statues became the imposing landscape. With their appearance as grand as mountains, aura as vast as oceans, they dominated heaven and earth, looking down from above at the insignificant mortals. Just as Ocelia was admiring the scenery, her gaze ventured far into the distance, landing onto a figure that appeared to block the path towards the end. The person was kneeling onto the ground, coughing and panting as she struggled to stand up. Although her clothing had gotten torn apart, her fierce and determination aura could not hide from Ocelia, showcasing her ruthless disposition and attitude. The gentle wind of the night sky blew as her long, crimson hair flared a little, swaying with the breezes as they slowly rested onto her shoulders. Her sharp blood-red pupils contracted as she held herself from screaming in pain, gripping her hand until blood seeped out as she did so. As Ocelia continued to observe the figure, she unexpectedly gasped a mouthful of air as she laid her eyes beneath the chest of the maiden. A fist-sized hole appeared in her vision, exposing the scenery behind the person as blood continued to drip out from it. However, as Ocelia inspected carefully, she saw that the blood did not drop downward, but slowly moved upwards instead, and the fist-sized hole did not expand but contracting. Not only did the injury not worsening, but the lady in front of her could even reverse its damage. "You all can kill me, Witch of the Scarlet Snow, but you can never extinguish the legacy of us, the Icy Scorpion Sect!" Under her hazy mind and heavy breath, the Witch muttered before she suddenly came into a halt. After she recovered her sense, the Witch started surveying her surrounding before putting her attention towards Ocelia and Forus. As soon as the attention of the Witch descended onto Ocelia and Forus, they felt a cold shill as their breathing quickened and turned difficult, threatening to stop their heartbeats. As if the world was about to crumble onto them, Ocelia gripped her chest as she circulated her sorcery energy to counter the pressure of the Witch's gaze. With one flicker of light from the Mask of Sun and Moon, the pressure lessened in an instant, helping Ocelia regained her breathing tempo. Unfortunately, Forus did not have any mystical treasure like the Mask, so he had to rely on himself to endure the pain. However, for Ocelia to not worry about him, Forus acted as if he had some extraordinary treasure and had already diluted the stress on himself. A strand of information traversed through the void and entered the mind of everyone who presented themselves within the last hallway, conforming into the soul directly without any warning. As soon as everyone learnt the detail within the ray of light, the music faded to silence as the atmosphere became tenser and tenser. "If I can kill those two kids, I will be able to return alive...?" The Witch mumbled to herself in a soft voice, revealing profound emotions as the memory of her past flooded onto her. If she could return, she could catch her enemies off-guard and finished them off, restoring the supremacy of her Icy Scorpion Sect! If she could reestablish the glory of her sect, then she would do everything for it, even if it meant killing two innocent sorcerers. As her killing intent manifested, the pressure on Forus and Ocelia also intensified, signalling them that things were about to go south. Without using anything, the Witch could effortlessly suppress both Ocelia and Forus, showing their vast differences in sorcery mastery. However, even if she could flick her finger and kill both of them at her peak, she could not do it now. After getting injured by her nemesis, whose power was equal to her, she could not use all of her power as she got severely injured and needed to maintain at least half of her capability to stop the invading Elements in her body as well as healing the internal and external wounds. "You two, please state your name. I am the Witch of the Scarlet Snow." Before killing those innocent sorcerers, she had already decided to engrave their names into her memory, and later, when she had already solved her problems, she would create two tombs for them. "My name is Forus, and she is my companion, Ocelia." Before Ocelia could speak, Forus moved past her and stood in front of her. Although his physique was not abnormally large enough to cover the view of Ocelia, she still felt overwhelmed by his back that her mouth kept shut and her hands extended forwards to touch the unsurpassable wall that protected her from all danger. "I'm sorry, you two. If we meet in another circumstance, I would have congratulated you. However, for the sake of my sect, please forgive me." With a hint of bitterness in her voice, the Witch slowly forced herself to stand up and prepare to attack, channelling her sorcery energy while observing the actions of the couple. The Witch of the Scarlet Snow did not doubt the liability of the rewards. As someone who had stepped onto the realm of second-ranked sorcerers for hundreds of years, she had the right to know many secrets and background history of the Sorcery World, including the existence of the Thought Domain. She knew about the might and influence of the Thought Domain, whose authority echoed throughout the Sorcerer World and was the top force that spanned the development of the ancient past. Although she knew that its grand period had long since passed, its everlasting impact still remained. For it to drag her, one of the best second-ranked sorcerers within her region, without leaving any chance for her to resist, the Witch had already aware of its enigmatic ability. A hand extended towards Forus' and grabbed tightly at it, causing him to look back, facing Ocelia with his eyeless face. Although they said no words and showed no feeling, Forus could still resonate his heart with Ocelia's, feeling her worry and anxiety. Even without anyone saying anything, the two were smart, knowing that the next struggle would be tedious and deadly. They understood that they would have to confront the formidable force that was at the realm of the second-ranked sorcerer. "Don't worry, no one would die in here, remember? At the very least, I would not die before I see Matia's face." Blowing a soft wind at Ocelia's forehead, Forus used its hand to pat onto her thin layers of hair, feeling its sea-like movement. "I understand, miss Scarlet Witch. However, we also need to pass the test." After teasing Ocelia, Forus turned his head towards the Witch nodded, expressing his intention of fighting. Without any hesitation, Forus dashed Forus as Ocelia retreated to support from behind. "They are just like us, don't you think so too, Victris?" Her crimson eyes turned watery, as she suppressed her emotions and sighed, mixing the profound truth and memory within her breath. The Scarlet Witch moved her hand lightly, waving it towards the approaching Forus and channelled her sorcery energy. Without any warning, the air around her dropped and manifested into rains of icy spikes, darting towards Forus in all directions. A group of potions swang outwards as Forus willed for them to break, gushing out various liquids that turned into many sorcery spells to counter the spikes. Although some of the pins managed to slip through and stab onto Forus, his unusually sturdy skin did not get too much damage, at most a few scratches. "As expected, not only did my power regressed, but it also faced the suppression of the different region too." Seeing the exceptional art of alchemy, the Scarlet Witch got surprised for a second before deducing the possible reasons. As she had already tested her remaining power, the Witch did not try to hold back this time and process to raise her capability to its limit, aiming to finish the battle in one clean strike, saving both time and energy.

In front of the Mountain Envoy and Levota's speech, Corulem did not flint and remained silent, allowing time to crawl by as everyone waited for his response. With the excuse of power-abusing, Levota managed to sway some of the weaker members of the meeting to his side. For them, if they acted with him, they would be setting an example to discourage status-abusing of the strong sorcerers. "Even if you dismissed my successor's death, what about how Falsus murdered my fifth son?" As he spoke, he exerted himself to produce more pressuring aura, pushing Forus to make him confessed faster. If he admitted his wrongdoing himself, things would become easy for him. "How would we truly know that you didn't fabricate the evidence in an attempt to tarnish Coruscare Family?" The Mountain Envoy frowned as he spoke, causing noises to emerge from the crowd. To everyone, he was openly declaring his siding with Coruscare Family. "Lord Envoy, are you saying that Ninguis Family isn't trustworthy?" Although he was alone on his side, Corulem did not panic and hardened his voice, exercising his sorcery to show his willingness to protect the dignity of his family. "Pardon my interruption, Lord Envoy, but there's no need to doubt Master Corulem. We, the Steel Cauldron, placed our trust in the members of the Mountain Union." As the situation was getting serious, a figure spoke his speech as he held an emblem with the symbol of the Steel Cauldron on it. With his words, he gave way out for the Mountain Envoy while easing the atmosphere, letting Corulem preserved the honour of Ninguis Family while not tarnishing the reputation of the Mountain Emperor. "My apology, Corulem. It was I who overreacted and overstepped my boundary." Knowing that he let his mouth slip, the Mountain Envoy saved himself by retracting his words. Although his status was higher than Corulem, it was unwise to openly declare his bias and target another member of the Mountain Union. "Regarding Falsus' misgiving, we're willing to compensate for your loss with our material. Please show us some mercy." As the representative of Steel Cauldron said his statement, Corulem frowned as he failed to account the second identity of Forus. The timeframe between Glacies' demise and the meeting was too short, urging Corulem to make a rush for his plan. Although he tried his best to consider everything, he was not a perfect being, and let one minor detail slipped by. As his attention was on the relationship between Coruscare Family and the Mountain Envoy, he neglected the connection that Forus had with Steel Cauldron. As one of their talented seeds got threatened with the death penalty, they would never let go of such a rare genius, even more so when they considered his strange relationship with the successor of Coruscare Family. "As a sorcerer, you should know that life is priceless. No matter how much good you give me, they can never bring my son back." Using the foundation as a father who had lost his son, Corulem began to lead the witnesses to his side. Many of the sorcerers presented were old, and most of them had become the backbone of their family. Along with Corulem, they began to visualize the pain and grief they had to go through if something similar happened to their descendants. "We know, Master Corulem, that we cannot exchange the death and the living. However, there's no need to snip another life due to your anger.meaninglessly. Instead, we're willing to compromise and give out a treasure that would benefit your sorcery. Please do consider our suggestion." Placing the emblem of Steel Cauldron on his clothing, the representative made it clear that he was following the intention of the upper-echelons of Steel Cauldron. As he knew that he could not put the issue anymore, Corulem turned silent as he let his thoughts ran. Although he had gotten an excellent gain from a puny dead of his unknown untalented fifth son, he had not completed his original objective yet. At this moment, Corulem did not pressure Forus anymore. After the speech about abusing power, if he continued to threaten Forus, then the mass would turn against him without any doubt. "In courtesy of Steel Cauldron, I won't be insisting on taking Falsus' life anymore. However, I wish for him to be staying with me for one day. Please rest assured that he would be completely safe." Knowing that he would not be able to kill Forus, Corulem finally compromised and asked to keep Forus for a day. Although his promise seemed genuine, no one would be able to know how many techniques and treasures Ninguis Family had in their disposal. It would not be surprising if they had something in store for Forus. "As long as Master Corulem kept his words." The representative of Steel Cauldron smiled as he sat down, showing satisfaction that Ninguis Family held him in high regard. Although Forus was a promising seed, he was not enough for them to fall out with Ninguis Family. Even if he had a connection with Coruscare Family, they were the same in their ranking and could not suppress the other. No matter how much Corulem tortured Forus, he would never break his promise to keep him safe and sound. With the Mountain Envoy and members of the meeting as the witnesses, the reputation of Ninguis Family would fall from their grace the moment he could not keep his words. "Corulem, what gives you the authority to demand the presence of Falsus?" Although Steel Cauldron did not wish to clash with Ninguis Family any further, Levota did not care and interrupted Corulem's faint smile. As she wiped the blood from her mouth, Ocelia thanked Abicel before gazing towards her father, feeling grateful yet conflicted at the same time. Although she wished to believe that her father had chosen to clash with Corulem because he had accepted Forus, her other half assumed that he desired the secret he held from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. Although saving face of his successor was one of the reason, it was not enough for him to act. "Since when did you start to care about such a measly character?" As if mocking him, Corulem asked without any restraint. Although their power was comparable, he would not sit still and swallow everything Levota spewed out. The chatter from the crowds began to surface once again, overflowing with speculation and discussion. In their eyes, there was not much worth to keep arguing with Corulem. Instead of flaming the fire even more, why not let one insignificant servant go? Light flashed across Ocelia's eyes as she stared deeply into her father's pupils before turning her attention at the ever so charming man in the centre of the meeting chamber. If not for her binding status and the restraining hands of Abicel, she would have already rushed to be with Forus. "Everyone, although I wish to announce this news when we are ready, the circumstance had forced us." Levota smiled as he took a step forward. His silhouette flickered as it melted into a flash of light, disappearing from his original location. In front of Corulem, a spark gleamed and expanded, enlarging and forming a humanoid outline. As the light faded, Levota had already reappeared before Corulem, standing face to face with Forus in the middle of their confrontation. "The man before me, Forus Ander, was the rumoured beloved of my eldest daughter." With a flick of his hand, he gently grabbed Ocelia and pulled her towards him, letting she come to her lover's side and held him in her arm. As she noticed the subtle change, Abicel let go of Ocelia and smiled for her, feeling joyous and playful as she enjoyed the public proposal. Ocelia, knowing her father's intention, did not resist and quickly rushed to Forus. After hearing the unexpected announcement, only the Mountain Envoy remained calm and collected, as he had already figured it out when he met with the trio. However, despite his towering presence, the meeting chamber exploded with uproar and chaos. Although there was a change to his name, nobody placed any attention to it. Everyone knew that, for a vagabond, using fake identity was a very common practice. After all, they had no way of knowing when would they get in trouble. Using a modified appearance and generic name was a very sensible choice. However, the fact that he became entangled with the successor of Coruscare Family had sent a huge wave forth. With the public display of affection, Ocelia had indirectly confirmed the matter, as Coruscare Family had no reason to lie to save one insignificant servant. The old monsters of the meeting looked at Corulem, waiting for his response. After declaring the hidden status of Forus, Coruscare Family made it very clear about their bottom line. If Corulem did not wish to compromise, the two forces would undoubtedly clash. "Levota, don't you think it's inappropriate to decide on your daughter's affair so suddenly?" As his smile quickly disappeared, Corulem frowned before looking at Ocelia, trying to figure out some emotions from her face. Seeing that unwavering pair of eyes, Corulem knew that he could not change the mind of Ocelia. The burning desire he sensed inside the young maiden was familiar to him, reminding him of his ambition in his youth. "Congratulations to your daughter, Levota. With him by her side, I can already foresee the rise of Coruscare Family." The Mountain Envoy interjected with his praise, forcefully curbing the chattering noise of the others. "Very well, Levota." Knowing that he could not get Forus to come with him, Corulem chuckled as he exclaimed, ridding himself of all pretence he had shown earlier. As Forus noticed the abnormal behaviour of the Family Head of Ninguis Family, he stood up and led Ocelia to Levota, moving towards where they once seated. As he passed by Levota, he felt an overwhelming pressure descended onto him, threatening to crush his body into piles of fleshes. In that instant, Forus' mind jumped. As everything seemed to slow down for him, a familiar sensation triggered a part of his memory, reminding him of the vivid yet clouded scenery of a collapsed building and a collapsed figure far away from him. Immediately after that, Forus snapped back and calmly withstood the pressure, showing no reaction whatsoever. His mind hardened as he felt a creeping feeling of humiliation crawling under his skin, reminding him of how useless he was. With his arm wrapped around Ocelia's waist, he steadied himself and held her close to his chest, letting their body touch and stay connected. Forus made sure that, this time, he would not let go of her. Listening to the fading footsteps of the couple, Levota slightly smiled. By not flinching in his presence, Forus had demonstrated his monstrous endurance and earned his approval. "Lord Envoy, please issue the final verdict." After a long period of silence, Levota was getting tired of the waiting game and spoke up, reminding everyone that the drama was coming to an end. Although they enjoyed the clash between two big shots, the upcoming discussion about the Fleeting Emotions Ruin was still more significant. As it affected everyone within the meeting chamber, no one would be willing to delay it any further. "Corulem Ninguis, we, the Mountain Union, we're sorry for your loss. However, you have to know that risks come with rewards. As for your compensation, we trust that Steel Cauldron won't disappoint you." The Mountain Envoy issued his statement, indicating the end of the judgement. Just as Corulem was about to bring something out and say something, a faint crackling noise echoed the meeting chamber. Followed after the noise, the ground shook as a piercing sound resonated throughout the outpost. The restrictive barrier around the Fleeting Emotions Ruin broke into countless fragments and fell from the sky, dissipating into dust and fog of Elements. As the alarming noise spread panic and generated chaos onto the surrounding sorcerers and mortals, the sky slowly darkened, turning from the midday into the gloomy dark dusk. On the sky, a large, floating landscape suspended mid-air, hovering above the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. The dark shadow it cast fell onto the world, covering the surrounding with a foreboding sense of calamity.

Ocelia used her icy sword to cut a shallow wound on her hand, causing drops of blood to leak onto the floor. The blood moved according to her chant and attached to others to form a circular shape pentagram, absorbing the Elements within the air, building the colossal silhouette of the Leaning Tower of Frost. Although Ocelia did not move in to fight in the close range like before, she had used the process of creating the Leaning Tower of Frost to restain the Witch of the Scarlet Snow indirectly. Not only did she changed her fighting style, but Forus also did the same, swapping their positions as well as roles. In the past, Ocelia would take the role of close confrontation because her explosive ability was higher than Forus', allowing the couple to finish the battle faster while not giving times for the enemies to prepare and use their hidden life-saving secrets. With Forus' unique art of alchemy inherited from the blue-robed sorcerer, he could use his unpredictable tactic to generate chaos and subverted the tempo of the battlefield. However, in this fight, both the couple and the Witch of the Scarlet Snow knew their respective strength after probing, and it turned out that their power was not equal. In the peak condition, Forus would die after taking one hit from the icy spike, and Ocelia would soon follow, having no chance of fighting back against the power of the peak-stage second-ranked sorcerer. However, after getting injured by her enemies, the Witch had experienced a drop in sorcery mastery caused by her extensive and severe injuries. With the nasty will-infused Elements invading her body, she would have a hard time channelling her power and making excessive movements to avoid the strikes. From every factor combined, her strength had dropped from the peak-stage second-ranked to the pseudo-second-ranked. Although a pseudo-second-ranked sorcerer could suppress the peak-stage first-ranked, they were still far from the genuine second-ranked sorcerers. Even though Forus and Ocelia could not contest with the Witch, they could indefinitely delay and drag out the battle, which would be extremely favourable to them. As time passed, the accumulated injuries within the Witch's body would begin to display its terrifying qualitative changes, erupting into a powerful wave of destruction that damaged both her body and soul if she did not manage to treat it in time, causing her to experience another drop in sorcery mastery. So, if Forus and Ocelia could keep the Witch busy with them for some times, she might fall out of her grace and became a lowly first-ranked sorcerer or even a sorcerer apprentice. To slow down the invasion of the will-infused Elements within her body, the Witch needed to release and use the surrounding Ice Element to melt into her wounds, sealing the movement of her blood as well as the movement of the invading Elements. However, with Ocelia condensing her Leaning Tower of Frost, she would have to absorb a large amount of Ice Element to create more floors, contrasting against the Witch and indirectly slowing the enemy down while improving herself. Using her hand, the Witch of the Scarlet Snow swiped her sharp fingers up, grazing the figure of Forus as he attempted to jump back to evade the blow. Although she could not make any excessive move, the Witch was very ruthless. She disregarded her pain to make an unexpected blow to injure Forus. For the strike, she intentionally took Forus' flaming fist onto her chest, coughing out blood as she deflected his black blade on his other hand and injured him. Landing nearby, Forus immediately threw out more potions to create some distraction while he was setting his sorcery array as well as mending his wounds and getting rid of the Ice Element on his injuries. Although he only got scraped by the icy nails, the scars became frozen upon contact and spreading the invading Ice Element into his body, stagnating his blood flow as well as the circulation of sorcery energy. If he did not treat the wounds and stopped the Ice Element quickly, it could cause a severe chain reaction that might kill him or cripple his sorcery mastery. This strike perfectly captured the true essence of the second-ranked sorcerers. Although the power of the Witch was only pseudo-second-ranked and was still decreasing, it was the truth that she was once a peak-staged second-ranked sorcerer as well as the protector of her Icy Scorpion Sect, whose history ran deep and vast, having many secrets techniques and sorcery cultivation methods. If she and any ordinary peak-stage sorcerers fought, she would no doubt defeat her opponents almost every time. Although facing and defeating second-ranked sorcerers were easy for her, capturing or killing was another matter in itself. Anyone who could reach the realm of second-ranked sorcerers by themselves was no fools, and they would always pack themselves full of cards and life-saving secrets. Because of this reasons, although the Witch got set up in an elaborate trap of her enemies whose power rivalled her, she still managed to survive the encounter and got transported into the last floor of the Tower of Succession. Not letting Forus had any time to complete his offensive array, the Witch waved her hand again and summoned even more icy spikes. However, this time, she also split them apart into two groups and sent them to both Ocelia and Forus. Although the spikes could not severely harm Forus, they could restain Forus from helping Ocelia as the Witch only wanted the formation to collapse. Seeing the incoming icy spikes, Ocelia commanded in her mind and let out a few Ice Spirits to tank them for her as she divided her attention from solely condensing the floors of the Leaning Tower of Frost into replenishing the Ice Spirits in the Tower. Before a smile crept onto her face, the Witch suddenly gripped her chest as she coughed out more blood. This time, the blood had changed its colour from fresh-red into dark-crimson, showing signs of internal damages caused by invading Elements. Immediately after her rounds of coughing, her sorcery mastery dropped once again into the realm of peak-staged first-ranked sorcerers. However, taking advantage of the precious time her spell gained her, the Witch stopped everything else to focus her sorcery energy into the giant gripping hole on her stomach. With Ocelia dividing her attention as well as Forus defending against the rains of spikes, the Witch of the Scarlet Snow used this chance to drive away some of the invading Elements. After a while, her expression turned a little brighter as her sorcery mastery increased a little, alarming Forus as well as Ocelia. Both of them knew that when they fought against a pseudo-second-ranked sorcerer, it was very challenging for them to gain the upper hand. However, against a peak-stage first-ranked sorcerer, they would have an easier time fighting her. With that goal in their mind, how could the couple watch silently as the Witch slowly regained her sorcery mastery? Forus gritted his teeth as he let go of defending the formation, allowing the icy spikes to destroy it as he rushed forwards to the stationary Witch of the Scarlet Snow, igniting his fists as well as summoning his black blade. With his excellent defensive ability, he could ignore most of the icy spikes as long as they did not hit his vital spots. However, with his hands covered them, he would only need to endure some superficial wounds to appear in front of the Witch. Stabbing his blade onto the ground, Forus used the momentum to leap forwards, avoid landing in front of the Witch to bypass her prepared traps as he punched towards her head, aiming at her forehead with his blazing rotten fist. As Forus expected, the ground beneath him turned into freezing ice coated in countless tiny spikes as soon as the blade stabbed into the ground. However, although Forus manage to predict the trap, the Witch had already considered this scenario and smiled as she saw his action. As soon as Forus closed in, four giant spikes curved out of the ground from four directions surrounding the Witch, aiming towards Forus who was above her. If Forus did not do anything, they would firmly stab into his abdomen and stopped his momentum, causing him to remain motionless above the Witch for her to slowly kill him. Realising his predicament, Forus changed the trajectory of his fist into gripping onto one of the spikes, letting it pierced through his hand as he grasped tightly before exerting force to break the tip of the sharp ice. By using the remaining momentum, Forus managed to narrowly avoid the three death traps with the cost of having one of his hand drilled. While in the air, Forus channelled his Death Aura and created many of the black weapons, floating beside him as he pointed towards the weakened figure of the Witch. Responding to his command, they all vibrated as the rotten scent emitted out from them before firing themselves at the Witch. The power of Death Aura was overwhelming, puncturing through the magical walls of ice without any problem. However, although the Death Aura was powerful, Forus was not. The black weapons whose power scaled with their owner could not instantly kill the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, and they could only injure her more. Although the Witch was powerful and wise, she could not predict that the legendary Death Aura would appear in front of her, or that the user of said Death Aura would be a lowly first-ranked sorcerer. Seeing the black weapons, she thought that they were some kinds of mystical spells that fused Fire Element with Dark Element. As a result, her defence got easily trampled, and she could not react in time to dodge, causing some of the weapons to stab onto her vital spots. With one of her shoulder broken, the Witch could not use it before she could heal it. However, before she could get rid of the invading Elements, she would not waste any time to do anything else. After a moment, the Witch of the Scarlet Snow recovered her calm and decided to silently endure the assault while continuing to force the invading Elements out. However, after suffering the second round of the onslaughter, the Witch realised something horrible, and her face turned pale in an instant. She smelled a disgusting smell on her wounds, causing her to shift her attention towards her shoulder. The pale and smooth skin that she once possessed had already turned into a dark, greyish and rough surface that slowly expanded, devouring the lifeforce in the surrounding. Seeing the hidden threat of the black weapons, the Witch began searching her memory and quickly found the mysterious force that had this same property. Although the Death Aura was the stuff of the legend, it perfect;y fitted the condition, causing her to frown. "Never in my life would I expect to encounter one of the Taboo Existences." The Witch of the Scarlet Snow muttered as she sighed softly. The revelation that she had caused her previous plan to crumble, leaving her with no choice but to forsake it and build a new one. The property of Death Aura was terrifying, invading the Witch's body and directly devouring her lifeforce. Its destructive capability was even more potent than the invading Elements that could only wreak havoc and not anything else. With the faster speed of decay and the harder way to eliminate, Forus had given the Witch much more pressure than her nemesis. After all, the stuff of the legend was mighty and mysterious, having unlimited power and all-encompassing ability, and with such a formidable history behind it, everyone below the realm of the myth would feel an invisible pressure weighted onto them when they accidentally encountered such a thing. Even if her enemies only had one spell that could manipulate Death Aura, she was sure that she would die a terrible death, and there would be nothing that she could do to escape it. The Death Aura was just that powerful.

After a moment of silence, Forus sighed as he kept caressing Ocelia's face as she leaned onto him. Although the Witch was dead, he and Ocelia had no time to sit and mourn for her dead. If they did not receive the ultimate rewards and get out from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, they would be risking with their life as the outside forces came rushing in to take a look at the supposed emergence of the treasure. Like light after darkness, the chamber lit up as the misty wall in the distance began clearing up, showing the way towards the end of the tunnel. The glowing orbs of light on the ceiling continued to release the mild light to illuminate the corridor. Although the final destination nevertheless remained obscure within the darkness, Forus and Ocelia could feel the intense beckoning inviting them to move closer and closer. After facing the mystical battle against the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, a strange string of events unfolded before the couple as they experienced ups and downs. In the end, through a series of struggles, they ended up accepting an inheritance from the Witch, helping Ocelia advanced towards the middle-stage as well as gaining the Icy Scorpion Bloodline. The intense life-and-death moments, as well as the bizarre incident, had tempered with Forus and Ocelia's mind and soul, compressing their quantity and improving their quality, indirectly helping with their sorcery mastery. Without their awareness, they had gained a particular understanding of the second-ranked sorcery mastery, feeling its boundary and presence more clearly. By learning from a valuable experience, Forus and Ocelia gradually became more accumulated to the suppression of their aura. Now, Forus and Ocelia had a comfortable time thinking and breathing despite moving across the chamber full of the statues of the legendary figures. Time passed slowly as the couple moved across the chamber, experiencing all of the statues' imposing aura, gaining a little bit of enlightenment every time they passed through the thin layer that dictated the area of the suppression. Although they did not undergo a rise in sorcery mastery, their power became more profound and condensed in every passing second. After walking for some times, Ocelia started to notice that the numbers of the statues became lesser and lesser as they move forward, increasing in scarcity as well as power. If not for the gradual increase in strength that the Tower of Succession had arranged, Forus and Ocelia would never last more than a moment in front of these mythical figures. As she lost in her thoughts, Ocelia accidentally bumped into Forus as he came to a sudden halt, causing her body to bounced onto him. Although they had held their hands for the entire journey, this unexpected accident had caused Ocelia's heart to beat faster for a while. However, before Ocelia could say anything, she frowned as she suddenly detected an enigmatic presence permeating the air in front of her. If not for her standing in a certain radius around the figure, she could never be able to detect their appearance. With just one step forward or backwards, Ocelia would either lose its location or get suppressed by its overwhelming influence. The aura from the mythical statues became like a speck of dust in front of this boundless ocean of power, getting dwelled into insignificant. Although the person did not possess a hill-like body like a titan, its mental pressure was like a vast mountain, threatening to suppress all things. The golden robe fluttered as the figure stood peacefully alone and tranquil. Countless black runes resembling hourglasses, butterflies, and swans shone faintly on it, exuding a spiritual divinity that urged all mortals to worship in awe. Although the robe did not sufficiently conceal its face, due to the distortion in time and space, Ocelia were not able to see past the changing reality and peer upon its facial appearance. All she could see was a vague silhouette that seemed to erase itself every time she took her eyes off of him. The only thing that enacted itself onto her memory was the pair of golden eyes that could gaze deep into her soul and see into her past. As the golden pupils landed onto Forus, he felt an ever-increasing pressure all over his body as he stumbled backwards and crashed onto Ocelia, toppling onto the ground as he fell head-first into her soft body. Ocelia did not expect such a thing and did not prepare herself, letting Forus submerge onto her. However, before Forus could take advantage of this accident, an all-reaching pain assaulted his body as he vomited out blood, feeling his body ripping itself apart as his grey soul struggled to hold them together. The greyish tentacles exploded outwards as they twisted rapidly, moving to every part of his body and held it together. Inside his realm of consciousness, Forus' soul trembled as it pulsated in a fixed rhythm, moving according to some mysterious rules. The unknown yet familiar waves of aura came from the figure, weaving through space and time before bypassing all defence and landed onto his soul. Although the pulsating did no direct harm, the source of the tempo was too powerful for Forus to handle and indirectly exhausted his soul and mind. Ocelia's heart sank as she grabbed onto Forus and tried to drag him away from the figure, getting out of the area where its pressure was assaulting him. However, before she could do anything, she felt a looming threat directing onto her as she suddenly lost her control over her body, falling onto the floor like a stringless puppet. Just like that, Ocelia fell onto the floor once more, lying next to her husband as she watched his struggling body tried to get up. Alas, he could not suppress his internal wounds and would tremble in pain for a fix duration before falling onto the ground, losing his strength once again. In a span of an instant, the couple became heavily injured and weakened, turning from their peak condition to their near-death state, and all it took was a casual gaze from the shadowy figure. In the chamber, everything had gone silent as all were afraid of the figure's might, not wishing to attract its all-encompassing gaze. The faint music had fled the room, leaving absolute silence other than the subtle, tranquil sounds of footsteps. Even the cracking noise from the lanterns that hang above the ceiling quietened themselves down. As the figure stood in front of the collapsed couple, he looked down with its golden eyes, showing a hint of emotion that it had never expressed before. Naturally, Ocelia could capture such fluctuation with her eyes, which caused her to frown. Although she knew her situation, she still felt resentful about the figure's expression. In the golden gaze, it contained only one emotion, an unpretentious, explicit, utter disappointment. It was pure, and stale, not containing any unnecessary disdain or sneer. Such emotion did not come from the figure's arrogance or confidence. Instead, it was personal. As he reached his hand outwards, many sparks emerged from nothing as they formed into a clock-like formation, revealing many dead languages and mystical signs, showing ancient wisdom and knowledge no modern sorcerers could grasp. Although Ocelia had the information from the Mask of Sun and Moon, she could not understand anything. Many revolving sparks of multi-coloured orbs jumped in and out of existence, moving in a pattern that created an afterimage, detailing something from a faraway land deep within the boundary of history. In the vision, Ocelia could see the rise of kingdoms as well as the falls of many organizations. After a moment of manipulating the formation, the figure let out a sigh, filling the surrounding with melancholy and depression. Accompanied by it, the golden pupils dimmed down and faded into the grey void as the lighting of the chamber followed suit. Empty and blank, the atmosphere came to a halt as all things ceased to move. The statues retraced their aura, becoming ordinary stones. The lanterns cooled down and extinguished into ashes, showering the hallway with eternal darkness. In an instant of eternity, the light merged with the darkness, becoming lively yet stagnant. Time halted as space froze, capturing this moment of vague sentimental sensation with its perfect explication. "In the end, fate still had its way." A defeated sigh came out as the figure exuded wariness of the world and a resigned aura. His majestic demeanour degraded into a depressing air of nature, becoming nothing more than a warm breeze that did no harm or good. As he lamented, the figure extended his hand towards Forus, aiming at his chest, directing his force onto the gateway between Forus' heart and soul. The distorting grip closed in as it encompassed Forus' mental vision, enveloping his mind with its deadly pale surface. With every passing moment, the trembling of his grey soul became more violent, causing even more internal damages to his body. However, before the hand could touch Forus, Ocelia exerted herself and weakly raised her hand, forcing her way in front of Forus and using her delicate fingers to block the path of the grip. With her other hand, she held the blood-soaked body of her husband onto her chest, letting rest upon her body as she tried her best to protect him. As the dominant power invaded her body, the Mask of Sun and Moon trembled as it rotated endlessly, sending out rays of blue and red light, altering the temperature of the surrounding between melting-hot and freezing-cold. Not only that but above Ocelia's soul, a looming shadow quietly manifested in the form of a searing chain, binding her soul with something deep within the complex layers of the void. The figure became stunned at the sudden turn of the event before quickly withdrew its hand, sparing the couple from their painless and quick death. Although the all-consuming power only came in contact with Ocelia for a mere instant, she had sustained a severe injury just by being near it. With more than half of her sorcery energy drained, Ocelia heavily panted as dizziness flooded her mind, feeling her eyelids becoming heavier as she drifted into an unexpected sleep. Even for her, a sudden depletion of sorcery energy was still lethal for a sorcerer. Upon withdrawal, Forus' soul also stopped pulsating as the greyish tentacles moved back into his realm of consciousness, leaving his fragmented body in the physical world. Fortunately, as his constitution was extraordinary, he could endure the pain and recover after a long recuperation. By guessing that Ocelia had saved him and fainted afterwards, it became Forus' turn to hold her in his arm as he struggled to stand up. If Forus could see, he would know that the golden eyes that had been fixing themselves onto him started to diverse towards Ocelia. As he stood still, Ocelia's red and blue threads of hair fluttered with the breezes, intertwined with Forus' as well as hers. The soft fragrance from her body spread into the surrounding, immersing Forus in a tranquil-like atmosphere. "What do you want?" The gentle air suddenly broke as Forus asked a question that demanded an answer. Although he knew that if he angered the figure, both Ocelia and Forus would die a terrible death, he believed that the man did not wish to kill them. The situation had reminded him of the previous encounter with the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, facing a matchless sorcerer that had other goals that could benefit both parties. If Forus could achieve the same result as before, they would receive another inheritance that at least would be as good as the Witch. As Forus waited for the answer, the golden eyes flickered again as colour returned into them, dispelling the depressing and wary aura around the figure, regaining the previous noble bearing. "I only want freedom, away from the restain of this world. Alas, fate is cruel and cunning, leaving no chance to obtain true independence as well as punishing ones who tried to reach it." Although Forus could not see, he could easily discern the subtle hint of pity as the figure spoke. However, he could not know that the figure did not direct its pity at himself, but it was aiming at Ocelia, whose soul got bind with the cruellest curse originated from fate itself.

The Mask of Sun and Moon trembled as it opened its mouth, swallowing all of the remaining power from the Witch of the Scarlet Snow. With the supreme quality of the Icy Scorpion Bloodline as well as the mystical essence of the Witch's sorcery mastery, Ocelia had broken through the limit and advanced to the middle-stage of the first-ranked sorcery mastery. However, because her body was too weak, Ocelia could not handle all of the Icy Scorpion Bloodline as well as the true essence of the Witch. Her body had only been at the lower-stage first-ranked sorcery mastery, and it could not support another advancement in sorcery mastery. If the Mask did not do anything, Ocelia would either lose most of her sorcery foundation or sustained permanent damage to her soul, lowering her talent and potential. Although it was dangerous, the Witch could sense the presence of something extraordinary inside the couple, and she decided to let those things handled the pressure for them. If the worst happened, she would also intervene with her body to stabilize the power and help seal the essence for a later date. Although nothing was showing on Forus' side, his body was trembling as he bore the pain of assimilating the heart. As the direct gateway between the heart and Ocelia, Forus experienced even more pressure than Ocelia by tens of fold. If not for his grey soul and the body forged from Death Aura, he would crumble even faster than Ocelia would. Watching as his flesh and bones got ground by the Icy Scorpion Bloodline, Ocelia could not do anything except for trying her best to accelerate the rate of absorption. She knew that her pain was far weaker than his and that he also did not get any benefit for his act. Although she was emotional, she did not waste her time to shed a tear and focused on finishing her advancement as soon as possible. As time passed, the Witch gradually aged from her tender, exalted appearance into an old, withered maiden. Her power did not change from her peak, but her life force and vitality were diminishing like a flickering candle that could not face the thunderstorm. Although her life was ending, she did not feel any regret nor anger, and instead, her eyes betrayed a sign of relief as well as longing. "At least I'll be seeing him in the afterlife." Her body turned grey and colourless, dissipating into the void as a gentle wind blew apart her ashes. She had already accomplished her mission and was ready to move on to the afterlife. As soon as the Witch of the Scarlet Snow passed away, turning into ashes, the cold temperature around the chamber slowly regressed to its previous warming atmosphere. Although the air was somewhat colder than before, it was a breeze of warmness compare to the earlier freezing hell. Right when the Witch turned returned to dust, her heart also finished merging with Forus, submerging into his body and moving towards his heart, aiming to transfer its remaining power to him. However, before the heart could do anything, Forus felt a sudden ripple in his realm of consciousness. The small world inside him trembled as the grey soul chaotically twisted, growing many greyish tentacles outward, moving all over the place. The unique scent of the heart had attracted the obscure power inside of Forus' soul. The tendrils used no time to break the barrier between the realm of consciousness and physical world, arriving before the heart in an instant. As soon as the tendrils touched the surface of the heart, they slowly coiled around it as every part of it gradually turned grey and aged. Accompanied by pain and suffering, the heart quickly degenerated into a pile of black mess that exuded a rotten scent. The dark skin of the remain did not contain any lingering emotions or power of the Witch, and so, without any foundation, it crumbled into fundamental Elements and remerged with the void. Ocelia panted as sweats dripped down from her body, feeling weak and tired from excessive absorption of Icy Scorpion Bloodline and sorcery mastery. Although her power had increased, she could not move her body as much as before as she had not stabilized her strength yet. She could only watch as greyish tentacles grew out from Forus and devoured the heart of the Witch of the Scarlet Snow before retreating into his body, disappearing into his realm of consciousness. She knew that Forus had a unique secret within his soul, helping him and her getting through the Pale World as well as improving his sorcery mastery to the first-ranked. Although his power was demonic and wicked, Ocelia would not mind as she was not entirely human either. After fusing with the Mask of the Sun and Moon, her body had already stepped across the boundary between the human and Elemental lifeform. If not for the exceptional rewards bestowed to her by the Tower of Succession, she would have turned into an Elemental Spirit. Even if Forus converted into a monster, her love for him would not decrease just for the change in his appearance or races. If her affection meant only for his body, Ocelia would regard herself as an inferior companion for Forus, not deserving to be with him. It would be like admitting defeat to a mortal girl, Meria, which would be neglecting her duty as a faithful wife. As String of Fate connected their thoughts, Forus naturally knew about Ocelia's concern and smiled in happiness. Although his body was cracking under the pressure of heart, his mind did not experience any pain as the sea of comfort was washing over his soul, soothing both him and Ocelia. ... Upon the peak of a vast, nameless mountain, a subtle tremble traversed through its surface, shocking the residents of the imposing structures that sat above clouds. Although the average sorcerer apprentices did not feel anything out of the ordinary, the upper-echelons had fallen into chaos as one of the extinguished lamps abruptly lit into blazing light before slowly dimmed down into oblivion. Beside the extinguished lamp, many were below it, but only two were equal to it with one existed above it. Although the fluctuation of the lantern had given the upper-echelons some bleak hope, it had also left them in disappointment. Not long after the commotion, the upper-echelons quickly organized a meeting to discuss the phenomenon. Most of the elders came to attend the conference, except for the ones who were safeguarding the strategic points. "We need to investigate and find the reason for the Life Lantern's fluctuation. As for the location of the signal, we shall trouble Elder Frozen Chain to deduce the answer for us." The figure that commanded the highest authority within the conference spoke with a hint of excitement within his voice. When one became an Elder of an influential sect, usually when they had advanced to the second-ranked sorcery mastery, they would have to leave an imprint into one of the individual lanterns called the Life Lantern. As long as the owner of the mark did not die or disappear into the void, the light would continue to burn brightly, depending on the state of the owner at that moment. Of course, the range where the Life Lanterns could detect would vary according to the quality of the materials that made them. With the right types of equipment and skills, a grandmaster could also create a Life Lantern that could reach to all corners of the Sorcerer World. However, such extensive features were just a waste of time in the eyes of the powerful sorcerers. If they were to gain some excellent materials, they would use all of them to strengthen themselves or create some offensive and defensive treasures to increase their odds of survival. After all, it was better to increase their chance than to know it. As they had checked, the functionality of that Life Lantern was still excellent, which meant that, through some ways or another, the owner of the Life Lantern emerged from the isolated places, giving off her life force before vanishing into the darkness again. Such speculation had filled the heart of the upper-echelons with excitement and thrill. "I shall personally lead the team to collect the information regarding any secret ruins or inheritance grounds in the surrounding." An Elder spoke without any hesitation, wishing to make some contribution to the sect. Although other Elders did not want him to take this easy job, snatching it from him would cause them to lose their reputation. "So, you weren't dead all along, were you?" A sigh came out of the Sect Leader as he recalled his past with the Witch of the Scarlet Snow. He, along with other Grand Elders, including the Witch and his friend, was the three strongest sorcerers of the Icy Scorpion Sect below the Frost Ancestor, the Founder of the sect. With three of them, the future of the sect would be glorious and colourful, commanding high respect and reputation, alas, his friend had gotten injured in the process of ascending towards the third-ranked, falling in power and would need some time in seclusion to heal. Until now, his condition was worsening and showed no sign of stopping. As for the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, she went out to find some materials to help heal her friend and to visit the graveyard of her husband, but the nemesis of the sect was vicious, plotting together to overwhelm her. Since that day, she had escaped the encirclement and disappeared from the surface of the Sorcerer World, not even the Life Lantern could detect her. Almost a thousand years had passed, and the Sect Leader had already convinced himself that she was dead. However, the incident had lit up his hope again. "As long as you are back, we can still turn the table. Oh, Frost Ancestor, your disciple requests your presence. The Icy Scorpion Sect is in danger." Muttered to himself, the Sect Leader quickly lost in his train of thoughts as he absent-mindedly assigned works for respective Elders. Although he, his friend, and the Founder were still alive, in reality, he was the only one who could do anything. His friend was recovering in seclusion, remaining between the state of life and death, experiencing a drop in sorcery mastery. The Frost Ancestor was alive, but he had left the sect for a long time. If not for the Life Lantern the Founder had left behind, the Sect Leader would have thought that he had indeed passed away inside one of the pocket dimensions. Left alone, the Sect Leader felt an ever-increasing pressure as the nemesis could strike at any moment. If he could not change anything, the Icy Scorpion Sect would fall in his generation. ... Standing still, Forus silently paid respect to the grey ashes on the floor of the chamber, recalling the Witch's final moment. Although his clothing was in a perfect condition, blood had spilt out from his internal wounds during the assimilation process, making his demeanour looked much more devilish and solemn. Beside him, a pale, smooth hand had intertwined itself with his as a soft, enchanting curve touched upon his arm. Ocelia was resting on his shoulder as she panted softly, sounding like a youthful song whose rhythm could calm ones' mind. Although the subtle music within the hall was enjoyable and elegant, it paled in comparison with Ocelia's tunes in Forus' ears. After gaining the essence of the Witch, Ocelia had broken through the middle-stage of the first-ranked sorcery mastery, achieving more power as well as improving her body beauty. Her eyes had a better blend between azure and crimson, splitting into two tones as they merged and separated in a strange motion, entrancing the onlookers with their mysticalness. Her hair had become a perfect mixture between fiery and frosty, showing her internal state of mind. The calmer she was, the more the bluish shade would take over her hair, and the more passionate she became, the more the reddish hue would manifest. As for now, her emotions were peaceful and still yet excited and longing, having a little moment with her love. Alas, if only Forus could retain one of his eyes to enjoy her curve and appearance. Thinking about it, Ocelia suddenly felt depressed as she became determined that she would restore Forus' eyes and let him embrace in her beauty, staring deep into her soul and digging all of her secrets.

The chamber brightened up as the figure regained its liveliness, illuminating the darkness with its warmth and sentiment. After peering into Ocelia's soul, the mysterious person had learnt about her past, knowing everything about her current life as well as finding some clues about the previous ones. After knowing about this twist, the previous disappointment began to fade as something else emerged within that pair of golden eyes. The sparks of hope and longing combusted into the glowing specks of light, lighting the darkness that loomed over his soul since the first day he had learnt about the truth. "Although you and she shouldn't meet, it still happened. To think that, in the end, our years of plannings and schemings would get overthrown by this unexpected encounter." The figure made a gripping motion with its hand, creating something out of thin air before pushing it towards the couple. The spherical mass of light slowly moved, radiating warmth that soothed Forus' soul, cleaning his inner thoughts as well as healing his physical exhaustion. Although its benefits did not outweigh the essence of the Witch, this was merely its side-effect that inadvertently happened because of the high concentration of Elements. Forus did not struggle and let the sphere moved towards him, sensing its resonance with his soul as he did so. Because of the absolute difference in strength, Forus did not have any choice but to accept it. If he angered the figure, Ocelia would be in danger because of him. As the distance between Forus and the sphere grew short, the greyish tentacles twisted and turned, seeping out from his realm of consciousness and warped around it, greedily devoured its power. The sudden emergence of the greyish soul caused a fluctuation in that pair of golden eyes. Although the figure had prepared himself, he still experienced a shocked when he had witnessed this object of an obscure legend. "Maybe, you might be our only solution." Muttered to himself, the man used his hand to piece Forus' chest, cutting open it in half. However, although one could see the inside, there was no sensation of pain or any leaks of blood, which baffled Forus to no end. Beneath the figure's feet, a dark mess began to expand outwards, covering the surrounding with its light-devouring substance. Not long after, the black flood twisted as they emerged from the floor, forming a giant dome that enveloped both the couple and the mysterious figure. "Time is short, and so is my life." Strangely, as Forus heard the words, he felt a warmness travelled through his face, and he instinctively touched the two points that originated those heat. Forus opened his eyes and saw the complete blackness, expanding towards infinity as not even a single shade of light appear in his sight. Forus once again regained his vision. Although he had already experienced it twice, Forus could not help but smile a little. Next, he gazed towards the origin of the voice, peering into the only place that did not get occupied by the total darkness. Quietly, the figure appeared before his vision, staring into Forus' soul with his pair of golden eyes. However, the moment Forus laid his attention onto that face, his eyes widened, and he frowned in confusion and disbelief. The strange distortion of space and time disappeared within this separated dimension. It could conceal the detail of the inner world from the eyes of the outsiders, hiding all trace of all things from even the mysterious World Will. However, to activate this forbidden spell, the mysterious figure had used all he had for this moment. The man wore a plain, tattered robe that shone in golden light, reflecting the once exalted shadow of its former glory. Although it looked like any other sorcerer's robe, there was a hint of radiance within it, hiding beneath the traditional appearance of the cloth. Although there was no illusionary power involved, Forus still felt as if he was facing a higher being, dragging him into his memory when he first encountered the sorcerers. He felt powerless and lowly, having a persistent urge to kneel and cower in front of this sovereign of the world. Although the figure was like a fallen emperor, any mortal would still need to respect him. None could disrespect the emperor. However, Forus had experienced many things, and just the holy-like appearance was not enough to instil shock into him. Instead, it was the pair of golden eyes that stared back at him, enchanting him into locking his attention at it as his mind fell into confusion. The face that stared into Forus' soul was the same as the face that stared back at it. Not only that but the two also faintly smiled as well, revealing no different in appearance. If the figure and Forus changed clothes, the fainted Ocelia would not be able to spot any difference in their disguise. "I know that you have a lot to ask, but time won't wait for us. I will only ask you one thing, so listen carefully." Without any chance for Forus to ask, the figure spoke decisively, exerting a part of his power to reveal his determination. Although it was only a tiny fragment of his power, Forus could still feel the presence of the endless ocean drowning onto him, submerging his miniature will like a raging fire. Nevertheless, because there was no intention to harm him, Forus could barely resist the force. "Your meeting with her is not meant to be, and fate will not allow it. So, are you willing to let go? Exchange your lives for an uncertain chance to break free of this restain?" With his vague question, the figure waved his hand and pushed Forus away gently, causing a subtle breeze that went through his body and stuck his soul, forcing his conscious out of his body. In that empty world of nonexistence, many scenes flashed before his eyes, showing him his memory after his resurrection. However, as he watched through it again, Forus began to notice some difference. Above and below every living thing he saw, there was a faint, transparent glowing orb of many colours hovered around them. The sphere would occasionally flicker as the being experienced something, sorrow or joy, anger or fear. Other than that, Forus also saw many strings derived from the floating orb of light. When alone, they would turn transparent and fade, quietly waiting for some changes to happen. When the creatures interacted with one another, the strings would also intertwine, forming various relationships, from friends to foes, relatives to strangers. The strangest of all was none other than himself because when he inspected himself, Forus found that his body did not have the usual glowing orb of light nor the fading strings of relationships. Instead, his body was like a spiral abyss, full of the darkness of the night, filling with the greyish, twisting tendrils that originated from the realm of hell itself. Although Forus speculated that something about him had changed once he had made a pact with the evil entity, he did not expect that it had replaced his dismal fate with something else. Like a bottomless pit, Forus could not see anything when looking at it. When the past him met Ocelia, Forus could see the movement of the strings easily. At first, they tried to avoid foreign tendrils, moving away with the fear of getting tainted by them. However, before they would run away, a faint, pinkish string emerged from within Ocelia's orb of light before weakly struggling towards Forus' soul. That string did not fear the tendrils as it drove into the deepest part of the abyss, attaching with his soul as the first connection established itself. Forus instinctively knew that at that moment, something specific had happened, resulting in the birth of this string, which Forus knew as the String of Fate. However, as soon as the String of Fate came into being, Ocelia's soul fluctuated as a faint shadow manifested above it, revealing the appearance as a skeleton clock, moving twistedly as it longhand approach the midnight. Along with it, many bloody spikes emerged from its inside and caressed Ocelia's soul with its demonic intent, waiting for the exact moment to snip her flame of life and sucked her soul into the darkest pit of hell. The moment only appeared within an instant and disappeared without any trace afterwards. Even Forus could not detect anything other than mild discomfort. Nevertheless, he could still guess that something had played a part in the making of the String of Fate, which could be both good and bad for the couple. Another anomaly was Mabilis, as his orb of light was constantly shifting its shape, flowing from one to another. His strings of relationships also moved weirdly, being able to connect and avoid others smoothly as well as precisely. However, when they successfully intertwined, it would be firm and stubborn, becoming harder to sever the tie. Before long, a dark hand emerged from the horizon as it approached Forus, gently grabbing at his soul before bringing him back into the Sorcerer World. As time was running out, the figure could not let Forus waste it all in here. As Forus looked at his memory for one last time, he saw that the scene was right before when he fought with a maiden that had the mentor as the female sorcerer. Once Forus prepared to depart this imaginary realm, the world started to collapse as there was no need to waste any energy to prolong it. The images of many scenes began to overlap and form a mess of a chaotic memory. In them, only two pinkish strings remained unyielding from the destruction. One came from the images of Ocelia, while another came from the pictures of Matia, the second-ranked female sorcerer, one of the elders of the Flying Green Garden, and the sole daughter of Forus Ander and Meria Ander. In that split second, the pinkish strings moved outwards, chasing the disappearing figure of Forus' soul, trying to convey an indispensable message it carried. With its absolute determination, it moved forwards fearlessly, dodging the debris from the collapsing world. The distance between the two shortened rapidly. As the hand did not accelerate, it allowed the pinkish string to close the gap. However, right at the moment of decision, a reddish light glared out from the darkness below, moving at a faster speed to intercept the pink string. While the pink one had the warming air surrounded it, the bloody one had the aura of madness exuding from it, deterring others from coming near. With the blazing flame of anger, it shot towards the pinkish string and headed straight towards it. As it sensed the danger, the pinkish string chose to disintegrate into nothingness, shedding its shell and revealing its original form. With a pair of transparent wings on its back, the pink fairy headed towards Forus once more. This time, it had a layer of shield covering its body. Not wanting the fairy to succeed, the bloody string also dissolved its shell, turning into a devil with a pair of flaming wings. With its revolving fireballs of hatred and anger, it used its heat of resentment to intercept the fairy. "Father! Matia misses you..." With her soft voice, the fairy spoke faintly, using Matia's real voice as the model. "You try to kill my disciple. Now, you must pay." A distorting voice echoed as the devil launched the fireball at the fairy, hitting the shield of filial. However, no matter how hard it tried, it could never break it. As the struggle continued, the fairy flew closer towards Forus, seeing his silhouette so vividly that emotions began to manifest. The same also applied to the devil, whose eyes turned even more hellish as the figure of Forus appeared closer. "Enough with your nonsense! Our father is already dead. There is no need to bring him up." The devil screamed as it used its last fireball of despair and threw it at the shield of filial. This time, the protection could not take it and break into pieces. However, the fairy jumped forwards and became infinitely close to Forus. She could sense his unique scent that submerged Matia in the sense of security as well as the warmness of his skin that used to hug her when she was young and innocent. "Teacher, it hurt! Please help your unfilial disciple!" A pained voice echoed behind the fairy, causing it to stop in surprise. Another ray of light moved behind her as it emitted a depressing colour of grey, showing pain and despair of her only disciple. With that instant of delay, the gateway closed and the negligible distance extended to worlds apart. In the end, everything slowly crumbled as the message was not meant to be. Alas, the distance hope of filial still lost to the anger and despair of the present.

Staring at the monument, Intor could see countless memories playing inside his head, reminding him of his happiness, his naive, as well as his grief. They blended in together to form his current self, who was trying his best to mend his mistakes. "Just a little more, big brother. I will be taking back your daughter now, and I won't let anyone harm her." Although Intor knew that Forus' soul did not linger here, he still made a witnessless testimony in front of this grave. As a Grand Elder of his organization, Intor commanded respect and wide range of influence. However, he was not the absolute leader and could not control the organization by himself. He could only do so when there was enough benefit. That was why Intor and his sect did not declare war with the Flying Green Garden yet. Although they wanted to be the sole overlord of this region, their strength and the Garden's were equal. The result would be tragic for both, and the upper-echelons did not like that. Despite the seemingly hopeless scenario, Intor chose to persist and wait. He continued to contribute to the upper-echelon to build his credits. In the end, in his generation, he was the only one who could breakthrough into the second-ranked sorcerer and earned his status as a Grand Elder. After decades of waiting and watching, a ripple of fate had intertwined, causing every piece to fall into their place. His chance to fulfil his promise was here. With the reason of ambushing the Flying Green Garden, Intor finally convinced the organization to mobilize their army, thanks to his past contribution and credits. On his way to the Mountain Union, fate also lent him another hand. The opening of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin and the emergence of a great treasure or a terrible being were another incredible justification for attacking the Flying Green Garden. Placing a white ring in front of the monument, Intor sat and prayed. He showed no sign of arrogance of the sorcerers or the confidence of the Grand Elder, for he was only a little brother before Forus. Although the ring was only an ordinary accessory, its value was not the material, but the sentiment it carried. This pale, reflective ring was the first and only ring Forus had gifted to Meria, as a marriage present. "I come here to return your ring and finish my promise. After this, as long as Matia lived, I'll guide her in the path of sorcery and waited for her to be strong enough. Only until then, would you be able to see your daughter again." Although his eyes were full of emotions and remembrance, Intor did not shed a single tear throughout his mumbling. He had already promised Meria to never mourn for their fate and never to blame himself. She was the one who chose to live as a mortal, like how her husband spent his life. To weep was to blame himself, and Intor would never break his promise, not again. "Farewell, brother, sister-in-law. I hope you live a good life." Intor walked away from the monument, casting one last glance at it before disappearing into the horizon. Accompanied by his departure was the liveliness of the wildlife. Before long, the wildness would soon consume this place, and without anyone to protect and maintain it, the inside would get damaged and tainted. Although it was tragic, it was also a type of release. ... "Dear, here's your tea." Although her voice was lively, she struggled to hide her worry and grief as she held her tea set for her husband. "You don't have to try it anymore, and don't be sad. Being a mortal isn't a curse, and being a sorcerer isn't a blessing either. For us to meet and intertwined, this is a real blessing." Although Forus could see and hear, he could not control the body and could only watch as his foreign body spoke to the maiden he did not know. "When we first met, you told me that you wished to be a sorcerer." The maiden muttered, turning redder and redder as her eyes became moist. "Becoming a sorcerer was once my goal. However, after meeting you, that goal had already faded away. Now, I could only think about you, which is not a bad thing." The man smiled as he caressed his lover's face, wiping away her tears as she sobbed into his chest. Although his lover had the appearance of a mature, charming maiden, he, as a mortal, could not live long as her. As his lifespan was running out, his body began to deteriorate. It could not retain his youthful vigour anymore. "Meeting me is also a curse. If not, you might be able to become a sorcerer. I have forced you to stay with me." Her head leaned onto his chest, sobbing while speaking her thoughts. Although she knew that the man would never blame her, she could not get rid of her anxious. "It isn't a curse. Even if I could become a sorcerer, I wouldn't be this happy. My chase for power and immortality are, in the end, born from my lack of purpose." The man did not blame her for his demise. In every choice he made, he had always thought it through, and he would never regret any of his decision. "Think about it. If you could become a sorcerer, you'll have the lifespan of at least three hundred years. Maybe, you might be able to find a way to visit another Region." The maiden did not give up and try to persuade him again. Although she could give him a part of her lifespan, the man did not want to hurt her. "You silly girl, there is no need to fool me. Even someone like your Elders could not break the Regional Barrier, let alone me, a mortal." The man coughed as he tried to tease her, falling back onto his bed as he struggled to breathe. The worried maiden then spent her time tending his pain. Although she had done it many times, she would feel sad every time she watched her lover suffered. ... Forus regained his consciousness as he attempted to recollect himself. The first thing he noticed was a warmth that came from a hand that touched his face, stroking it while a pair of blue-red eyes watched him dreamed. In a moment of silence, the two did not speak, but they allowed each other to stay in their position, feeling the warmth and affection that they had for the other. While Forus enjoyed Ocelia's lap, Ocelia also enjoyed his smile. "I had a dream. It was very surreal." Forus spoke about his experience, telling Ocelia about everything that had happened. Although he could not remember the appearance of that woman, Forus was able to recall most of the event taking place. "It sounds tragic, as well as beautiful. Forus, will you ever leave me like that?" Ocelia felt that this story resonated with her, and she suddenly asked him a question without any thoughts. "I can't guarantee anything. However, if I had to choose, I would rather have you with me." Without any trace of embarrassment, Forus' empty eye sockets stared at Ocelia and uttered such words. Although he did not do anything else, Ocelia felt as if Forus had grabbed her heart with his hand and gently rubbed it, caressing her inner thoughts and soul. There was no need for embarrassment, as everything he said was correct. However, even if Forus did not feel anything, Ocelia had already turned red with her trembling body. She felt relief as well as excited for his immediate response. "Let us go then. Time waited for no one." Forus attempted to get up, but Ocelia did not want him to do so. She forced him down again and kissed him on his cheek before letting him go. "You're quite naughty this time." The confused Forus teased Ocelia before getting up and help her got up. He did not know that his straightforward feeling had stabbed right into Ocelia's heart. The two did not linger and continued their walk. After getting past the mysterious figure, there were no more statues of legendary figures or mist. Instead, the hallway became tranquil and quiet, lighting up brightly while soft music played in the background. Before long, the couple reached the end of the chamber, standing in front of a giant altar. In front of it, a floating tome stationed on a platform. Many symbols on the pages flew out and danced above the book. They assembled and disassembled into various shapes, glowing in different colours and shades. "Welcome, Chosen Ones." As the emotionless voice echoed the chamber, the music stopped playing as the bright lanterns extinguished into darkness. "You, who possessed one of the requirement to receive our legacy, had passed through all our tests without fail." Two standing torches on the side of the altar lit up, enhancing its detail and forcing the couple to focus their attention onto it. "The Chosen Ones whose lives connected each other with the Thread of Love, we presented to you, the Evanescent Record." Many sparkles manifested around the altar as they glowed in multi-coloured light, forming different shapes. The floating tome trembled as it invited the two to hold onto it. Ocelia looked at Forus for confirmation. As she saw his stationary body, she smiled and released their holding hand before walking closer towards the platform, extending her hand outwards to gasp at the book. Although Ocelia had already gained much and wished to give this to Forus, he expressed his rejection by not doing anything. He speculated that even if he got to fuse with the Record, his unpredictable grey soul and its tendrils might eat it like how they did with the Life Aura. As it was the legacy from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, Forus and Ocelia did not want to risk it. In the end, giving this to Ocelia was a better and more efficient choice. Like how the scene with the Mask of Sun and Moon unfolded, the Record slowly dissolved and fused with Ocelia's soul, merging into one with both her mind and the Mask. However, after it became one with Ocelia, she did not experience any growth in power or mastery. As a legacy of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, the couple never doubted its power and ability. Treasures weren't always about offensive capability or defensive techniques. They came in many different forms and various usages. After all, sorcerers created them to aid themselves in their quest of pursuing the truth of the Sorcerer World. The Evanescent Record was no exception. Although it did not give Ocelia a boost in her sorcery mastery, it would have other abilities that she had not yet discovered, and for her to tap into the true potential of the Record, she would need time to experiment with it. The time that the couple might or might not have. On top of the altar, a preserved corpse of an ancient beast laid quietly, sleeping in an endless slumber. Its body emitted a faint fragrance that could overwhelm the couple if they got any closer. Judging from its size and its position within the chamber, it must be one of the mythical creatures with matchless strength. Although Ocelia only looked at it with disinterest, Forus' heart jumped up as he noticed a thin layer of black, rotten scent oozing out from it. The smell had stirred his realm of consciousness, making his greyish soul fell into a frenzy as it vomited out dark tendrils all over the place. The tendrils quickly penetrated out from the realm of consciousness before rushing forwards to the altar, devouring the high-quality Death Aura that the rotten corpse had accumulated throughout the year. Ocelia was stunned by the scene and took a step back in surprise. She saw the same tentacles rushing out of Forus. However, this time, they had extended outwards way beyond what it had always been. They resembled a dark, twisting ocean of waves that devoured everything that stood in their way. Although she was surprised for a moment, Ocelia quickly regained her awareness before looking at Forus curiously, feeling interested in his secret. Even if he had an evil monster inside his mind, Ocelia would never abandon him, like how he never deserted her.

Without any sorcery energy, Mabilis and Iracia instantly fell into a passive state where Forus and Ocelia constantly harassed them with the help of the Leaning Tower of Forst. Restained by the greenish vines, Mabilis was the first to fall, dying honourably by detonating his body, using its remaining force to destroy the godly hand, helping Iracia with his last push. However, although the hand got destroyed, without Mabilis to help, Iracia could not overturn the battlefield where Ocelia and Forus rotated to heal and harassed her. Not long after, she suddenly laughed in a twisted tone as she disregarded her injury and went for a suicidal last strike. Despite getting killed by the combined might of Forus and Ocelia, becoming nothing for than the black goo on the floor, her echoing screeches lingered within the room, haunting Forus and Ocelia with its unholy presence. Her suicidal attacked ripped Forus' arm apart as he attempted to dodge, causing blood to spew out endlessly. If not for Ocelia intervening at the crucial moment, Forus might lose both of his arms. After the atmosphere of the room turned tranquil and peaceful, Forus collapsed onto the floor as Ocelia held him up, using her Ice Element to seal his arm back to his main body. His breathing was uneven, having many sweats on his face, panting softly in pain. Reattaching body part was as easy as drinking and eating for a sorcerer. Although it would take some time to regain the average flexibility, it was still better than not having any ways to do it. As for Forus' eyes, the injuries had a trace of a second-ranked sorcerer as well as a mysterious spiritual seed in it, making it nearly impossible to treat. If not for the mystical power of the evil entity that helped him advanced to the first-ranked, Forus must at least become a second-ranked himself to recover his eyesight. Almost as if Ocelia was taking advantage of Forus' injury, she pulled him onto her lap and placed his head on it, looking at his face silently while treating his arm, feeling the warmness and itchy sensation of his touches. Although their attire had become a mess, covering in dust and blood, Ocelia did not mind having her pale body exposed in front of Forus. After all, he could not see, which made her a little disappointed. Before long, Ocelia and Forus started to hear the faint sound of music again, slowly soothing their tired mind and stirring their emotions. The pace of the song was slow, soft, and peaceful, uplifting the tense atmosphere after the big fight. Only the tranquil of the music permeated the whole chamber, illuminating the minds of the couples. The golden lustre of the walls occasionally manifested as the orangish light of the candles flickered, brightening the dark parts of the hallway that the torches on the walls could not do. With her back against the wall, Ocelia felt the cooling breezes as her head laid onto it, closing her eyes as she wandered into the realm of dream, hoping for her worry about the future to go away, wishing for the happiness of her husband, yearning for her wedding to come faster. Little by little, the longing sensation overwhelmed her mind as she fell into her slumber, dreaming about their lovely family, living in a peaceful wildness without any disturbance, with her husband, together, forever. Although Forus had not fallen asleep yet, he continued to lay onto his wife's lap, enjoying the softness and warmth that radiated from her body. He could feel that a delicate hand was resting on his chest, subtly moving as it brushed through his body, giving him a tickling feeling. He could imagine a scene where a maiden was looking at his face, smiling as she tried her best not to let her husband know about her excitement, which he found it to be cuter when she tried to hide it. Before long, Forus also fell into the state of a dream as a soft smile emerged on his face, giving off happiness and tranquil. The tiredness and wariness from before vanished without a trace as a simper from the maiden entered his mind, giving him everlasting power to conquer her heart, as well as letting her occupied a place in his. ... The two figures sat at the opposite end of the other, not speaking at each other for a long time. They had spent their time analysed their previous battle to find and eliminate their weaknesses. Because it was at the nighttime in the realm, the surrounding was quiet as only the crackling noise of the campfire remained. As for other dangerous animals, the two had already displayed their strength and killed most of them, as well as annihilated the guardian of the Door of Hope, scaring everything away. "In the end, we still lose, huh?" As if she was mocking herself, Iracia spoke with a hint of tiredness in it. Although she suffered no physical damage, her unyielding heart had taken a tremendous blow, disrupting her stable emotions. Her long green hair that she had tied into a braid rested on her shoulder, moving ever so slightly as the night-cold winds of the forest breezed past her. The black bodysuit-like clothing on her body not only blended her in with the darkness, but it also captivated her beauty, becoming the lady of the night as her body curve exposed itself under the moonlight of the pale sky. Her previous greenish pupils unexpectedly turned into scarlet colour, having a hint of bloodthirst as well as the demonic aura coming from it, shocking the onlookers into despair. Not only that, but her nails also became slightly longer as well. The excessive usage of demonic bloodline would have turned her into a complete demoness if not for the marvellous power of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin. However, although the Fleeting Emotions Ruin could heal the physical body, it could not do the same with her soul. By now, her ordinary human soul was no more. Instead, her soul had become something between the human soul and the demon soul, turning into a mixture of the two. As for which side would eventually emerge victoriously and devour the other, it would depend on which faction of her was better at adapting and overcoming the other. "Not only that, but we also lose at the last step." Mabilis followed up with dry laughter, feeling a little regret over his miscalculation. With his knowledge, he naturally could deduce that the earlier battle was the last test of the Door of Hope. If he could defeat the enemies, he would have gotten the best rewards. Although it sounded like the two did not receive anything, that was not the case. From the battles within the Door of Hope, Mabilis and Iracia had absorbed a large amount of black substance, improving their sorcery mastery as well as stabilizing their cultivation foundation. They also got the precious chance to train their fighting styles as well as gained some unusual experience with many mystical techniques and spells. However, as much as they gained, it also became the source of their regret, and even though they had lost and did not know the content of the final rewards, just the second place was as valuable as this, then what would the first place be? Staring at the door before him, Mabilis fell deep into his thoughts as he tried to decide his next move. Previously, when they first found it, it had the name of the Door of Hope. Now, when they failed and got sent back towards the forest, it had changed its appearance and became older and weaker. Its name also changed into Gate of Choice. Without any help of any spells, Mabilis and Iracia could easily guess that the realm had presented them with two choices, and they could pick any of them and go along with it. However, they could only choose one of them and could not return to select other option, hence the name Gate of Choice. First, they could choose to step into it, allowing it to transfer them out of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, going back to their place and used their time to absorb all sorts of treasures and gains they got from the ruin. With the enormous resource they had gained, their seclusion would be long and slow, and it would induce them a qualitative change, becoming exponentially more powerful than before. Or, they could decide to abandon the Gate of Choice, choosing to wander around the region to search for more inheritance and secret rewards, trying their best to gain even more resource from the realm. Naturally, the Gate of Choice would vanish after a duration. Only when they met the condition would the Gate of Choice appear in another location for them to find. "Miss Iracia, what do you think?" As Mabilis made up his mind, he turned towards Iracia and asked her. After the battle, he had known that Iracia had rapidly grown into a much more vicious and powerful than before, making him felt a little wary towards her. "We should continue to explore further. We have only uncovered so little of this place, and I am not satisfied at all." Iracia licked her lip as she spoke, sounding domineering and wicked. Her demonic wings stirred as she felt a sensation of comfort rushed through her veins every time she flapped her wings. Hearing the confirmation, Mabilis nodded as he also felt the same. Just from the legacy he and Iracia got alone, they could perceive that the Fleeting Emotions Ruin was not simple. Instead, it would be once in a lifetime opportunity for them. After all, who could guarantee that they would land into this realm again the next time they came? Not to mention the mystical power of Forus and Ocelia, just the demonic bloodline of Iracia had moved him considerably. If he could get one more legacy at the same level of his third eye or Iracia's demon body, he would with no doubt soar even higher into the sky, gaining more chance to break into the realm of second-ranked and became the future leader of Sagunien Family. All these points, both Iracia and Mabilis knew them in their heart, and they also knew the risk that came after them. However, because the benefits were too huge, they were willing to take the risk and brave through the danger of life and death. Without any hesitation, the two figures walked away from the Gate of Choice, moving across the horizon as they battled their way towards the future where many legacies remained hidden for them to uncover. ... His dream was still and silent, sweet and tranquil. Forus regained his consciousness as he slowly sat up beside the resting figure of the maiden whose heart had stolen his. After assuring that she was still sleeping, Forus poked her nose as a smile emerged on his face, imagining the annoyance on his wife's cute appearance as she subconsciously avoided his finger ignited his playful behaviour. However, as soon as his finger landed onto Ocelia's nose, her hands abruptly sprang up and embraced his body tightly, locking him onto her as she placed her lip onto his. The rapid assault surprised Forus, causing him to forget about savouring the moment as Ocelia quickly retreated and smiled proudly. "Wife, you shouldn't scare me like that." Coughing dryly, Forus spoke as he quietly regretted about his silly actions. Furthermore, he also yearned for Ocelia to keep her lip onto his a little longer. As soon as Ocelia heard his words, she suddenly stopped moving as a single tear manifested onto her face. It was not the drop of sorrow, but it was a drop of joy as she finally got to hear the word which she yearned for so long. "Why did you do that? My old heart almost stops beating." Not knowing the current state of Ocelia's mind, Forus spoke again as he slowly stood up, preparing to head forwards to the Door of Hope. However, his movement got obstructed again by a pair of delicate hands, grabbing his arms and pulling him down. Not only that, the hug was far firmer than the previous one as their lips also connected longer than before. Ocelia felt happy, and she intended to reward Forus with a grand prize.

Ocelia looked up at the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, watching the faint, semi-transparent membrane cracked and disintegrated. Although she did not know what caused such change to take place, she knew that trouble was coming. Beside her, Forus frowned as he kept his hand warped around his wife, falling into deep thoughts as he hugged her. Ocelia did not attempt to break free but silently closed her eyes, enjoying the moment together. "So, what happens?" The subtle footsteps resounded as Abicel approached the lovely couple. She too sensed the strange tremble and quickly came back to group up. Although the Steel Cauldron would protect the talents, she was only one of the many geniuses within a mediocre country. In the upcoming chaos, she would have a better chance at survival if she stuck with the Coruscare Family, especially Ocelia. Ocelia pushed Forus away as she looked outwards. She softly coughed as she gripped her chest. Faint drum-like beats resonated with her heart, causing pain to radiate throughout her body. Although Forus could not see her expression, he knew that she was in discomfort. "Something caused the Fleeting Emotions Ruin to collapse. Let's stick together. I reckon that the storm is coming." Ocelia did not wish to speak about her condition and answered Abicel's question. "Then, I'll go prepare. The summon from father would be here soon." As the commotion manifested, the Family Head of the sorcerer families would summon their descendants and elders to hold a meeting. After quick parting words, everyone met back to their room and prepared their equipment, leaving Ocelia alone in the yard. Forus knew that she needed some time alone and did not disturb her. Soft sunlight tapped onto her skin, reflecting in crimson glow due to the blood that dripped from her mouth. Her pinkish lips turned paler than before as she wiped the bloodstain from her face. In silence, she gazed towards the glowing sphere of heat and wondered in a daze. Little by little, a hint of unease crawled out from the depth of her soul, and she could not pinpoint its origin. ... "Siprytas, so it was you." Looking at the man in front of him, the Elder struggled to stand tall and fell onto his kneel. Blood seeped out from the large hole in his stomach. Although the Ice Element was mending the gap between his body, he was slowly withering away at a visible rate. Behind Siprytas were many cloaked figures, standing motionless and silent, waiting for his command to strike and eliminate the upper-echelon of the Icy Scorpion Sect. "Uncle, it was you who taught me to sacrifice the minority for the majority, and I'm offering our freedom for a chance of survival." With a calm smile on his face, he explained his logic to his blood-related uncle. Everything he did was for the continuance of the Icy Scorpion Sect. "Although you could not see the truth, you're the one who opened the gate of sorcery for me. As an act of returning the kindness, I'll give you one last chance." In his hand, a necklace with the symbol of the Fiery Tarantula Sect revealed itself. Siprytas extended his hand, waiting for his uncle to make his decision. "Recommending you to the Sect Head is my biggest regret. We, the Icy Scorpion Sect, would rather die than live as a slave." Without any hesitation, the Elder refused the last chance. His gaze fixed onto Siprytas, revealing profound emotions and unrestrained pity. "Uncle, your arrogance has blinded your wisdom, and you've made a mistake. Now, it's up to me to fix it. So, please rest well... and farewell." With a flick of his finger, steaks of blue light flashed and shot towards the Elder, stabbing into his heart and collapsed his realm of consciousness. "Lives without free wills... are nothing more than death... Siprytas, you'll never... understand." Knowing that death was inevitable, the Elder did not curse nor wail in vain. Instead, he calmly stated his dying statement and closed his eyes, drifting off into eternal rest. "You don't understand, uncle. It is I who will save our Sect." Although their ideology clashed, Siprytas did not condemn his uncle, and instead, he lowered his head to show respect before walking away. The warriors of the Fiery Tarantula Sect glared at the remaining Elders, whose power were weaker than the uncle of Siprytas. They knew that their strength could not change the situation and decided to remain still. "I saw it, our future, and there is no hope." Siprytas muttered under his breath. He shook his head and walked outside, gesturing his hand at the warriors of the Fiery Tarantula. Because of the sound-proof formation of the meeting hall, only the inaudible screams faintly lingered outside the building. ... "Lord Envoy, the legion is ready. We've surrounded the Ruin and sent our exploration teams in. May his majesty watched over us." The reporter bowed as he explained the development. In only a moment, he finished giving a comprehensive report and made his way out of the room, leaving the Envoy with other commanders. Although he was listening, the Envoy's gaze fixed onto the withered mountain. After the concealment and protection array collapsed, the aged appearance of the Ruin revealed itself, shining in its former glory. "With the Decree of his majesty, everything should be under control. Go, and don't disappoint the Emperor." With a gesture of his hand, the Envoy sent the commanders out to prepare. If nothing unexpected happened, the army would soon flood into the Ruin. A faint ripple echoed inside his room, attracting his attention. As he turned his head towards his desk, he saw a tiny whirlwind manifested in front of him. It was a unique way of transferring letter of the alchemy associations. The vortex of Elements slowly sent out a letter before dissipating into nothingness. The symbol on the envelope showed the identity of the sender, the Steel Cauldron, one of the leading organizations within the Mountain Union. Without any hesitation, the Envoy opened the envelope and read its content. With the Emperor's Decree, he knew that no one would want to offend the Mountain Emperor if they wanted to have a peaceful time in the Mountain Union. Frowns began to appear as he read through its content, revealing unease beneath his calm expression. The atmosphere turned heavy the more he read, dropping in temperature and generating winds from the unstable flow of Elements. Suddenly, a series of knocking echoed forth, interrupting his silent contemplation. As soon as he realised that someone was coming, he quickly stabilized his emotions and controlled his aura, regressing to his usual, calm appearance. "Lord Envoy, the Family Head of the Ninguis Family wished to discuss something with you." The guard gently pushed the door open and reported the situation. He did not notice any disturbance from the previous moment at all. "Tell him to wait in the meeting hall. I'll be there in a moment." Despite feeling unsettled, the Envoy did not show anything on his face. With something unforeseen came up, he needed to quickly settle everything and adjusted his plan as soon as possible. ... "This is where we part our way, I suppose." Mabilis closed his golden eyes as he spoke, showing unwavering determination. Although he and Iracia had braved through life and death together, their path was ultimately not the same. As a sorcerer, the two could not each other, and did not have the luxury to form an emotional relationship. In the end, they developed a beneficial alliance where it would be better to stick together. Now that the two went back to the Sorcerer World, where there was no life-threatening danger, the temporary alliance lost its meaning. It would be better for them to dissolve it rather than waiting for their relationship to sore. "It's been a while since we left for the Fleeting Emotions Ruin... We were just puny sorcerer apprentices when we first entered. Rewards indeed come with risks." Iracia smiled as she reminisced their past struggle. In the realm of the deadly jungle, they gained and lost so much. "Until next time, Miss Iracia. Don't be afraid to ask when you needed help." Golden light flashed in his third eye as Mabilis said his parting words. The two exchanged their communication rune and departed from their resting inn. "You too, Mabilis. As long as it's not impossible, I can use my connection in the Steel Cauldron to help." More friends were always better than more enemies, and the two knew this. They did not expect the other to help, but it would not hurt them to have some backups in place. Mabilis strolled past the inn and continued towards his family's resting manor. As Sagunien Family was also one of the sorcerer families that took part in the outpost of the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, it would not be strange that they had a manor inside the said outpost. As for Iracia, the Steel Cauldron had a place for her. With her father as one of the Elder of the Steel Cauldron, she would never need to worry about these trivial matters. Arriving in front of the Sagunien Manor, Mabilis smiled as the sense of familiarity flooded him. He could hear the footsteps of the servants, who were rushing inside the Manor to prepare for his return. However, before everything quieted down, the gate of the Manor abruptly opened, revealing an aged figure, cloaked in grey, worn-out robe. Although his appearance was unassuming, the air around him was dignified and mysterious. The servants and the members of the Sagunien Family were standing behind the man, lowering their head and waiting for his signal and movement. "Greeting, Grand Elder. It's an honour to meet you." Although he was shocked, Mabilis kept his expression straight and bowed to pay respect. He knew that the Grand Elder would not make any pointless action. Aside from nodding, the Grand Elder did not say anything and strolled towards him. He looked into Mabilis' pupils, staring deep into his soul. As golden light flashed in their eyes, the two remained motionless for a while before the Grand Elder snapped out of it. "The power to peer into the River of Time. You're so young, yet you've achieved this level of perception." Having a vague idea of Mabilis' power, the Grand Elder sighed with profound emotions. Although he felt proud for Mabilis, he also felt a little envious of his fortuitous encounter and talents. "It's been so long, but finally, we have the chosen one. Mabilis, right? From now on, you'll be the successor of the Family Head. Continue to practice your Divine Eyes. Do not disappoint me." With a wide smile on his face, the Grand Elder patted Mabilis on his shoulder and issued his command. "The chosen one, what does that mean?" Mabilis became confused and muttered to himself. At that moment, his memory replayed itself in his mind, revealing every bit of information that he missed. "Don't overthink it. When the Main Branch comes, I'll personally beseech them to revoke our banishment and let you join them." Knowing what Mabilis was thinking, the Grand Elder offered a little explanation before leaving. "The Main Branch, huh?" Mabilis smiled as his intuition subtly hinted at him about something. He instinctively knew that something big was about to happen. Although the uproar from the Grand Elder's parting words was huge, it could not reach Mabilis and shake his wills at all. ... In a sealed room, the bloody scent permeated everything. The crimson light glowed in the darkness around the wall, highlighting the centre of the room where a female demoness was standing. "Who are you?" Iracia spoke in her icy voice, banishing her Heart Blade as she did so. Although she did not see anyone, she could feel the sickening yet familiar aura in the shadow of the room. "Don't worry, Iracia. I mean no harm to you." A figure moved out of the shadow, revealing his appearance to Iracia, causing her expression to frown. In the darkroom, two demon-like individuals remained motionless, gazing at each other for a long while.

The story of «The Gray Volk» is over, but the plot is gaining momentum. Vampires, robots, Soviet technology. What will happen next? Maybe banal Isekai? Who knows? But let's go back to the gray wolf. Yes, our character can be said is the spirit of the wolf, which in Russian fairy tales has a different relationship to the main characters in general. One he helps, others do not, but he is always very honest with the main character, and even if he deceives his cunning will turn out to be a failure. Christian is just such a character, who, like Ivan, is a father who cares for his daughter secretly. However, unlike Ivan, he is more independent and can make decisions that can strike even at himself. In Russian fairy tales, the relationship between the wolf and the main character (mostly his name is Ivan) is very similar. For unknown reasons, the wolf enjoys incredible trust (although he can kill a hero) and Ivan receives material gain from it. Now Ivan's daughter - Liza Sebastianov  steps into. The next series will be devoted to the Red Lisa.   As usual link to the original tale :https://russian-crafts.com/russian-folk-tales/ivan-tsarevish-tale.html

Despite the name " the teleportation launcher", the specified device installed on the platform did not carry out instantaneous movement from one point to another within the same space. Bastion corp.’s launcher created an invisible corridor that simultaneously existed in two worlds and allowed to move objects within the framework of physical laws that worked in another world. Thus, Igor's capsule appeared on the «Leshiy» Bastion corp.’s space station almost instantly.  “Well, here I am in space, finally” - Igor thought. Igor as a child had long dreamed of going into space. See the world from a height that only twenty-first century people could reach. See the beauty of the home planet. So close and far at the same time. But now he had no time to admire the cosmos through the small window of his capsule. As soon as the capsule was docked with the station, it began to accelerate moving in an arc toward Africa. Soon the station was already above its territory. - Hello Igor! Vasilisa the Wise speaks to you – I am the internal intellectual protection system of the clan Sebastianov. You have access to limited clan information. By the order of Mikhail Sebastianov, I dedicate you to additional details of the operation. Your opponent has psycho-unique abilities that an ordinary person does not possess. Try not to let him get too close to you, because the enemy has the ability to repair his wounds by absorbing someone else's blood, whether it be a beast or a person. The enemy has the ability for a short time in dark places to move to another world. If you find these areas try to illuminate them with a bright light, this will allow you to "smoke up" the enemy from his shelter. You can seriously hurt the enemy with conventional weapons, but you will not kill it completely. Being in an incapacitated state, the enemy goes into hibernation mode even if his brain and heart are destroyed. For the elimination it is necessary to use a strong freeze, a biological decomposing weapon, fire and a spiritual weapon. Your equipment includes several guns specifically designed to combat this type of enemy, namely a portable short-range flamethrower, thermal grenades, a machine gun with armor-piercing bullets and a grenade launcher, special chemical and thermal grenades, as well as a spiritualist weapon for Ivan Sebastianov and Christian Schwartz Your task is to deliver these weapons for these purposes and provide them with cover during the retreat to our main forces, which will arrive at the gathering point in 30 minutes. If you do not reach the gathering point, the Allied forces will move in your direction, but in this case the mission will be considered a failure. Your capsule will be dropped over the target within a few minutes. This will be a one-way teleportation of the landing type, as soon as it is completed, proceed with the operation immediately. Good luck to you. I start the countdown to the operation!    Mansion Balvudov. 11.38 p.m.   Shadows loomed on Christian. The movements of the shadows were accurate and instantaneous with the sole intention of killing. Christian evaded the blows of the enemy, and fired a pistol in response. One of the enemies received several bullets in the chest and his stomach, than fell to the floor and after a while he got up again as if nothing was there. Realizing that the gun against these creatures is useless, Christian removed it and pulled out its vibro-sword. The enemy seemed to be waiting and bristling with his swords and blades. In total, Christian counted 8 opponents, not counting the mysterious blond and his ward, who were imprisoned Ivan. They were absolutely not afraid of bullets, because none of them reached the goal. They seem to have deviated from a given route by some field. Christian tried to even use the rebound, but even it did not help. Therefore, all that was left of him was the martial art of the clan Sebastianov, whom he studied at the Skazka. And we must pay tribute to Christian, he is an excellent student of the clan. The enemy attacked from several sides, as if Christian, foreseeing their every movement, went in short movements, then left to right, in response to the attack, he made cutting blows, which chopped off enemy hands, and left cuts on the body to the more successful ones. Blood was everywhere. Christian managed to behead one opponent, but one opponent was able to create a short-lived illusion and attacked Christian from behind. Enemy grabbed his teeth in the neck of Christian, but that was his mistake. Christian activated the "Soul shift", an energy field formed around him, from the blow of which the attacker flew several meters away and hit the wall. Still in the "Soul shift" mode, Christian delivered several cutting blows to the enemies, depriving all eight enemies of the head, arms and legs. When they first began to fall after being cut, Christian ran at the maximum available speed in the direction of Ivan. He hoped that he would have time to cut off the hand of the dark creature, but his expectations were in vain. A black haze appeared in front of his sword, which distorted the space because of which his sword was in the wall. Still holding the sword in his hand, Christian pulled him out of the space hole and tried to strike dark creature again, but to his dismay a new space hole appeared in front of him, which sent his sword to him. Christian just nearly killed himself. Watching the whole scene, the mysterious man began to laugh gloomily, as if he had read a good joke in a local newspaper. Christian moved away from the man for some distance, waiting for further action.  - Excellent combat potential! Amazing! Great vampire i can make of you  - the man clapped his hands. Even more opponents of melee weapons began to appear from the shadows. - Sorry but the resistance is useless.  “Though you know, I’m half German.” But my other half is screaming at me. Russians, cyka blyat! Do not give up!  - Bravely, but stupid. Kill him! The hurricane of battle spun again. In the heat of battle, Christian lost his arm, but still continued to fight. Some creatures he threw with a strong blow, the other deprived of the head. The skill of his battle became better with every defeated opponent, but their number did not decrease. When Christian saw that the enemy began to rise, he threw a chemical grenade in his direction causing a sharp burst of flame. The bodies of vampires burned or turned into ashes. The house began to burn from the flame, but, the man seemed not to attach any importance to this, and the shadow that came out of nowhere extinguished the source of the flame almost instantly. Thanks to the flame around Christian formed a space that soon became full of vampires. This time they did not use weapons, they just pounced on him with the whole crowd without sparing their bodies. Christian cut all who could while being in the “Soul shift” mode. He had the last charge, but he could no longer spend it on killing vampires. When the flames from the new grenade again overtook the corpses of the vampires killed by Christian's blade in their place, strange turbulence accompanied by blue light radiation arose. The effect of turbulence turned into a shock energy wave, which threw all exept Christian, the mysterious man, Ivan and the vampire, who stood beside him. From the epicenter of the explosion, a capsule appeared from which Igor came out with a weapon to transport. “Here we go” he said, and fired a flash of light into the room. The room was lit up with bright white light and the dark energy floating around it abruptly dissipated. Having not missed this moment, Christian quickly found himself in front of the bewildered vampires, waved his sword and cut off the vampire’s hand while was in "Soul shift" mode. Without losing time, he hit the blond with his foot, grabbed Ivan and ran along with Igor to the exit. So that they could not be pursued immediately, Igor took advantage of the flamethrower and set the house on fire. To the place of the gathering point they ran together.

- Chris how do you like your new body? Christian was in the spherical room of the underground complex of the VAN Group, in front of him was a “mirror” created from the three-dimensional holographic projection of a completely reflective image of Christian. Christian looked at his naked body and said: "Not bad, but why do I need a dick when I died 10 years ago?". Ivan grinned and said, “You will not believe it, but it is necessary for your soul generator. Emotions are a strong “fuel” for the soul to release more energy. That is the way Koloboks works. ” “And in order for me to “recharge ”myself, I have to find the first whore to come and ... well, you know.. - smiled Christian. Ivan approached Christian and put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Oh, we have not only foreseen this. Mentally say the command “Soul shift” and then follow the tutorial.” Christian turned to his inner world and mentally uttered “Soul shift”. Suddenly the whole world slowed down around him to such an extent that it seemed he had completely stopped. However, he still saw Ivan moving his lips very slowly without uttering a sound. Later, he heard a message in Russian, which he had previously recalled in the Skazka. - Welcome Christian to the PriSkazka offline training system. - I'm glad to hear you again Vasilisa - Mutually Christian. Unfortunately, you can be in “Soul shift” mode for about 10 minutes. After you require recharging for this mode. I will show you your characteristics now. Then Christian saw his body and the technical description of each ability he possessed. In the picture, he saw a tall guy 1.85 in height, his hair was dyed with gray hair and black roots, part of his head was shaved, creating an image of punk for him. His eyes were gray and symmetrically set, his face was typically German, but he also had features characteristic of his mother Irina Krupskaya. He also had broad shoulders and narrow hips. His manly "dignity" was now a little more than before, but this did not bother him anymore. Then Christian began to read the features of his body structure, which simply delighted him. According to the description, Christian seemed to be able to be like the Spider-man and perfectly cling on smooth walls with his hands, since at his fingertips there was a microtechnology that recreates the sucker of geckos and octopuses. In addition, he could become completely invisible due to light camouflage, hide the thermal signatures of his body, smell and taste without fear of being poisoned. He could also fire a special harpoon from his hands for additional mounting on a sheer surface. His eyes had the function of "Night Vision", "Thermal Vision", "Ultrasonic Vision", and also showed him the interface and were connected to the system of Vasilisa the Wise. His body was created from the latest nanocarbon composite materials and could withstand up to three tank shots closely, provided that they were built before the war. His special leather allowed him to feel changes in the environment and airflow with his skin, while his skin was much more sensitive than it was before his death. In order to protect his mind from a huge range of emotions, Christian had a special emotional filter that could make him completely insensitive if necessary. Christian's most protected place was the soul generator, as well as the so-called soul fabricator, which allows creating materials out of nothing at the expense of part of the energy. Thanks to the fabricator, the nanorobots that were in the body of Christian could restore his muscles, skeleton, skin, as well as internal damage, if any was dealed to him. Thanks to his body, Christian could, with one blow, pierce a tank, lift 500 kilograms of weight with one hand, jump three meters into the air. But one function caused him great confusion. When he got acquainted with all the functions, he left “Soul shift” and turned to Ivan. - I finally understand that my charging slot for the soul generator and the operating unit is near the neck, but tell me my dear friend Ivan, why do I need an extra slot for recharging in my ass? - Hahahahaha - Ivan began to laugh at Christian ignoring his embarrassment - Ten years! Ten years I have been waiting for this moment! - You didn’t forgive me for the case when I lost Valentine in a dispute and I had to change clothes and in secret from you to go with you on a date in a woman’s dress. - Hahaha revenge is sweet Сhristian! Now you can always enjoy the "recharge" so to say "directly" - Very funny - Okay, don't worry, anyway, except for members of the Sebastianov clan, no one can use this function. - Even better - Christian sighed heavily with sad face - Now that you know about “Soul shift”, what do you think about the body? - Ten out of ten if you exclude this extra slot in my ass. And you could not stop staring at me? - Okay, calm down, I'm not interested in you Christian, I love women, you know. - I know, give me the clothes and let's start the conversation about the case. I do not like to waste time. - Good. Vasilisa prepare my friend his gear. - Yes mr. Sebastianov. Ivan left the room, and Christian began to change into equipment, which Vasilisa provided to him. A special box was pulled out of the wall of the room, in which Christian saw his vestments, on which was written “Volk”. Christian grinned realizing that this is actually the Russian name of the wolf written in English letters, but he liked it. The suit repeated the features of Christian's body and provided him with additional protection. In addition, he had a built-in energy quenching function when falling from a height of 400 meters and above. Now Christian was not afraid to become a mess as before. Next to the costume was a double-edged vibrosword resembling a Chinese Jiang sword or a Tai Chi sword. With this sword, Christian could cut through the enemy technique like frozen butter with a hot knife. In addition, he was given the latest model of the “Kogot” series submachine gun. This weapon had built-in protection and no one except Christian could use it. The weapon had a built-in soul fabricator directly connected to the Christian's soul generator. Thus, the weapon could create the necessary ammunition for Christian right from the air, as long as he had the necessary energy for production. His equipment also included special grenades, an appointment which he could change depending on the situations. He could use smoke, light-noise and EMP grenades without fear for himself. The latest fragmentation and thermal grenades were a threat to him. Despite his defense, being in a high-temperature location did not guarantee him safety as well as lightning strikes in the absence of electrical resistance. When he left the room, Ivan nodded to him silently and together they took the elevator to the roof of the VAN Group building. There they transferred to a private helicopter and set off for Bastion corp. where Ivan's father, Mikhail Sebastianov, was waiting for them. - I never would have thought you kept me all this time in Minsk - said Christian looking around the neighborhood - Yes, Minsk has changed a lot. It's amazing how all this time Minsk managed to be far away from the events of the Third World War, despite the Scarlet movement. But thanks to Russia, Minsk has become a prosperous city for our business as well. Smuggling flows here are just crazy. - What happened Ivan? Why did I have to keep in Minsk? - The father does not trust several members of the clan. And raised the level of internal protection to the orange level. - Another level and will be military actions? - Yes, only to fight is not clear with whom. - But what about Afron corp. ? - My instinct tells me that they are only pawns in someone's hands. Okay, we will learn the details from the father when we fly to Moscow. - How is Olga? - Sends you greetings. Lisa too. She really wants to see you live. - She is a sly fox. - Hahaha I'll tell it to her later - How old is she already? - 14 will be this year. - Beautiful probably. - Not probably, but for sure! Redhead, all in the mother went. She is so clever, I am so happy! - I envy you! But nevertheless, I am deeply grateful to you, Ivan, for having pulled me out of the otherworld. I really saw there- - I know what you saw Chris. I don’t need to tell about it myself. THEY also watch us. - Yes .. you are right Ivan. After 3 hours, they flew up to the headquarters of the company. They were met by Mikhail Sebastianov’s personal maid, redhead Lida Mayakovskaya. - mr. Sebastianov and mr. Schwartz, please go to the hall with me. Soon your brothers will coming up mr. Sebastianov and then the meeting will begin. - Hello Lida. You are beautiful as always. - I appreciate your compliment mr. Schwartz, just do not let go of your hands like you did with Karina Mayakovskaya. - Another fox - The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. - Shut up Ivan!

Hello dear readers. I want to say a few words about this work. As I mentioned in the description, which later I will change this is an experimental work on the combination of different genres and Russian folklore. The story will be conducted on behalf of several main characters. As you might have guessed, one of them will be the Kolobok, the Volk and the Red Lisa aka the red fox. Each character will have its own story corresponding to the Russian folk tale. As for Shinji, his story is not over, we will return to him a little later. Years through 10 years. Just kidding. In Russian folk tales, events do not happen as planned by their heroes. Here you will not find strong characters who can cope with all their strength. Here wins luck, wit and courage. Without these qualities, fairytale heroes would hardly be able to achieve any success in life. The Kolobok is just that character who tragically dies from being eaten by a cunning fox. The Kolobok himself, if he had not been proud, self-confident and “blind,” as our main character, might not have fallen into this whole situation with an escape from Grandma and Grandpa, if he had remained in place. But then this is a fairy tale so that the wisdom of previous generations was laid in it, but in reality The Kolobok would have been eaten at the dinner table, as there was little food at that time. Especially for older people who do not have their own children. In any case,  the original tale you can find here: https://ouenglish.ru/tales/bun the Russian lottery show you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsFzTTqUkEY See you next time comrades!

When head of the clan left the meeting room, Lida entered the room and brought hot tea with sweets to everyone. The brothers thanked her and soon began discussing the search for a possible traitor among the clan, as well as a plan to undermine the activities of AFRON corp. After a long discussion, they came to the conclusion: Leonid, using his connections and good relations within the clan, will begin to test the ground for possible betrayal and search for relevant evidence. Matvey organizes a distracting meeting with representatives of the United African Federation with the participation of influential corporations, including the AFRON corp. which will attend Ivan. While the meeting takes place Christian will penetrate the AFRON corp. and will sabotage it. In order to interest AFRON corp. Ivan will present to the future sponsors and buyers new jets for civilian use of the «Calibri» series with the possibility of vertical take-off and landing. Two days later they contacted partners and counterparties to agree on the venue of the meeting.   09.00 p.m. United African Federation. Somewhere above the office AFRON corp.    - Christian this is Ivan. Do you hear me? - No noise, I hear you perfectly. Copy that. - You can start the operation. The time of my presentation began, do not let them notice you. - Roger that   Christian jumped off a small stealth jet that was in the air 400 meters above AFRON corp. In a mechanical voice, Vasilisa informed him of the updated data on the operation.  - According to the updated analysis of the information obtained by hacking, the servers are located on minus 5th floor, which is accessed exclusively from the elevator side. Currently, there are several security droids and 2 mercenaries on the roof. If you are caught the operation will be considered failed. You are equipped with additional charges for the “Soul shift” mode. Activate mode? Christian was already practically over the heads of mercenaries.  - “Soul shift”! - he said mentally. The time around him slowed down, and he himself began to move even faster due to the electric field around him formed suit. The Volk went hunting. He instantly landed next to the mercenaries and killed them both, hitting them in the head with a dagger. - Vasilisa hack androids faster! - Accepted. Point the laser at the target and the system will begin to actively crack system of the target. Still in the “Soul shift” mode, Christian threw around himself folding dummies using nanocarbon materials and a holographic projection as a frame. Then he transferred the mercenary cameras to the dummy, and hid their bodies away from the eyes with a special camouflage fabric. Androids by the time they were already hacked. From his hand, he pulled the meter cord, which he connected to the elevator code panel. The elevator panel lit up in green, opening to Christian the passage to the elevator shaft.  - The elevator is located on the 10th floor of the building and is going to go down. Go down as soon as possible to the 5th floor. According to the analysis there is a dining room AFRON corp. and a minimum of security. After the elevator rises, continue to descend to minus 5th floor. Christian jumped from wall to wall systematically going down to the 5th floor. With the help of his “Heat Vision”, he saw that the local guard of boredom had fallen asleep in the workplace. “I'll give him more dreams,” thought Christian, and threw a sleeping grenade through the crack under the feet of the guard. Christian himself, being in the invisible mode, squeezed through the doors of the elevator shaft and waited until the elevator would going up.  - I start the operation to lift the elevator. - said Vasilisa. - Imitation of the voice of the branch manager of AFRON corp. is completed.   At this time, the telephone rang on the 25th floor of the tower near the secretary. She did not abandon the process of putting makeup on her face and pressed the call receiving button.  - Yes, Mr. Jabar, I listen to you. - Please call the elevator to the roof and keep it there until the special flight arrives and warn the guard about this. Thanks. - Yes Mr. Jabar.   After past the 5th floor elevator. Christian successfully descended to minus 5th floor, where he also neutralized the guards and cameras in stealth mode and “Soul shift”. Then he got to the server room, where, with the help of Vasilisa, he began to download data from AFRON corp.  - Attention hacking detected. After three minutes, the servers completely shut down. I carry out the suppression of the outgoing signal to the security guard. The suppression is successful. - Turn off the cooling system and increase the temperature to the maximum. - The procedure for increasing the temperature has begun ... Successfully…. Attention you have 1 minute left to shut down the servers. - Data received. Christian returned to the elevator shaft and waited for a signal from Vasilisa when he could rise. - I start the phase of sabotage - said Vasilisa.   At this time, a hijacked helicopter with the symbols of "Scarlet Builders" flew to the building. Disguised androids came out of the helicopter and carried several crates of explosives with them. They entered the elevator and went down to the 20th, 10th and minus 5th floor. Since the guards were warned, they did not arise about why at 09.15 p.m. unknown people began to go down with an unknown load in a suitcase, but they clearly had a bad feeling about the “wrongness” of these events. Unfortunately for the guards of the 20th and 10th floors, the androids showed no mercy and began to shoot them. At the same time, Christian waited for the elevator and skip the android on the floor and lift up to the roof. When he was on the roof of the building, the alarm sounded altogether, and Christian himself flew away by helicopter.  - Well, here is my first gift on the occasion of my second birthday. Blow it up Vasilisa.  - With pleasure - said the machine. There was an explosion, the building was on fire and the beginning gradually melted. Sirens of fire engines, police and ambulance rang out in the city.  - Ivan this is Christian. Do you copy? - ……… - Ivan this is Christian! Do you copy?! Suddenly, Christian felt that someone was trying to “connect” with his soul. "Christian. Ivan is with us. You have what we need. Head to the Balwood mansion, alone. And remember, we are watching your actions.” – said unknown voice. In his heart, Christian became extremely cold with horror.

"M.A.S.H.A" At 08.00 p.m. on Petrovka Street of Moscow the old Volvo XC90 was dangling from side to side. In it were two local gopnik, who clearly drank a lot of hot drinks and enjoyed their impunity. One of them saw a guy running through the street, about two meters tall. Looking at each other, the two idiots nodded and thrust the gas pedal to the floor. This is the last thing they saw in their lives. Seeing the car rushing at him, Igor, nicknamed "Molchun", activated the power glove and hit the car with a swing. Because of the strong impact, the drivers were not fastened and flew out of the front window of the car. Igor was safe and sound. He looked at the remains of the gopnik and said "Fagots, blyat". From the trunk of the car came a strange squeaky sound causing intense irritation. Igor approached the remains of the car and with force opened the closed tailgate. There he discovered a metal case with the size of a ten-year-old child. To his surprise, there was indeed a child in the briefcase. The girl was with blond hair and short stature. Her face was angelic. The inscription “M.A.S.H.A” on the inner box had the same name on her hands, but with the decoding: mini android with special hacking abilities. "M.A.S.H.A" was dressed in a tight-fitting white synthetic suit. A few seconds after opening the case, the gas went out of the inner walls. This gas was a wake-up call for the android. The girl sat on her knees and began to look around. She looked at the damaged car, Igor and the street where she was.  - I am accessing the network. Access to the network is not possible. No internet connection. Searching for support. Allied forces not detected. A potentially dangerous person has been detected. Recommended action - escape. - Ehh - Igor sighed and grabbed the hand of the android without allowing her to escape. - and where do you want to run away being so beautiful? - Answer. A person is regarded as very dangerous for “M.A.S.H.A” an urgent escape is necessary. - Well what to do with you then? Eh. I have an internet connection at home. Will you go home with me? - Answer. Help is appreciated. The threat level is reduced to neutral. - Then do not run away from me, we are not far from my house. And take my hand. - Answer. Good. The two of them walked down Petrovka Street in the direction of the park, which was located on Strastnoy Boulevard. Despite the fact that it was evening, and the streets were lit by electric light. Android with surprise in the eyes admired the surrounding plants that grew or were planted at this time in May. She especially liked the blooming lilacs; their pink and purple flowers delighted the girl. - Analyzing the smell of the plant. Contains methyl anthranilate, benzaldehyde- - Just enjoy it silently Masha. - interrupted Igor vigorous android - Answer. Mmm Masha. Answer. I like. - That's good. In silence, the two reached the house of Igor on Tverskaya Street. It was full of foreigners who looked at the couple with suspicion, but that did not bother them. Together, they climbed the stairs to the 4th floor of a residential building, since the elevator was not there at all. Igor was often asked to work as a loader by his neighbors. He being a kind person willingly helped them. Igor lived in an apartment alone, he divorced 5 years ago with his wife. She took the children from him, which is why he paid child support once a month. Opening the door of his apartment, he let the girl inside, and he went to change into new clothes. Android at this time was sitting on the couch and analyzed the room. She saw family photos of Igor and his wife with children who were on the wall, an old Soviet oak wardrobe painted white. White curtains hiding slightly rusty heating pipe. From the window-sill of the balcony a black white cat jumped to her meeting, which immediately began to sniff the stranger. - Analyzing the animal. According to the database it is a cat. Beautiful - Masha began to stroke the cat - Analyzing. Soft. The disguised Igor in a sports suit and without a power glove came out of another room. Igor was holding a laptop with an internet cable connected to it. - Here is the internet. You asked. - Analyzing. I can not use it. - In the sense you can not? - Answer. I can use only wireless devices by connecting to them directly. There is no information about the need for manual data entry. - Eh. Wireless internet in this area is no longer connected. After the war, it all became a cultural and historical place. And I broke my internet router recently. - Answer. Need to contact AFRON corp. "M.A.S.H.A" was intended for this corporation. - Neptune's holy balls! - The question. What is it? - Do not pay attention. Why do you need to work for AFRON corp. ? - Answer. It was intended for hacking the system "Larz" of Bastion corp. The hacking attempt was partially successful. I was planning to take out illegally with the help of hired forces. - That was good running at Petrovka Street at the night. - Igor said out loud with sarcasm. - Forgive me Masha, I will not be able to deliver you to AFRON corp. - The question. Why? - Because they are traitors to humanity. They create monsters Masha. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes not. But they are all very obedient only to them. Without free will and self determination. And you are one of them. - Answer. I am not a monster. - Then let me show you not monsters Masha. On a laptop, Igor launched family videos, in which Igor, together with his wife and children, play in an apartment with a cat, go to the park, have fun, read poems, dress in elegant costumes. Masha started to cry. - The question. What happened with me? - You are crying Masha. - The question. Why am I crying? - Because you are a girl, not an android.   Masha burst into tears. Suddenly a white light illuminated the apartment. - Release the android immediately. It is owned by AFRON corp. Attempts to resist will be regarded as theft of private property.  - No way Fagots! Masha! Hide! I need my gear. Igor forced down a white wardrobe and set it horizontally, thereby closing the window. Shots from pistols and rifles were heard in the direction of his apartment. Igor opened the cabinet, inside of which was a case with power armor. "I would never have thought that I would owe Ivan again." - Okay, Masha. Now you know what it means to be a princess. Hide in the case. Faster. Masha climbed into a wide box, and Igor, meanwhile, was analyzing the situation. Soon the mercenaries will have to break into the apartment with the weapon at the ready. He has little time to think. Igor barricaded the front door with a chair. They started knocking on the door itself with a hammer trying to knock it out. At this time, mercenaries with weapons stood at the ready. Igor threw in their direction 2 combat grenades from his equipment and one smoke grenade, and then jumped out of his floor. The mercenaries did not have time to react in time when Igor and a girl in a box ran towards the subway. Because of sounds of shots and explosions screams of frightened people were heard everywhere. When Igor ran to the subway, the mercenaries managed to hit him in the foot and in the back, but his armored suit withstood the blow. Igor successfully got to the train and intimidated those around him. He had to go by train several stations to the "New Moscow". While he was moving, he dialed Ivan Sebastianov’s phone. The clock was 09.00 p.m. He did not pick up the phone. He then called the only contact he had left with Bastion corp. - it was Lida Mayakovskaya. - Hello Lida - Yes, I listen. Is this Igor right? - Yes, Lida. I have a trouble! I'm haunted by AFRON corp. please help me! - Where are you? - At the Krasnopresnenskaya metro station. - Proceed further, we will catch you. - Thanks Lida!   Around the same time. Somewhere in Africa.  “Mr. Balwood, I am afraid but I have a bad news.” "M.A.S.H.A" has been abducted.

Christian Schwartz has always been an unordinary person for his surroundings. He was born in Barcelona in 2022 to the family of German merchant magnate Nicholas von Schwartz and his wife Irina Krupskaya, an advertising manager from Catalonia, who was from Russia, but due to special circumstances she was forced to move to Spain, where she met her future husband . Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Koln, where he grew up. Born in an international family, Christian speaks fluent Spanish, German, Russian and English. Christian decided to seriously pursue an acting career at a young age. His mother decided to support his initiative and often invited him to shoot in advertising, various goods and services, where his appearance brought a huge income to brand owners. His global breakthrough came in 2037, when, together with his friends, he shot a video, where he advertised an energy drink on his Internet site. His video did not contain special effects, and he performed the tricks himself, because he always admired Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. And his famous song “You won’t run away from yourself” became the No. 1 hit in Germany, and then entered the top 10 best songs of the whole world. Of course, this was not the case without the support of a father who care for his child and his unique talents and regularly allocated funds for his development, but did not spoil him too much. When Christian was 17, he already became the owner of his own advertising firm, and there were 2 global things that hapened in the world at that time: the collapse of the UN, the emergence of the “Scarlet Builders”  global movement. By 2038, the UN was already holding out. UN officials were regularly caught on corruption and bribes. UN resolutions had no political weight due to the fall of the United States due to the collapse of its market system. In place of the old political system, a young, but already quite strong, movement “Scarlet Builders” began to emerge, which promoted universal globalization as the main idea. They promoted the need to control the development of human activity, because human actions have already caused not reparable damage in the first place to the humans. They denied the idea of nationality and called for tolerance. The best minds and stars of modern society increasingly appeared in social networks with the symbol of "Scarlet Builders" - the golden unfinished tower on a red background, around which there were three people: white, black and yellow. Soon different countries start support "Builders". Some countries tried to fight the movement, such as America, but unfortunately there was a civil war because of which in 2040 the Third World War began. In contrast to the science fiction novels, which described that nuclear rain from the sky in the form of Russian rockets falling from the sky, the reality of 2040 showed the opposite. Ordinary soldiers from different countries, who somehow supported the “Scarlet Builders” movement, took the weapon in their hands. News reports about the explosion at a military warehouse in any country were common. When the “Builders” traveled to any nuclear warhead bunker, they either captured the territory where it was located or removed the ammunition and used it for threats in the future. As a result of the global war, about a dozen new countries appeared in their place. However, some countries were able to successfully break the resistance of the population and successfully capture some of the new territories. In Eurasia, it was the German Union that emerged after the unification of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, the Russian Union of the Federation after reunification with Ukraine and part of the territories of Mongolia, and the East Chinese Union after the accession of Vietnam to China by signing a peace treaty and providing assistance to combat ”Scarlet builders”. In his 18 years, Christian goes to fight with his compatriots on the Belgian front. There he met Ivan Sebastianov, who, as part of the UN peacekeeping forces, was sent to Belgium to suppress the forces of the “Scarlet Builders”. According to UN intelligence reports, at that time the weakest resistance of the “builders” forces was in this part of the country, so Ivan Sebastyanov’s father, having connections at the UN, was able to send his son away from the war that flared up in Russia at that time. His other children were not so obedient and volunteered to go to the local front themselves. Naturally, without the help of their rich father, they did not remain and were able to successfully achieve considerable military success. However, Christian and Ivan waited for a strong ambush on the part of the “Scarlet Builders”, as a result of which they were surrounded for two days, until reinforcements from the German military forces and the UN came to them. While surrounded, Christian was able to destroy one enemy transport, and Ivan killed two soldiers. Both received bullet and shrapnel wounds when the Allied forces tried to pull them out. Later they were taken to the hospital, and a year after they were restored, they again went to the front. At the beginning of 2041, the UN ceased to exist after the terrorist attack of the “Scarlet Builders” in their main building, organized by one of the UN employees, who freely carried the terrorists directly into the conference hall. After all the countries officially announced their withdrawal from the UN. The global economy has begun a crazy hurricane of rising and falling prices for products, precious metals, and vital resources due to the fact that some companies have supported or resisted the ideas of “Scarlet Builders”. As a result, the world market stood on two sides, and soon ceased to exist, transforming itself into the so-called “Scarlet Market” and “Market of World Countries”. Trade between countries was under threat, which was used by bandits, pirates and hackers who could not leave a piece of such a tasty pie in the open. Having passed through the baptism of fire with his comrade Christian, Ivan persuaded his father to leave him in Belgium until the complete suppression of enemy troops and gangster groups. Than both of them deserved to themselves glory and honor. Christian became the main face of the detachment, and his videos were broadcast on the territory of Belgium, calling for him to lay down arms and stop fighting. Natural charisma brought glory to Christian Schwartz and the title of a true peacemaker. After the end of the war and the signing of peace agreements in the world temporary calm appeared. Global corporations took matters into their own hands, as they held world capital in their hands. Nicholas von Schwartz and Mikhail Sebastianov were among the first opponents of the “Scarlet Builders”. Thanks to their connections and clandestine activities, they became the leaders of the “Market of the World Countries”, and soon gained strength capable of dictating the conditions to the “Scarlet Market”. After the tragedy in 2045, which happened on the roof of the Koenigstul Tower, Ivan took an oath that he would bring his friend back to life. And he succeeded. The Sebastianov family possessed a truly treasure among the treasures — the technology of soul manipulation. Its development began with the advent of the scientist Nikola Tesla, whose knowledge inspired Sebastianov's ancestor, Artur Ivanovich Sebastianov, to study electric current and his fascination with Eastern mysticism about special parts of the human body, allowing him to discover new energy flows and strengthen his soul and body. Combining this knowledge, he created a scientific group and Chinese mystics, some of whom later became part of the family of Sebastianov, which is why Ivan has a clearly defined face of an oriental person. Having adopted the oriental traits, the Sebastianov family soon became a real closed clan, secretly influencing the society of China and Russia. Information about this clan did not even enter the Chinese Internet and only the elect knew about it. Wealth, lack of information leaks, as well as loyalty to the clan allowed to develop the soul technology to such a level that it allowed to create special meditation rooms that allow a person to develop at an accelerated pace, actually becoming a “superman”. But everything had a flaw. The limitation of the technology was the perishable human envelope, which did not always keep pace with the development of the soul because of which the Sebastianov clan launched bioengineering developments. Thanks to their progress, incredibly strong fighters of the new generation came to the front, who decided the outcome of the battle faster than other people. That's how, thanks to science and Chinese mystic, Christian's consciousness was restored in the Skazka for 10 years. He studied everything anew, comprehended martial arts, studied science and Chinese military exercises. And then Ivan told him the news that Afron corp. was able to get the latest development of the clan Sebastianov and he needs the help of Christian. He agreed without hesitation.

In 2055, Moscow was greatly changed. New ecological skyscrapers were built in the western part of Moscow, and the old buildings were either completely demolished or left as cultural heritage sites if they were recognized by the relevant commission. Modern citizens and foreigners also visited the cultural center of Moscow on Tverskaya Street, but Moscow itself was no longer the capital of Russia. Instead, the capital of the Russian Union of the Federation was Kiev, which over the years after the Third World War has changed beyond recognition. Moscow itself was divided into two large formations “Old Moscow” and “New Moscow”. In the "Old Moscow" remained a cultural center and the so-called slums, with which the city leadership has not yet managed to fully clear. In "New Moscow" was, political, entertainment and research center of life of the newly formed state. Here is the tower Bastion corp. reaching a height of 752 meters, with the presence of several landing sites for helicopters and jet planes that could take off without acceleration, and also land neatly on a limited space. Just on such a platform soon landed a jet. Just like Ivan and Christian, Lida Mayakovskaya came out to meet guests in a long black dress with a silver ornament in the form of a flower on a belt. Older brothers Matvey and Leonid Sebastyanov came out of a dark jet plane. Both were tall and stately, in expensive black suits and both were twins. The only thing that distinguished them is the hairstyles and the presence of cybernetic implants on the face. Matvey had short-cropped hair, gray-blue eyes, straight chin and a large nose. At the temples he had a built-in implant that sent information to him directly to the brain, which allowed him to quickly navigate the current situation. Leonid had a more athletic build, unlike Matvey did not like implants. Instead, he used modern glasses with augmented reality technology. He was bearded and shaved bald.  - Welcome dear guests. Your father is waiting for you in the lobby. Everyone has already gathered - said Lida - Lidochka! Glad to see you - said Leonid and firmly hugged the maid. She was embarrassed. - It is your feature that always irritated me - said Matvey - What an example you are giving children Matvey. You should greet her normally! - Hello Lida! Satisfied? And now be kind and lead us to the father. - Of course.   Lida led the brothers into the elevator, on which they got to the 60th floor where there was a hall and a meeting room for leaders of Bastion corp. Each floor of the building had its own security with patrol androids of a new generation. The guards met the brothers, then asked them to leave their weapons, and then let them into the meeting room. Going into a luxurious room with a view of Moscow, the brothers saw Christian and Ivan sitting in an armchair and discussing something. The first rushed to meet Ivan was Leonid. He embraced him and shook his hand tightly. - Glad to see you Leonid - Ivan told him with a smile - Meet this Christian. - Hello Christian is glad to see you live again - I am also glad Leonid. The military operation in Lvov, under your leadership, made me admired. Get rid of the "Scarlet" terrorists without losing a single soldier, but only a few android combat worthy of respect. - I also heard about your exploits in Belgium, the peacemaker Christian. Let me introduce you to my brother, even though we are twins, but our characters are different like heaven and earth. - Could you not say this when I'm next to you, Leonid!! - Easy brother. Christian this is Matvey, Matvey this is Christian. - Very nice Matvey. Your company has long been working with my father's company. We really appreciate it. - I know - said Matvey. - Leave the formalities. Lida where is the father? I need to go to another meeting in Africa soon. - I'm afraid you will have to postpone it son - said Mikhail Sebastianov, who entered the hall. - Lidochka please bring tea to our guests and my sons. - Yes mr. Sebastianov.   Mikhail Sebastianov gesture all invited to sit down. In the room besides him, the three brothers and Christian was a group of scientists Bastion corp. who were silently waiting for the meeting to begin. Mikhail looked at everyone and began the meeting: - Gentlemen, I am glad that all finally gathered. The case took a serious turn. Our corporation is under threat due to the theft of a very important technological development. The technology was supposed to go on sale soon, but at the implementation stage there was an unforeseen leak from our side. A group of scientists led by Egor Karmanov decided to join the "Scarlet Builders". Their subversive activity was noticed and stopped, but they managed to transfer the development to AFRON corp, who had recently joined the “builders”. As you all know very well, they are our direct competitors, and since joining the "Scarlet Builders", they have become our enemies. To transfer to them any development, including our corporation, is a state crime. And now, Nadezhda Mikhailovna please, clarify the importance of this technology for my sons. A beautiful young brunette in a white robe, wearing a badge with the inscription «N. Slutskaya». The brunette adjusted her glasses, put the notes in front of her and began her presentation. - Since here gathered representatives responsible not only for their firms, but also the heads of security of Bastion corp. I will begin my report that illegal copying of the technology and not completely removing data from the Bastion corp. servers was stopped thanks to the artificial intelligence "Larz" relating to the corporation's internal security systems, developed by our department. The criminals themselves took the data using an invisible drone from the laboratory, and were soon detained by the internal security forces and were subsequently interrogated. The copied technology was to be released for sale at the end of this year. Its codename “Moroz” is a cryogenic technology that allows you to freeze the human body for 100 years, and then successfully thaw it without internal damage to the body. With this development, we could become monopolists in the market for 20 years and get high profits. However, in connection with the illegal actions of Yegor Karmanov, you will have to forget about the big profits. - Thanks for the report Nadezhda. I ask you to leave us alone colleagues. Thank you very much for your work. A group of scientists left the premises. Mikhail Sebastianov looked at his sons and said: - My children, we are in deep ass if we do not take action and as soon as possible. - How did they get on Karmanov? - Matvey asked. - our scientists are under surveillance full day! - This is what Matvey is to find out. Do you understand what's the matter? Egor received a message from the representative of AFRON corp. three days ago according to the analysis of Vasilisa. It took him less than two days to develop and prepare everything. This is very, I repeat very quickly for a scientist who did not receive training at the Skazka. That says that someone helped him from our clan. Perhaps it was our relatives or someone opened his mouth to a piece that is not able to digest. Nevertheless, the three of you I instruct this mission to protect the interests of our clan. Vasilisa will introduce you to the details. If you need something, let me know right away. Free. Mikhail Sebastianov left the room leaving our heroes in the assembly hall. On the threshold he stopped and told them at last  - If you have the opportunity. Bring technology back and steal anything from AFRON corp. Honestly they already fucked up. - Yes, father! - Ivan, Matvey and Leonid said in chorus.

Сristian, Ivan and Igor with battle broke through the enemies blocking their way on the territory of the Balwood mansion. During his escape, Igor threw Spiritual swords, a bunch of light grenades and flares to Ivan and Christian. Ivan and Christian fled ahead, Igor covered their retreat periodically by shooting enemies from a machine gun and throwing them with thermal grenades. At this pace, they reached the main gate, which Igor blew up from his grenade launcher. When they ran outside the mansion for a while, the enemy vampire chase temporarily stopped.   12.00 p.m. Balwood mansion. The mysterious blond man holding Ivan in captivity was beaten and kneeling in front of a bony creature that looked like a man, only thin skinned. He was very thin, which seemed to be blown away by the wind, but he was immovable and seemed to float on the surface of a richly finished floor.  “Edward, I'm disappointed in you.” - Said with a little hoarse skeleton. - at your age not to be ready for unforeseen circumstances, and so bad, so bad to react to them is a shame. Not only did you miss our development which could help us to fight with the Sebastianov clan, so you also missed them from one of the most important representatives, despite all the forces I gave you. “I am shorry mishter Kos-” - started babbling Edward left without a part of his teeth. - Be silent! - shouted "skeleton" - Who gave you the right to speak? You have put my master's plan under threat of failure, for which you speak to penal servitude and go to the mines in Outland. Take him away! Two servants of the "skeleton" raised the beaten vampire and took him with him through the opened passage to another world. Then a woman was brought into the office who threatened to kill Ivan. Her severed arm has already recovered, but now her freedom of movement was limited to the guards who protected her. - Ah Leander nice to see that you were able to recover but things are not waiting. Tell me about your successes. I hope you reached it, didn't you?  - Yes, Mr. Koschey. I have good news for you.     Meanwhile, our team of heroes was already close to the evacuation point. Igor launched an alarm rocket into the air informing the allies about the place of their position. In response to his hall, the Allied mercenaries launched their rocket, thus making it clear where they are. Ivan and Igor were already very tired of the race with the enemy, but Christian did not feel any discomfort despite the fact that he was left without a hand.  “Igor, check with the commander of the mercenaries if they have ground-to-ground short-range missiles,” he asked Igor.  - Huff huff, now. Eagle this is a Bear. Сopy.  - I hear you Bear - with a little noise, a voice answered on the line.  - Do you have short-range ground-to-ground missiles? Сopy.  - There is one modified Luna-X 11K00 missile system with two missiles. Сopy.  - Understand you Eagle wait for instructions. Сopy.  - Christian they have one installation with two missiles.  “Give them coordinates, my severed hand is still giving a signal.” - Accepted. Eagle this is a Bear. Sending target coordinates. How do you hear? Сopy that. - The bear is an eagle. Coordinates received. I start the launch.   The night sky lit up with two bright flashes that quickly flew in the direction of the Balwood mansion. Vampires had just begun to recover from the escape of our heroes, as death from above had already flown toward them. There was a bright flash, then a big bang. The whole area was littered with the remains of the mansion and corpses torn to shreds. Russian revenge was terrible, even for creatures from other worlds. Koschei, along with Leandra, watched it silently from Outland. He was very unhappy. Reaching the mercenaries, Igor and Ivan fell to the ground. Doctors ran up to them, who immediately took away them to a medical plane and sent them home. Christian and the mercenaries set off on another flight later. The next day, in the house of Ivan Sebastianov in his room, Christian, Leonid and Matvey met. They began to ask him about what happened yesterday.  - I don’t remember!  how many times I have to repeat it to you - Ivan began to speak irritably. - I do not remember what happened to me. I felt like I was hit on the head. The only thing that I remember as I leave the meeting hall. But I have not met anyone. All this time I should have been connected to Vasilisa, check her out!  - We have already done this Ivan. She did not notice that something happened to you, as well as did not notice any extraneous forces that could manipulate you. Everything looks as if you yourself decided to disconnect from the system of Vasilisa the Wise and give yourself into the hands of the enemy. - said Leonid.  - You need to be examined and preferably completely. Perhaps you have undergone hypnosis or any drug whose effect we do not yet know. - said Matvey.  - And you did not think that our system is imperfect? That and it can be bypassed! The world is full of unknown things Matvey and maybe we just ran into it.  - Maybe. But that's the problem. You were seen left with some lady and got into her car. How do you explain this Ivan?! - What?! No ... it can not be! It's impossible! - began to shout Ivan.  - You think I'm lying ?! Look yourself. - Matvey displayed video from surveillance cameras. They could see Ivan finishing the presentation to the applause of the hall, and then leaving the room. He is watched by several people, and then a girl comes up to him, whispers something in his ear, and then departs from him as if she does not know him. Then he disconnects from the system, goes down and gets into the car.  - In this car you drove to Richmond, then you disappeared from the sight of local cameras. Then we could not track you. - said Leonid. - Vasilisa warned all family members that you have disconnected from the system. We immediately raised the alarm and started looking for you. And you were found, we were in shock. Then came a message from Christian. It was very confusing. Therefore, we insist on your full medical analysis.  - The girl who held you in captivity is called Leandra Wilson. She is the adopted daughter of the owner of the Balwood mansion. The mansion was built in 2000 and was mainly rented out. She has some connections with AFRON corp., but “vampire factor” was not noticed in her. - said Matvey. - I ... I'm at a loss. It turns out that all this time I was on their hook? “I don't think so,” said Christian, “most likely they noticed you recently.” According to your materials, becoming a vampire takes some time. Perhaps they wanted to turn you into a member of their vampire family, but did not have time. When you were conscious, did you feel the influence of dark energy? - When the bag was removed from me, I was very dizzy, everything was as if in a fog, but then everything disappeared when Igor appeared. I managed to pull myself together and run with you. But here about the resistance to this phenomenon in my usual state and there can be no talk. Too ... too strong this "darkness". - Well, we will appoint you doctors in a few days. Come to your senses. Tomorrow your family will fly to you. We will have dinner together like the good old days. Right Matvey? - said Leonid. - Yes, yes, just come on, we have a lot to do now. - I will be near Ivan - said Christian.   Liza Sebastianova returned home from an antique shop. Her father often traveled, so she rarely ever managed to see him live, and not virtually like she always does. At the age of fourteen, the red-haired and blue-eyed beauty achieved considerable success in the clan. She was good at martial arts, knew how to shoot from a firearm, had an excellent mindset and knew how to communicate perfectly with girls of her age, which immediately caused envy of the latter. In an antique shop, she bought an old watch brand "Электроника", which were popular in the Soviet era. The watches were embellished in such a way that the buyer would like this very watch and hooked on Lisa. When she was at home, she looked at the antique clock that stood in the corridor. The time on the clock was 01.20 p.m. Lisa realized that now is the time for lunch and most likely she will find all the guests and her father in the living room. When she crossed the threshold of the room, then dropped her gift on the floor and screamed at what she saw. Matvey and Leonid Sebastian were unconscious in the room, and Christian was stifling her father. When Christian strangled him, he turned around and saw Lisa, who screamed at him. He made a small blow and Lisa hit the wall. When she almost fainted, she saw Christian take her to bed and say to her, «Forgive me, Lisa. It was necessary. I have to be a scapegoat».

Shinji looked at the chest of Goddess Vasilisa for a very, very, very long time. He had heard about the beauty of Russian women, but this beauty eclipsed them all. It seems that the Goddess was entertained by our young hero, who appeared before her absolutely naked without any hint of clothes. She was also in erotic outfit but with a little traditional Russian decorative elements*. Her hair was braided. The lips were painted bright red, and there was blush on her cheeks. Shinji was a typical Japanese, although they are all different from each other, he had the image of hikkomori. Unlike the Goddess, his hair was dark, his eyes were brown, his face was smooth, there were no scars, except for a mole on his right cheek. If he had been met by a man with whom he had studied a year ago, he would not have recognized him, even if Shinji had said that they were former classmates and were sitting at the same desk. “Did you like the look?” The Goddess asked, still playfully. "Yes, very ... aa sorry for my rude behavior!" “Hahaha, oh, don't worry here in the Skazka anything is possible, but you probably have a lot of questions?” “Please forgive me, but where am I? Why did I become this the Kolobok as the hare called me. Why did I see the inscriptions in Russian, when I could not see the rest? ” “Hmm 3 questions” - Vasilisa thought for a while - “You want to know too much Shinji and too easy. This will not work. To answer the first two questions you must complete your main quest. What was the quest about? Ah! Run away from Grandma and Grandpa, as well as from other players. And about why you saw all the inscriptions in Russian, the answer is very simple - everything is so arranged here! ” For some reason, the Goddess was very funny saying these words. As soon as Shinji wanted to ask her something else, Vasilisa came up to him and gently pressed her finger to his lips, saying “Shhshh, quietly, baby Shinji. Unfortunately, you can't ask me anything else. Your time has come to an end and you have to go on a mission. Well, so that you never forget me, I will give it to you. ” Blonde beauty gave Shinji a long and unforgettable kiss. During the kiss, he began to dissolve into thousands of small light particles, and then completely disappeared from the sight of Vasilisa the Wise. * Ding * Начат перенос души. Душа будет перенесена в the Skazka. Перенос души успешен. Начат главный квест «Побег от родителей». Осуществите побег любым способом за короткое время. Внимание Игрок считается проигравшим если не успеет сбежать от Бабушки, Дедушки, других Игроков» (Translation corner: The transfer of the soul has begun. The soul will be transferred to the Skazka. Soul transfer is successful. Started the main quest "Escape from the parents." Escape in any way in a short time. Attention а Player is considered a loser if he does not have time to run away from Grandmother, Grandfather, and other Players. ) Shinji again experienced sharp pain due to incomprehensible movements. Most recently, in a white room, he had a young, slim and thin body. Now he was again blind, lost his sense of smell and hearing. Like the last time, he began to feel unbearable heat, and later he saw this annoying big inscription in Russian. However, now he had at least a small but still a clue. He needs to run away from everyone who catches his eye, only in this way can he know what is happening to him. Only in this way he will be given information about the world around him. And yes, then he will have to endure this hell and wait in the wings. Shinji decided to analyze his situation again: “I either died and ended up in hell, or I am still alive and crazy Russian scientists are manipulating my consciousness. But how to explain this stunning kiss? He was so real! How to explain this sharp pain when I was transferred? Such pain without anesthesia would absolutely definitely pull me out of my deepest sleep. It is not scientific. But on the other hand, this girl was called the Goddess. Maybe this is really another world? Tsuruya said that he has unique abilities, which means I possess them too. It remains only to check what abilities I have. Also, this task clearly shows that I need to keep quiet and try to avoid all living creatures. Tsuruya is not my ally - he is the same victim as me. But he knows too much. No, I can't trust him yet. I need to complete the task! Shinji's courage is probably worth the envy. He sustained the furnace’s furnace, waited for the “key enemies” of his mission to fall asleep, and immediately set off. This time, he turned to the right of the house where Grandma and Grandpa lived. While driving, he tried to mentally invent any skills that would help him to travel. He shouted "Acceleration" - did not work. "Amplification!" - did not work. “Strengthening! - did not work ... He listed various names of skills from all the games in which he had ever played, no matter how absurd they seemed to him. Somewhere after about 30 minutes, he realized a simple truth - without knowing the local language, it is impossible to activate skills here. So only one thing remains - rolling with all his might. Like last time on his way, Shinji came across only stones, trees, small streams. There were no living creatures around him at all, apart from flying birds and insects, but Shinji did not feel them with his “Eye of the Soul” as he called his skill. Apparently, "The Sight of the Soul" allowed him to see only the creatures belonging to his task and mission, which was still burning with a bright light before his eyes. Suddenly, he felt that he was scared and that someone was following him. * Ding * Вы испытываете на себе убийственное намерение. Вас преследует the Volk. Пассивный навык «Побег» активирован. Ваша скорость увеличена на 200 % (Translation corner: You feel a killing intention. You are haunted by the Volk. Passive skill “Escape” is activated. Your speed increased by 200%.) Shinji felt he was moving faster in space, which was good for him, as he clearly sensed the presence of a rapidly approaching death on his four paws. This creature could only be a wolf. If killer rabbits most often appear in the world of reincarnates, then wolves will always be there. This representative of the forest family moved with such speed that if the wolves would participate in the 100-meter wolf Olympiad, they would call it Usain Wolf. On top of that, when the wolf caught up with Shinji, he heard quite loud, disturbing and rhythmic music **. The closer the Wolf was, the louder the music was. But you have to pay tribute to it, music made Shinji roll as if he were a heavenly wheel. He tried to maneuver, but blindness and forest stumps impeded him very much. Soon the wolf overtook him and bit the Japanese bun over its side. Вы получили критический урон. Вы потеряли 30 единиц здоровья. *Ding * «Главный квест: «Побег от родителей» - Провален. Вы погибли от рук игрока». Начат перенос души. Душа будет перенесена в котел № 569. (Translation corner:You have received critical damage. You have lost 30 health points. "The main quest:" Escape from the parents "- Failed. You died at the hands of a player The transfer of the soul has begun. The soul will be transferred to the boiler № 569.)     * Ding * Вы получили 20 единиц опыта. Ежедневное задание «Колобок» выполнено. Вам открыт доступ в котел № 347. Внимание вам отведено время на отдых: 30 минут. (Translation corner: You gained 20 experience points. Daily task "Kolobok" is completed. You have access to the boiler № 347. Attention you have time to rest: 30 minutes.) A wolf named Christian chewed his loaf with pleasure. It was divine as always. This was probably his twentieth prey. Before he can increase his level, he needs to eat several hares and these Kolobok and then he will be able to get a new task. Thanks to his skill, which he called "Happy Pursuit", he could accelerate while enjoying his music, which was playing during the pursuit of his prey. This the Skazka was just a fantastic place. The room in which he lived, provided him with various opportunities ranging from watching movies, to being able to learn anything. But Christian did not bother. Daily hunting, viewing of favorite shows even after death brought him good mood. What more could he want? He was not eager to learn the local language because it was useless to him. He had no doubt that he could still take care of himself and about his prey too ...   * picture for reference -  http://lux.fm/uploads/importedNews/add/2012/12/33bc2a26887f322e01c5aa6f89084051f213d939.jpg ** the Volk song - https://soundcloud.com/justicehardcore/ppe

11.25 p.m. The Balwoods mansion was relatively small compared to the rest of the elite houses of the former South African Republic. It was surrounded by coniferous trees unusual for this area, which were clearly modified for this warm area. Also, the mansion was not far from Richmond. It was here that Christian went immediately to the rescue of Ivan. Despite the indication of an unknown voice, he still warned Bastion corp. about the abduction of Ivan. From the management of the company came a decree to act alone according to the instructions given, to apply force if necessary. Mercenary forces of Bastion Corp will coming up to Richmond and give support to the evacuation of VIP. Meanwhile, Christian stood in front of a massive high-tech gate, which was not guarded from the outside. A signal sounded and the gate swung open in front of him, revealing to Christian a view of the lake and the mansion standing next to it. Near the lake ran the road leading to the mansion. A dim light burned in the mansion make it more gloomy than it was in reality. For the time while Christian walked to the house, he wasn’t met by any guards, watchdogs or androids. It seemed to him that the mansion was uninhabited, but this feeling was false. Here was Ivan and the unknown enemy. He entered the building, walked through several white rooms in which the windows were open and the night wind stirred the curtains. Then he entered a large, dark room in which he saw a man wearing a black bag. - Ivan? - Christian asked. Suddenly, a woman emerged from the shadows and pressed a dark dagger to Ivan’s throat. “Do not make any sound,” she said, and took off black bag and allowed Ivan to see Christian. At the same time, a tall man appeared in the same way. He was wearing an Italy Renaissance men's suit decorated with gold. His neck had a white jabot, his hair was long and blond. His look exuded an incredible charisma, and his face was so beautiful that it would make all the 14th century court ladies blush if they lived to the present day. Unfortunately for him, Christian did not like the handsome man and kidnappers of his best friends. He pointed a gun at the man and said: “Release Ivan immediately!” The man smiled at him and said:  “I’m afraid you’re in no position to dictate terms to me Christian — then he transmitted his thoughts «telepathically». - Especially when you are in my territory! - Who are you? - That is correct question Christian! However, your friend - A man claps Ivan on the shoulder - Ivan seems? He knows the answer. Now it does not matter, because you have what we need in your hands. And I need you to bring it in exchange for Ivan. As a gesture of goodwill, I have showed you personally that he is safe and sound. - What do you need? - We have learned that you own the technology that originally belongs to us, and yet you brazenly came to our house and decided to rob us? This will not work. - What technology are you talking about? - Didn't they tell you? Stop fooling around! You have my android in your hands! And my work that you destroyed! Do you think I'll just let you both go? - From the shadows, even more people began to appear armed with cold weapons.  - If I give you the development now, and then the android you let go of Ivan? - Christian asked. - No Christian, I need everything at once, but I see you have no android with you. We'll have to take away your booty from you by force - the man said and bared his fangs.   An hour earlier on the experimental teleportation launcher of Bastion corp., located on a secret base in Vladimir. Igor was in a special capsule dressed in the newest power armored suit. Inside the capsule were several compartments with weapons intended to fight "vampires". Creatures appeared as a result of the crossing of creatures from another world and people.  The creatures from another world were disembodied and they could capture instantly the bodies of specially selected people. After a long possesion the so-called «spirit» transformed dramatically the human body and give him metaphysical properties, for example: «Telepathy», «Telekinesis», «Pyrokinesis», «Clairvoyance» and so on. "Vampires" spread throughout the world after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, but not as a result of the explosion itself, but earlier as part of one of the USSR’s secret experiments on installing a telepathic signal using special radio equipment. Unfortunately, the experiment was unsuccessful. Some scientists went mad, and some were captured by dark creatures from another world, as a result of which they were transformed into "vampires." When the entire USSR was focused on the Chernobyl disaster, the “vampires” were able to leave the USSR completely unnoticed and go to other places. There, mingling with the crowd, they began to strengthen their positions by manipulating gangsters, mercenaries and other people, seeking their interests. Unlike television vampires, these creatures did not like only one thing from which they were directly vulnerable - spiritual energy. According to the research of the clan Sebastianov, as in our world in the other world, there are natural forces affecting the surrounding space, the so-called “mirror forces”. For example, if, in the understanding of man, earth is friable material from which it is possible to create some form. In the other world, it will be a subject of various forms that you can manipulate turning it into another form or material with the help of soul manipulation. The same was true, for example, of the force of inertia, it was not you who moved in space, this space moved towards you according to your soul influence. The stronger the soul was, the faster or stronger the effect was. In fact, this meant that the soul could not move independently in space; instead, the object was attracted to the soul. What caused real chaos because other creatures also had their will and could resist the influence of the soul. However, the most interesting thing is that such a “movement” did not affect the space as a whole, but only what the soul was able to “move”. If the subject was too massive, then the soul, on the contrary, was attracted to it. The natural forces of the other world did not yet succumb to human explanation, but human souls in it looked like sources of light and attracted other microscopic or larger creatures. The soul could not only exude light, but also send a wave of spiritual energy with it, which frightened the local inhabitants. In its pure form, the spiritual energy delivered a direct blow to the soul after which it needed to recover, just like the body in the real world. Due to the fact that the surrounding objects could easily change the form and content, spiritualistic energy could also change depending on the will of its applying. Thanks to the technology of the soul, the clan Sebastianov managed to create special weapons that could be used exclusively by clan members and it was cold weapons such as swords, axes, halberds, and so on. Masha and Mikhail Sebastianov came up to the capsule.  - Igor. Do not worry about Masha, we will not give her to them. She is too important for us. And it will be too dangerous if she finds herself again in the hands of enemies. In addition, your task is only distraction. Our planes are already flying to Richmond. There are several units of our mercenaries and androids, they will cover your departure. If something goes wrong, pull out the body of my son. The Volk can protect itself. Good luck and go with God. Mikhail and Masha moved away from the capsule for some distance. A group of scientists began to activate the teleportation launcher.  - The countdown has gone. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Start!

Narima Shinji woke up from the fact that he became unbearably hot. So unbearable that it seemed to be fried in a hellish cauldron. When he more or less woke up, he realized that he was really fried, or to be more precise, he was baked in the oven. The heat was unbearable for an ordinary person, but Narima was not a person, at least for now. After 30 minutes of being baked in the oven, his skin, if it could be called a skin, acquired a ruddy hue typical of all baked goods. After some time, the cast-iron roof of the stove opened, and then a shovel appeared, which hooked Shinji out. Shinji did not see who took him out of the furnace, but he was very grateful to them for bringing him out of this hell. In some incomprehensible way for a person, he could feel that 2 people stood in front of him. Everything else that surrounded him was invisible to Shinji, except for tactile sensations. * Ding *«Главный квест: «Побег от родителей». Осуществите побег любым способом за короткое время. Внимание Игрок считается проигравшим если не успеет сбежать от Бабушки, Дедушки, других Игроков»(Translation corner:"The main quest:" Escape from the parents. " Escape in any way in a short time. Attention A player is considered a loser if he does not have time to run away from Grandmother, Grandfather, and other Players.) The inscription he saw was bright and large. And it was in a language that Shinji did not understand. A quick inspection prompted him that most likely it was a Russian language, in which he did not understand a damn thing. Shinji was an ordinary Japanese schoolboy, the majority of whom. But for some reason, it was he who turned out to be the bun among the thousands of people.Shrunken and old hands clasped Shinji on both sides and began to move him from place to place. Shinji felt that people were saying something about him, but he couldn't quite understand what exactly he was. * Ding *«Поздравляем вам дали имя Колобок#234789524! Раса: «Хлебный голем», ваши навыки: …..»(Translation corner:“Congratulations you have a name Kolobok # 234789524! Race: Bread Golem, your skills: ... .. ") The message was very long and not understandable. Shinji couldn’t understand what was going on. When he was again taken on his hands, he tried to somehow move, but the reaction of people made him change his mind and stop doing it. For as soon as he began to move, men squeezed him harder, as if trying to hold him in place.There were a trace on his body from the hands, which slowly recovered in the original rounded shape. "I must run," thought Shinji. - "The longer I am here, the greater the risk of being eaten." Shinji was a small, round, baked lump of dough that was far from Japan in an incomprehensible place. Most likely it was Russia judging by the inscriptions that glowed brightly before his eyes. And most recently, he enjoyed life, sang funny songs while going to school and in parallel wrote messages on the phone to his friends, after that he was found dead in accident. Headphones in the ears, the phone in front of the eyes, complete confidence in his safety, created excellent conditions for Truck-kun to knock him down with one blow, precise and merciless to imbeciles. Now Shinji was waiting for people to calm down and fall asleep because they couldn’t rush with him around the room all day. Soon it happened. Shinji felt that the activity of its creators had noticeably decreased, and using the newly developed “vibration mode”, he slowly rolled from living signatures, which he clearly felt with his poor ass. Through trial and error, he felt that he had felt the threshold separating him from the place of death and the open space, which was not yet clear what threatened him. Finally, having decided, he rolled over the threshold of the door and rolled left far away from his creators. During his journey he came across stones, fallen trees, small rivers, but Shinji did not stop. Suddenly, he felt stuck in a hole from which he could not escape. A little later, he felt that a creature was approaching him. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Kolobok! What a surprise!” - Said a certain creature. Shinji couldn’t stand it: “Who is here? Who are you? What do you want? " - “Easy dumplings, there’s no need to shout like that.” - the creature replied.- "You .. can you hear what I'm saying?"-"Yes, and clearly"- “What happened, why did I become a loaf? What the hell is that? ”“Well, you can say so, but in fact you are in the Skazka or a fairy tale according to ours”"How do you understand me? Are you Japanese too?""Yes. I've been here for 3 years. I try to survive, but it doesn't always work out ... ”“My name is Narima Shinji. Could you please tell me your name? ”“Tsuruya Tenshi. Originally from Okinawa. 34 years old, died in the laboratory due to an accident. And how did you get here? ”“Car accident in Akihabara”"My condolences""Me too. Say Sempai. What is this message that hangs before my eyes. Except for numbers, everything is completely unclear. ”“This is your status, as in a computer game, only in Russian. Unfortunately, no one ever came across to me from a compatriot who could say what is written here. But I know someone who could help you with that. ”“It's great, senpai. By the way, tell me can you describe yourself because I don’t see you at all. ”“I'm a hare. Common forest hare actually. My only difference is that I have some strange abilities. For example, I have the ability to "disguise", which allows me to become invisible if I do not move. Most likely you also have unique abilities "“Is it like in those stories about reincarnates?”"But we digress"“What does Sempai mean?”  Shinji sensed a change in the mood of this strange rabbit, who stood and did not at all try to pull him out of the pit. "Well, I promised to help you with the language?""Yes ... Sempai" The hare sharply bit a bun named Shinji and said "So I will help you now!" Вы потеряли 30 единиц здоровья.* Ding * «Главный квест: «Побег от родителей» - Провален. Вы погибли от рук игрока»Начат перенос души. Душа будет перенесена в котел № 569.(Translation corner: You have lost 30 health points. * Ding * "The main quest:" Escape from the parents "- Failed. You died at the hands of a player. The transfer of the soul has begun. The soul will be transferred to the boiler №569.) Shinji felt like he was being sucked by something with great force, which made him terribly sick. After some time, he saw that he was in a white room, and in front of him sat an incredibly beautiful European woman with blond hair and blue eyes. Her face and big breasts seemed to have disappeared from the pages of Playboy magazine, which he secretly bought from his parents during a trip to Europe. With her languid gaze, the beautiful turned her tender look on him. At that very moment, Shinji wanted to be on her knees, but he held back his impulse because he needed knowledge and truth. “Greetings, Shinji. I am the Goddess Vasilisa the Wise. Welcome to the Skazka. ”

01.23 p.m., 2045, Heidelberg, German Union. Ivan Sebastiyanov driving his Koenigsegg CCXR trevita to a modern nightclub in Heidelberg, which opened in the Koenigstul tower. In the car playing Kavinsky - Nightcall. The newly-popular synthwave “inspires” music creators with its inspiration, and the DJs of the modern world rush to bring joy to their fans. Just at such a party and goes Ivan. At this party, promises to gather all the golden youth of modern German society, as well as invited influential foreigners. Ivan is one of the VIPs of this party. Besides him, there will be his old friend Karina Mayakovskaya, who will also be the VIP guest of this party. Both of them are the children of their completely unimaginably rich parents. If something happens to them, an international scandal may occur, so the German police secretly set a surveillance mode for them using the latest development - invisible drones. After three years of the third world war, society changed again. Powerful clans and trade syndicates entered the political scene. In contrast to the slow government, trade syndicates and clans were far more mobile in making important strategic decisions, and they were no longer bound by territorial boundaries, since they actually dictated their will to state power. The economy of the German Union in 2045 developed in full swing. After the third world war, the world was swept by a wave of scientific discoveries that were previously used by the military and became generally available to the public. Cyber ​​implants that have been working autonomously for a year due to new batteries, virtual reality technologies have crossed all imaginable borders, and now it has been very difficult for an ordinary person to distinguish reality from virtuality. Androids were everywhere, and the old pre-war trading malls were demolished. Now you could only do shopping virtually, the product itself was delivered to you by an android courier. But all this was widely available to middle-class modern youth. For the rich kids, there was a completely different fun: the illegal hunt for people in the old part of Heidelberg; bullet races to death, where you could put huge sums of money on drivers ready to risk everything for profit; secret fashion show in clothes made from animals caught in the Red List of the whole world and so on. Ivan gradually approached the borders of the Altstad district. The green 400 meter tower Koenigstul was built on the site of the former pre-war park. The tower was built according to a trendy ecological pattern, green trees were on each floor of the tower creating a beautiful image of the buildings of elves from modern fantasy games. Arriving at the tower, Ivan met а valet, to whom Ivan silently handed over the keys of the car without paying any attention to him. Karina met him in the white hall of the tower. She arrived 5 minutes earlier than Ivan. Ivan kissed her on the cheek, exchanged a couple of regular phrases, and then they began to climb the high-speed elevator to the roof of the skyscraper where music was already playing. When the couple got out of the elevator, they hit the lounge bar, where relaxation music was muffled. Here, the rich sons sat surrounded by elite whores and used a variety of alcohol. Some were content with drugs. Here Ivan saw his other acquaintance - the German Christian, the son of the owner of the conglomerate Schwartz BC . Christian, in contrast to the rest, was fond of cyber-narcotics, popular with young people of low class, but his equipment was much better than those of the unfortunate people who bought cyber-drugs on the street. You can say his drugs were top notch, not addictive, not causing a change in consciousness, but simply completely creating a different reality, as if you were in another world. Ivan walked over to Christian and easily touched him on the shoulder, awakening him from a virtual dream.  - Whаt? What time is it now? And this is you Ivan! Oh and Karina is with you, great! I decided to "fly" a little while you were away.  - Hello Christian - said Ivan  - Hi Christian. Nice to meet you live - said Karina.  - Mutually  - I hope the party won't be boring?  - Oh, don't doubt Ivan, the fun is assured. - Christian looked at his watch - the battle will start very soon, you are just in time.  - Okay, how about drinking a couple cups of forty-year-old absinthe?  - Don't mind  - So do I. The three of them went to the VIP Lodge of the club, from which they have a view to the pool, dance floor, and DJ area. At this time, the song "ANDROMEDA" by the band DANCE WITH THE DEAD began to play. Hearing a favorite song, many immediately went to dance, the rest watched from the side. After the song was played, the DJ turned down the sound, and began announcing the start of the underground battle - another fun of the evening. The "beasts" participated in the battle, called due to errors in the gene code resulting from artificial interference with the human genome. Such people had distinctive external signs resembling animals — elongated ears, powerful muscles, aggressive temper, incredible loyalty to the owner, and also a nose sensitive to the slightest odor. On this day, Igor, nicknamed “Molchun” - a two-meter giant resembling a bear, participated in the battle. He was the property of the VAN Group owner, which was Ivan Sebastianov and Abelard, nicknamed "Phoenix", a German crocodile-like giant from AFRON corp. This fight was in honor of the company, as it tested the latest developments in bioengineering. And both companies have been leaders in this market for 3 years and have been constant competitors for each other. The host of the show enthusiastically greeted the assembled public, then a fencing of the soldiers from the public got out from under the floor. At this very time, our heroes watched the fighters from the VIP Lodge. The leader announced the beginning of the battle and the fighters, like angry dogs, pounced on each other. Both were masters in their martial art. They beat each other with the power of a truck, evaded attacks, carried out seizures. Soon there were numerous cuts, bites, and bruises on their bodies. In order to raise the degree of tension in the sky, a helicopter was raised, which, with its searchlight, illuminated the fighters, while the local lighting was turned off. Finally, “Molchun” made a series of quick strikes at a gaunt “Phoenix”, knocking him out. Ivan won. With a satisfied face, he approached a representative of AFRON corp., Who was the only person of the company that evening. The remaining guests of this company had already retired when they realized that Phoenix would lose.  - Congratulations on your victory mr. Sebastianov. It was a great match.  - I agree, your fighter was not bad either. I will wait for my winnings tonight.  - Of course, payment will be sent on time.  - Good  - Oh, let me give you another gift.  - What is it?  - Oh, a light show is organized in your honor. Initially it was for us, but we can leave the losers with our heads held high. When the show starts you can see it at the pool in all its glory.  - I will drink to your health when I enjoy the show.  - Mutually mr. Sebastianov Ivan called his friends to come to the pool. The light show began with the symbols of VAN Group, and then the sky lit up with the light of fireworks. At this time, the doctors brought to life a knocked-out “Phoenix”. When he came to himself, he heard a strong annoying sound coming from the pool. He tried to dismiss it, pressed his hands to his head in the hope that the sound would subside a bit. At this time, DJ played “Looking For Tracy Tzu” - Carpenter Brut and no one paid any attention to “Phoenix”, except Christian. "Phoenix" was distraught and ran with a fierce cry towards the hated noise. For a few moments, he reached the pool and jumped over it, and then once again jumped towards the source - Ivan Sebastianov. Christian saw it as if in slow motion pushed Ivan aside, but unfortunately he himself came under attack. Together with the "Phoenix" they fell from 400 meters in height. A few minutes later the police arrived, witnessed the death of Christian Schwartz and the “beast” Abelard "Phoenix". 07.30 a.m., 2055 Somewhere in the depths of VAN Groups.  - All is ready? - asked Ivan Sebastianov  - Yes - replied the engineer technician.  - Great, we are ready to start a traitor hunt, right Volk?  - Yes Ivan - Christian answered - no one will hide from me with this body. Not in this life.

Shinji appeared in an empty white room. For some reason, the goddess Vasilisa the Wise was absent, but in her absence, Shinji had at least time to think about his deplorable situation. And there was a lot to think about. For example, how to overtake the "Hardcore" wolf, which rushes at the speed of three Kolobok? Or maybe in which direction now he will be moving if Shinji again has to run away from some unknown beast with an incomprehensible ability. While Shinji was in thought unnoticed by him, Vasilisa crept up from behind him. - Boo! - Ahhh! - scared Shinji -  Goddess it is you! You scared me! - Hihi silly Shinji, you failed the task again right? - Yes Goddess, I was attacked by a strange wolf, which was racing at the speed of the train. And during the escape from him loud music played. - Oh, that wolf! This is The Volk also know as Christian. He is from Germany and quite a harmless fellow. - He killed me! - Yes, yes, I know perfectly well - Vasilisa smiled quite - doesn’t that make you crazy that some kind of crazy wolf slaughters right and left, and you can’t fight him back? Shinji felt growing anger. - Yes, Goddess! - Don't give up Shinji. The last thing here in the Skazka is least appreciated is despair, despondency and laziness. So whether you want it or not, but you have to find a way out. - You are so kind Goddess! - Come here to me, I will comfort you my dear Shinji! A luxurious bed decorated with gold and precious stones appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a white room. On the bed lay pillows with patterns embroidered with gold thread, and on the edges of the bed were racks depicting angels. The goddess sat on the bed and motioned Shinji to lie down on her knees. Shinji is like a sheep, obediently laid down and experienced incomparable pleasure. Later he dissolved into thousands of light particles and again found himself in a hot oven. His circle of hell began again.   Repeating the cycle of events, Shinji decided this time to go straight to an unknown destination. Surprisingly, Shinji didn’t come across any stones, fallen trees or forest stumps on the way. The road was extremely flat, as if specially created for traveling bakery products like the Kolobok, which made Shinji incredibly happy. Soon he saw a small creature the size of Tsuruyu Tenshi. Like last time this creature was a hare. Shinji decided to exercise caution and asked, "Sampai is that you?". The hare did not respond to the loaf, but the Russian system responded. * Ding * «Главный квест: «Побег от родителей» - Выполнен. Начато новое задание «Побег от Зайца». Осуществите побег любым способом за короткое время. Внимание Игрок считается проигравшим если не успеет сбежать от Зайца или других Игроков». (Translation corner: "The main quest:" Escape from the parents "- Complete. Started a new task, "Escape from the Hare." Escape in any way in a short time. Attention A player is considered a loser if he does not have time to escape from the Hare or other Players. ”) The green-ticked message gave Shinji hope that he was moving in the right direction. Meanwhile, the hare began to speak something in Russian, in response to which the Kolobok began to speak Russian independently without Shinji, as if he was just a spectator in this conversation. When the conversation was over, Shinji jerked away from the hare with all might. After some time, he met a wolf, and then a bear. With these two, a programmed dialogue took place, and the alert window lit up with 2 more additional green check marks. Judging by the remaining blank line in the alert, it remains for him to go through another programmed beast and mission will be complete. So it happened. Ride a little more on the way, he saw a creature resembling a wolf, but smaller in size. Shinji without hesitation got almost close to the beast, to consider it closer and start the quest. Unfortunately for Shinji, it was the Player. And then a message popped up in Russian:   Вы находитесь под воздействием очарования игрока the Red Lisa. the Red Lisa использует навык «Обжора». Вы съедены. *Ding* «Главный квест: «Побег от Медведя» - Провален. Вы погибли от рук Игрока» Начат перенос души. Душа будет перенесена в котел № 569. (Translation corner: You are under the influence of the charm of the Red Lisa. the Red Lisa uses “the Glutton skill”. You are eaten. * Ding * "The main quest:" Escape from the Bear "- Failed. You died at the hands of the Player » The transfer of the soul has begun. The soul will be transferred to the boiler number 569.)   Shinji appeared in a deep red room with lots of torture tools. In front of him stood the Goddess Vasilisa in a black tight latex suit. In the hands of the Goddess was a whip and she clearly held it not for the pleasure of Shinji. Instead of the gentle and pleasant look that Vasilisa gave to Shinji earlier, the girl looked at him with cold contempt and hostility. - You failed mission again Shinji - she said coldly. - Forgive me, I was too presumptuous, this will not happen again - he begged the Goddess - Yes, this will not happen again, because you have a penalty quest for yours violation of the Skazka by dying without completing the task. So now my dear Shinji, you will soon discover new abilities in yourself that you haven’t even imagined. Shinji swallowed nervously, and then a sharp pain came. He was moved somewhere again. Recovering, he found himself in a room with other rolls similar to him. There were thousands of them. Tens of thousands, as if he was in a factory for the production of dumplings. Actually, he practically guessed the place in which he is, but what will happen to him later on he had no idea ...

- Дамы и господа! Сегодня в 1257 тираже мы разыграем для вас 50000 очков опыта, денежные призы и специальные навыки!Правила игры не изменились с момента ее основания. Наши Koloboks попадут в общий котел, где будут пытаться убежать от волка. Когда волк укусит the Kolobok с номером вы зачеркиваете цифру на своем билете. 5 совпадений в строке в первом раунде приносит джекпот в размере 250 тысяч очков опыта 20000 единиц виртуальной валюты. Если джекпот не разыгрывается победят те билеты в которых будут зачеркнуты все 30 цифр билета. Я также напоминаю, что те счастливчики, у которых в билетах остались не зачеркнутые цифры получат особые навыки для своих образов, а для колобков, которые останутся в живых, мы дадим дополнительный шанс пройти главный квест! Это еженедельная лотерея здесь нет проигравших, только победители! Ну а теперь без лишних слов мы начинаем Talantlantid's loto! (Translation corner: - Ladies and Gentlemen! Today, in 1257 lottery draw, we will play for you 50,000 experience points, cash prizes and special skills! The rules of the game have not changed since its inception. Our Koloboks will fall into the common pot, where they will try to run away from the wolf. When the wolf bites the Kolobok with a number, you cross out the number on your ticket. 5 matches in a row in the first round brings a jackpot of 250 thousand experience points and 20,000 virtual currency. If the jackpot is not played, those tickets will win in which all 30 figures of the ticket will be crossed out. I also remind that those lucky ones who have not crossed out numbers in the tickets will get special skills for their images, and for Koloboks that will survive, we will give them an additional chance to complete the main quest! This is a weekly lottery there are no losers, only winners! Well, now, without further ado, we begin Talantlantid's loto!) Distribution tape earned and carried dumplings towards the so-called the Bochka. The Bochka was an arena with a big black wolf in the middle. Its size allowed to swallow Kolobok entirely. The Host announcing the start of the lottery approached the podium to announce the numbers that the wolf will “pulled out” of the Bochka. The Host was a slightly plump man, of a European type, with a long and wide mustache. His appearance said that he was more likely to be a butler than a host, but nevertheless there was a joyful smile on his face and his skill at playing on camera, said that he was more than worthy of the title of professional. Shinji fell on the sandy surface in the Bochka. Around Shinji was a lot of Koloboks, whom he saw with his "Look of the Soul". Each of them spoke Japanese. His compatriots and Shinji himself cursed the Russians for what they did to them. But when the dumplings began to fall in the Bochka, panic and chaos began. Koloboks tried to escape in different directions, but soon ran across high walls that they could not overcome. Some rolls began to jump on the walls, which was very surprising for Shinji, since he still could not do that. However, looking at the wolf, who was waiting for command, he realized that he would soon learn it. On his baked body, Shinji had a bright number "38", Shinji himself did not see this, but the bright information screen, which previously showed his progress on the quest, now burned with number 38. From all the Host's speech, Shinji only realized that it was a kind of lottery which dumplings will be the victims of the wolf, and they themselves are just numbers for crossing out the ticket, that's how much their life was appreciated. When the last of the Kolobok fell in the Bochka, the massive metal hatch closed with a bang, and the wolf began to move, receiving the appropriate command. Awareness of imminent death strongly pressed on the Japanese, some cried, others tried to gather in groups, someone shouted trying to rally the population against a common threat. Soon the wolf caught his first victim, and the host began to shout out numbers in Russian. - Тридцать пять - he shouted. On the public screen at this moment the number 35 was shown and immediately began to play music from some television show. The victim for which the wolf chased, turned out to be the Kolobok with the number "35", who at this very moment was heroically trying to rally compatriots to fight with the foe. For poor loaf it ended completely unfortunate. The wolf with incredible speed overtook the Bun, which escaped in panic and immediately swallowed it.  - Тридцать - continued to announce the Host. The screen showed the number "30", it was the next victim of the wolf, which was not far from 35.  - Семьдесят пять - the figure 75 is highlighted on the screen. The wolf tore the unfortunate bun in half. Then everything went like a real nightmare. The Host shouted the numbers with a satisfied face, the audience in the studio smiled, and the unfortunate Japanese rushed from the wolf to the arena, as if Godzilla was chasing them. The victims of the wolf during this time managed to become seven. Basically it was a group of "fifties" and a couple more numbers, namely numbers 51, 54, 55, 57, 59, 11, 29. After announcing a group of numbers, The Host said that the winner appeared in the show and the old jackpot was won by an “old friend” of Shinji - the Red Lisa. Then the second rally began and the wolf broke off in full, until the expensive and respected TV viewers had no more crossed out numbers. Shinji did not survive the wolf attack. He learned to jump at the very last moment, but unfortunately the wolf could do the same. Soon there are two buns left on the arena. These two were given a chance to pass the main mission again and try their luck with new knowledge. When Shinji died in the lottery, he did not experience the pain of moving from one space to another as it was before. This time, Shinji saw infinite darkness around himself and past passing deep-sea fish, who saw the bright light of Shinji's lantern and float away from him as if this was their biggest nightmare in life. Shinji couldn't move, he couldn't do anything at all. A Machine control everything instead of him, and he was an observer, like the rest of the Japanese, who, just like Shinji, were inside large ball-shaped machines. The machines floated in formation and carried a variety of cargo and tools clearly intended for the construction of something grand. Sailing past such machines, Shinji noticed that they were engaged in welding something metallic, and the welding process itself was rather unusual. The machine used a laser and the surface of the bonded metal immediately became solid, and so that nothing dispersed throughout the whole process machine held material by tentacles very tightly. Shinji could not see what was inside his machine in which he sailed, but the floating ball-shaped submarine ahead was called Talantor No. 35. It was that the very unfortunate who became the first victim of a wolf. A little later, Shinji heard a voice from Vasilisa the Wise, who in a robotic voice told him the following: “Hi Shinji. Your time at the Kolobok is set at 87,600 hours. Good luck". Shinji wanted to scream in despair as well as all the other Japanese who received exactly the same message, only with their name. Perhaps if they would have known a little more, they would not have reacted that way. But this knowledge was not bestowed upon them. After all, luck is also a strength for every person. And they did not have this power. Mikhail Sebastianov also know as The Host of Talantlantid's loto show, after the show went to his luxurious, expensively furnished office. Pretty redhead maid brought him an elite Ceylon tea, which was poured into a white cup. Mikhail enjoyed drinking hot tea and asked the maid to also bring him his favorite Soviet sweets “Teddy Bear in the North”, then he pressed a button and the virtual secretary Vasilisa flashed before his eyes. - Call the Volk. We found a traitor. - Yes mr. Sebastianov.

A/N: I'm very sorry for the late late update. I have no excuses. A lot of things happened. I found myself a job and real life stuff just keeps happening. I was going to stop but then regained my passion. Anyways, thanks for reading and tell me if the terms are confusing.  GR 16: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (3) #unedited  If you ask me what I remembered most vividly in my previous life, it would be the hospital room, the smell of medicine, the pitying looks from everyone, and the increasingly exhausted looks of my parents and family.  I would wake up only to repeat the same things every day, mundane... lifeless… treatments. Now that I think back, there was a time that I was ready to stop preserving after seeing black bags under my parents eyes after an operation. I thought I was a burden, and I didn’t want my family to live in false hope of me getting better. My health then deteriorated, of course. I was losing the will to live after all.  But then, one day with the help of my best friend, I realized something. My parents never really considered me a burden. It was myself who thought so. It was me who labelled myself a good-for-nothing. Then I started to figure out my joy of living.  Finding the littlest things that brings a smile to my everyday life and my family, trying my best to enjoy the left over time of my life.  That is why, I am suddenly curious about this mute little girl and her life story.  I want to do something for her. Just like what my best friend did for me. The littlest things that might mean a whole new world for someone.  So here I am, traveling with the said girl whose name I don’t even know. In fact, I don’t even know anything about her but her being 13 years old. I almost didn’t believe it since she was as small as a ten-years-old, but the sight of her counting and desperately presenting her fingers towards me proved that it was true.  It has been a week since I left the castle, 4 days since I left the capital and 3 days since I began traveling with the girl. It’s been difficult traversing the forest for us two girls, and I am pretty sure the sight of two ten-plus-years old girls walking in the forest is an odd enough sight, so I am glad that we haven’t spotted any other humans. I’d rather have it this way. Humans are sometimes scarier than monsters.  Speaking of monsters, I remembered the first time I met one this afternoon. Other people had the luxury of starting from the easy monsters such as mutated horned rabbits or slimes, but I got one hell of a tutorial.  My starting monster was a four-horned frost deer. It was such a scary creature, one that is corrupted by some unknown malice. Its eyes were terrible as if they wanted the destruction of everything in the world. Moreover, it had the strength to back its desire. I would never choose such mid-bossy monster to fight if I had a choice. One moment I met eyes with the thing, the next it was already on its hooves marching towards me at full speed. The fight started before I could even spit out a curse word. After a bitter fight that lasted hours, I got two ribs broken, a battered right arm, a bleeding wound on my forehead, and my supply of battle potions cut by half. Plus the fact that our elements were similar turned it into an incredibly hard fight.  In the end, the girl had to carry me sloppily and walked while crying for miles until we could find a safe camping spot to treat my wounds. I had never felt more thankful for the first-aid classes I did under Shawn-san.  As a result, we would have to move slowly in the forest tomorrow while taking any and all chances to collect any herbs we see on the way. To be honest, my body aches every time I take a step forward despite all of my external wounds almost healed due to my overly-effective healing potion. However, my broken ribs still haven’t fully healed, and the pain from it is killing me.  I don’t want to force myself to travel in this state, but the dwindling food made me realize that we can’t afford to delay the journey. There are only a couple of day’s journey left until we get out of this forest and to a village. I can have my wounds treated more properly there, and also restock on everything else. I would also have to find ways to find the family of this little girl. *sigh* There are so many things I have to do. They are starting to pile up.  The crackling of wood burning in the campfire brought my train of thought back to reality. I looked at the black night sky shining with countless stars and the mystical two moons. It is beautiful but I guess I don’t have time to waste daydreaming. I know that I have this idiotic habit since my sick days to be in a daze all the times. It helped a lot when dealing with loneliness but I have a feeling that it only dulls my sense of danger and reality at the present situation. I guess I need to spend more effort to change it.   Looking across from me, I saw the little girl carefully sorting out herbs into different piles like I taught her. As she felt my gaze, she looked up and smiled at me. I returned her a small smile, and decided to start refining a new batch of potions.  From the space bag, I took out a pair of gloves, a small oil-lamp like alchemy furnace, wrapping papers, and small bottles. Although I made plenty of potions for the journey, the amount is quickly dwindling without me having a chance to even sell some of them as according to my initial plan. However, after actually using the potions myself, I’ve begun to think it was a good thing instead.  My potions are strange. I say they’re strange because some potions are strangely more effective (like the Monsters’ Bane) while some have very different effects from normal despite having been made from the same recipe as the ones on the market (such as the Stamina potion that turned into a smoothing-digestion potion instead).  It is not because of my experimenting on the recipe. It is because of something else. Something during the creation process has caused the abnormalities, and I am determined to find out tonight.  I just can’t have peace of mind not knowing what is wrong with it.  With my fighting spirits high, I started injecting mana to the furnace that is in the shape of an oil lamp. Having received mana, the normally invisible letters engraved on the glass part of the furnace started glowing. It didn’t take long before the furnace started to grow in shape.  I took a step back as the furnace grew until the size of a waist-high brick stove. The initially glass-like dome of the lamp glowed and turned into a pot-like shape whilst blue fire made of mana is burning below it.  I can’t help but admire whoever made this (nicknamed) miracle furnace. It is breathtaking every time I watch its transformation as if I was seeing a Harry Potter scene in real life.     I believe the glass material and design used to make this furnace are from the alchemists’ free city to the North. I would absolutely love to go there once. The free city which I heard from Shawn-san is basically a heaven for alchemists. The place is famous for trades and everything alchemy-related.  An alchemist has to at least visit there once in order to be qualified as one and advance their alchemist studies.   Anyways, back to the present. I continuously supplied mana to the furnace as I put on the alchemy gloves as I was writing the runes needed to preheat the furnace. I  turned to the little girl whose mouth and eyes were wide open in awe of the magical furnace: "Can you bring the herbs we collected this evening over here?"  The girl snapped out of her daze and nodded. Then she cradled the batches of herbs she piled one by one to the place near me before finally sitting down next to it as she intently watched me making the potions. First step of making a potion is to pre-heat the furnace. This should usually be done by concentrating mana into a ball before igniting it. However, Shawn-san and I discovered that by inscribing a type of runic language during the process, one can divide one's concentration to simultaneously do the second step, which is extracting the ingredients' essence.  Once I felt enough mana revolving in my body, I directed mana into my gloved hands as my fingertips started to glow. [Ains Zwei Treis], using my index finger, I drew a line of runes in the air. The runes floated for a moment before fitting itself onto the base of the furnace and the originally fierce fire turned tame and stable.  Next up was preparing the herbs. This step might be the hardest step when creating potions not only because I am multitasking as I maintain the fire, but because there are tons of things you have to focus on in this stage. They are the extraction methods and the elements of the different ingredients. Without the proper recipe which includes which parts of the herbs should be used and what order of combination should be done, the potion can easily reverse react and explode.  That is why before an alchemy starts making potions, the apprentice's memorizing and focusing skills are trained to the limits. Each and any recipe has to be memorized by heart, one has to deeply ingrain the process into the mind before they are allowed to make them.  I was like super lucky to have an elite alchemist as my mentor as I technically didn't have to worry about the malreactions of the ingredients or explosion as Shawn-san would quickly stop the process as soon as any signs show up. Not to mention, he was unbelievably keen on spotting abnormalities even before they show. Being his good student, I luckily took after his keen eyes.  Because the potion I am making now is a beginner potion used to heal internal injuries. Most of the ingredients are naturally null-elements or wood elements  found in the forest, so the chances of a malreaction occurring in the potion is low. Very quickly, the essence of each ingredient was extracted and slowly floated in the air like a continuous stream.  Motioning with my hands, the stream of essence fell into the boiling water in the heated furnace. I swiftly controlled the fire inside the furnace while continuously using my mana to stir the ingredients.  It was finally the last step as the liquid inside the furnace slowly starts to show opaque bubbles. (Opaque bubbles form whenever a magic potion is in its completion or maturing stage).  Once again, I focused mana into my fingertips as I wrote another line of runes to further stabilize the formation of the potion. The initially green liquid oddly turned into amethyst again after I put them into an already prepared glass bottle.  As I was lost in thought reflecting on how that came to be. My eyes unconsciously landed on the little girl's face. Her eyes were sparkling with admiration and looking here as if she was marvelling at an amazing phenomenon. Had she been able to make sounds, I am pretty sure she would be squealing so hard and pestering me to show it to her again.  It was then that an ingenious idea struck me. I think I found a way to let the little girl 'talk'. 

#Unedited “Again, take the basic stance and strike.” Zell “Hah!” “Too weak! Arms, Legs, stomach, all wrong!” Zell “Hah!!” “Hiyah!” Hearing the shouts from the other side of the field where Shelton and Enri are training, I can’t help but sympathize with them. Captain Zell is really strict as always. Where and why we are here training? In fact, we are at one of the training grounds for knights inside the royal castle training in the hot afternoon sun. It’s been about two weeks since we were summoned. Everything has been very hectic so far, and a lot of things happened. First, after finding out about our status and the ruckus about our ranks (with the people surprise and admiration of Shelton and Enri’s never-seen-before starting rank of 2 stars, and the disappointment of my hollow rank) Shelton and Enri finally decided after a heated discussion between the six of us. It went like this. “What do you guys think?” Shelton “I don’t really know.” Chizu “I do feel some kind of power inside of myself but…” Kana “Are you really asking that of a hollow rank, Shelton?” Me “Ahaha, I am not asking you Serika, I am asking you Enri.” Shelton “It’s fine if I just fight, right?” Enri “I mean they did make it clear that some of us have to fight so that we can go back home right?” Enri “Yes, that and I think it’s better to fight with them as they seem like they really need help.” Shelton “Hah! You with your nice guy act. I bet you are just as hyped up to try out the new strength you feel as I do.” Enri “As long as they take good care of us.” Mina “So?” Both Enri and Shelton turned to look at me as if asking for a final opinion to which I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry Serika, we’ll protect you.” “Do as you like.” Me I had no choice but to give a sigh and relented. And with new found resolve, Shelton announced in front of the king. “Alright, we have decided. we will help you fight off the demon lord.” Shelton “Ooh, you have our thanks Shelton-dono. Having you by this country’s side is our greatest blessing.” King With all the main discussion completed, we moved on to the details of the things provided for us when living inside the royal palace and what we’ll need to do. To summarize: Basic necessities such as food, housing, clothes, and whatever else each of us needs will be provided with their utmost ability.Our freedom is not limited to just the castle, we can also go out to town albeit must be reported and with escorts.We are required to learn the most basic form of fighting until we’re deemed able or strong enough to at least protect ourselves.Future activities might include monsters or demons’ subjugation as well as exploration, so it is recommended that we try to become as strong as possible.Any further issues or questions can be answered by the princess as she will be our guardian during the times of our stay in the royal palace.With this, most of the main issues were finished. I’m surprised that it took almost half a day though all of it was done by Shelton with Enri requesting here and there with the king and many officials standing in the hall. Hmm? I did listen you know. Just that I got bored halfway through and I’m sure I can just leave it to the two of them, especially Shelton. After everything was dealt with, the king had the princess take us to our rooms, and told us to rest properly or that our training starts tomorrow. Our rooms were in a different building west of the main building where we had an audience with the king. Although I said it’s a different building, the distance between the two is not even that much as you can get back and forth in just ten minutes. Not to mention there was a big empty field just a little bit away from the building, and it seems that will be our training ground. First, we were led to the first room on the first floor which has been decided that it will be the princess’s room. By the way, the princess decided to stay at the same building with us with the excuse that she’d be able to answer all our calls and needs easier this way. Is it really alright for a country’s princess to be so carelessly staying with strangers like this? Oh wait, Shelton is the hero anyway, I’m sure it must be some kind of plot to get along with the heroes or something. Moving on, the room across from the princess’s room seems to be given to me though it seems it’s maybe the safest room or so with the princess’s guards as that was probably what the baka duo thought as they just kept forcing me to stay there. The rest of the rooms got distributed and we were told to rest and our dinner will be sent to our rooms afterwards. After going into my room, I found that the room was pretty good, and it gives off a very peaceful feeling. A cream colored canopy bed, same colored curtains, a wooden table set that gives off a calming aura. There’s also a closet, and inside was what seems to be many sets of different female clothing including underwear. I’m sure this room is for a female, I’m amazed that the staffs of the castle work so fast, even what seems to be underwear and even sanitary is prepared. As I tried out the mattress, I feel fatigue came crashing on me. Huu, with all the things that happened today, I’m not surprised even if someone were to tell me I lost twenty years of my life. Everything was so different from the game. The summon, the issue of going back. So many changes happened. ‘It could be because of me’ or so the thought keeps popping up in my head but thinking back what I did probably didn’t have that much of an effect. Shelton still became a dense harem maker, Enri is still showing qualities of a womanizer, and my status is still the useless type. I wonder will I really die two months from now? While thinking such thoughts, I feel my eyelids growing heavy and I drifted off to the dreamland without thinking of the countermeasure for my death flag. By the time I woke up, the sun has already set, and the sky was dyed in red-ish purple with two rising moons. The only difference between this world and earth’s sky is that there are two moons in this world and there are only 360 days in a year which means there are only 30 days in a month. Everything else is the same including the hours, minutes, and second format. There was a knock on the door, and when I answered yes, a maid came in with a trail of food. Ah it seems it’s time for dinner. After thanking the maid for the food and asking if the others had the same kind of treatment, the maid answered yes, I ate the food while asking small details like the schedules for tomorrow, and about the kingdom. Oh, I also asked her where the library is and whether there is a medical department or alchemy research center in the palace. From what I got from her, it seems there is a knight group in charge of alchemy here in the royal palace. I got surprised that it is a knight group instead of a magician guild but she said the alchemists there are mostly magicians but since they are employed directly by the king, there was a protest with the regulations so they ended up as a special knight group instead. I finished the meal satisfied, and while I was thinking of going to learn there by talking to the princess about it tomorrow. I heard another knock on the door. The ones who came were no one else but Enri and Shelton. Aren’t you guys tired? I thought you said to rest? “Urm, Serika, sorry for bothering you but I just felt a little uncomfortable and by the time I noticed I was already in front of your room.” Enri “I came because I wanted to talk to you.” Shelton “Oh, and here I found this flower near my window sill.” He said as he handed me a pink flower. Ah, I know this one. It’s a wild flower called Sharla, and it can be used as a charm warding off bad luck or so it was said in one of the settings as Shelton’s favorite flower. Don’t tell me, has the event of him falling for this flower already happened!? “Did you perhaps meet with the princess on the way here as well, Shelton?” “yeah, she was looking over the balcony.” And so that’s how it happened huh. A heartfelt talk under the moonlight and cool wind… Shelton is such a damn romantic. “Geez, have more awareness towards these things already Shelton. You should have given this to the princess, why did you bring it here instead?” “Hmm, what do you mean? I just thought you’d like it so I brought it to you, maybe you don’t like it?” Shelton said while dropping his eyes looking at the flower. Uuuu, I totally did not see his imaginary ears and tail drooping down, I really didn’t see a sad retriever when I look at him. “i-it’s not that I don’t like it…” “you like it then it’s good.” Shelton went from an abandoned puppy to a lively Labrador with a melting smile in no time at all. Urgh, I can feel my heart beating so fast from his smile. Stop it already… “Serika~ don’t ignore your brother, I’m here to you know.” Enri got in between us and all of a sudden pulled me into a hug. “what the hell are you doing?” Of course, my reaction is to push his face away, but inside I can’t help but thank him for being here as a savior for my maiden heart from the silver-eyed evildoer Shelton. Wait silver eyed? It seems Shelton had removed his black lens already. “Serika~you are so heartless, your brother went through a lot today so I need some healing~ ” though Enri’s annoying level makes it all pretty much even. “Go away, you siscon!” and so our interaction is still the same as at home. I guess having the usual mood of conversation makes the three of us calm down or so I think that why the two of them came here. Rosemarie’s POV As a country’s princess, one would always have to act with one’s status in mind. This was what my late mother, the previous queen of Esteral, taught me since I was a child. I am to never act spoilt nor to act too childish, that I am supposed to be a mature child, and that one day when I am sent off for a political marriage, I would not disgrace the name of Esteral. While other children were playing around in the garden, I was going through my rigorous training as a princess, locked up in the same buildings inside the royal palace. I never really thought about why I had to work so hard at my training. I don’t love my trainings nor do I hate them as I thought they were my responsibilities as a princess. I have never envied the spoiling love my mother gave towards my brothers. At some point, what was left of me was just indifference, an indifferent doll that only knows my responsibilities. By the time my busy father, the king, and my brothers noticed my indifference, it was already too late. That was until the crimson night 3 years ago. At the time, in order to celebrate the coronation of the demon king Astroa, the demons deployed a suicide team and assaulted the capital of Esteral as well as a few other human countries. It was indeed a crimson night. Fires ablaze screams rampant, although the knights responded in time but the loss was evident. The death of the queen was announced the next day. Mother was at mine and my brother’s sleeping quarters that day. She was there to read my little brother Elias a story book. Elias who was 9 years old at the time insisted we all sleep together, and then the demons attacked. I stood there watching as my mother stood in front of me as a shield. In my hazy line of vision, I saw the demon stabbed my mother in the chest before losing consciousness. By the time I came to, I was in my room, on my bed and father told me that mother died. By the time I noticed, I was crying, the first and probably last tears I’ve ever shed. All my emotions flooded out. Why? Why am I crying? Was it because mother died? Was it due to sadness? Or was it relief? It seems it was always on my mind, the reason I tried so hard, the reason I closed off my world to indifference, it was because I was longing for mother’s love and praise, I hated her yet I wanted her love. Just a ‘You have done well’ was enough. But now, I will never get the chance to hear it. I cried and screamed my feelings: ‘Why? Why do you have to die, mother!? I haven’t heard you say you love me yet. I haven’t been spoilt yet. I haven’t got anything I really wanted from you yet. Yet, yet… why did you shield me!? Why!?’ If you didn’t love me you should have acted like you didn’t until the end. Why did you give me hope, why did you have to make me hate myself even after your death!!?? Watching me cry and bursting all my emotions, all father did was hugged me and said sorry. ‘Sorry for neglecting you.’, ‘Sorry for all those things you never get to do.’ ‘Sorry for only focusing on your brother.’ ‘Sorry for not telling you that we love you.’ Father cried at the end of his sorry. ‘It’s all my fault. You can blame me. It was due to me that your mother was pressured to groom you to be the perfect princess. It was because I was incompetent that your mother became strict to you.’ He continued: ‘but one thing I am sure about. That is your mother loved you.’ ‘*sob* Uwwaaaah!!*sob*’ Three years after that, I always did what I wanted to do, get what I wanted to have and loved. As if to compensate the hole that was left by mother. My father, knowing that granted whatever I requested. With my light aptitude, I became a priestess, I travelled around the country, and I became my dream job as a light maiden after pulling many tricks. I achieved the authority to partly command the temple forces. Yet, it was still empty. I really want someone who can fill it or perhaps I wanted love. Amidst all that, the threat of the demons was intensifying. Finally, father gave the order to perform the ancient hero summoning. Hoping that the hero would help us protect this country. I too put all my hopes in the hero. Even after all I have been through, I still love this country, the country where mother lived. Although the summoning failed a few times, it finally succeeded at last. Eh? There are five people too many, aren’t there? Two boys and four girls. This is not mentioned in the ancient script though. For now, let’s try to talk to them. As I was opening my mouth, my gazed stopped on one of the boys summoned. Black hair, black gentle eyes that is now showing anxiety, the well-proportioned nose, and lips that would show the brightest of smiles. I was captivated and I can hear my heart beating profusely. My line of sight was glued on him. His name is Shelton L. Ainsworth. I have imagined what would a hero be like countless times, but at this moment, I realized that the gentle hero of the goddess of light as described in the myths can be no one but him. I had to do all I can in order to make him stay and protect this country. Moreover, if possible I want him to love me. If it is him then I am sure… However, I have to bear with it and move slowly, things should be done one step at a time. As I thought his smiles are as bright and gentle as the light of purification itself. His aura is also so gentle. However, his gentle smiles are not directed at me. Kurozawa Serika, was it? She seems to be his childhood friend but I can’t help but feel like there is more to it. I have been observing him since the summon but when his eyes land on her, they seem to glow more with gentleness and perhaps affection. They were his brightest smiles. While thinking about that in my room, I decided to go outside for some fresh air. Then he came. He was holding a pink flower ‘Sharla’ renown for bringing good luck. My heart started beating and I was filled with nervousness. “Princess.” His gentle voice was heard just a little bit above my head as I was pretending to look over the balcony. “Ah, mister Shelton.” I turned my head towards him, and for a moment a was shocked. His hair as I recalled from before was black but now it became the color of the light, blonde. His black eyes now also changed to the brightest silver of the moons. “your-hair, ah eyes…” “Ah, sorry for surprising you but this morning I was wearing a wig and lens.” “Wig? Lens?” I know about wigs but what are lens? “You might not know it but this is my natural color you see. There were some circumstances that require me to change my colors.” “I- I see. Amazing… To think there was such amazing sorcery for changing your eye colors in Mr. Sheton’s world.” “Ahaha, it’s not sorcery princess. It’s called lens, contact lens.” *bathump* *bathump* His laughing face is making my heart beat so fast, and I can feel my face heating up. “is that so?” I said as if to cover my embarrassment. “Hmm, princess.” I became nervous as he stared at me and then my breath almost stopped when I felt his breath coming closer. I’d already lowered my head down trying calm my beating heart by the time I noticed. “Don’t you think it is too stiff to keep calling me Mr. Shelton?” “E-eh, I- I think it’s most appropriate to call you that.” I said that while stuttering. “That’s too formal, since we are going to work together from here afterwards, why not use something else?” “what? Sh-should I call you hero-sama?” “Your hair is touching your eyes, princess.” He stretched his arms then gently tuck a clump of my hair which fell to around my eyes to my ears as if demanding that I say something he is satisfied with. “then- Sh-She-Shelton..Shelton-san…” “That’s more like it.” He finally leaned back and smiled towards me. It’s good that it’s dark right now otherwise he’ll be able to see that my face is probably as red as a tomato right now. “Well, then you should go to sleep now princess. It’s pretty cold out here.” Satisfied he gave me another smile. “Eh?” what about the flower he is holding? It might just be me over expecting things but I did think he was going to give that to me. “hmm? Ah, I’m going to visit Serika for a bit and give her this flower, so don’t worry and go back to your room okay? Well, good night, Rosemarie.” Seems like he misunderstood my confusion as to where he is going. “Good night.” He called me Rosemarie and I am supposed to be happy. I can’t help but clench my fist when thinking about his previous words, so the flower was for her... “Princess Rosemarie?” As I was standing there, my maid Shana who was hiding behind the curtains of the balcony showed herself. “*Chuckle*It seems that they get along incredibly well as childhood friends, don’t you think princess Rosemarie?” Shana “My lovely little princess is jealous, aren’t you? That your finally found prince is actually meant for someone else is just pitiful, right?” Shana “What do you want Shana?” One can probably tell from the way she talks to me that Shana is actually no normal maid. She is my most confidant helper trained by a certain person and acts as my maid on the outside. “Well~ Nothing actually, just that I feel that I should help our little Rosemarie here out a bit.” Shana “you are getting bolder, Shana. You know you are still my maid, right?” “Ufufu, yes, your majesty. I am aware that I am your ‘personal’ maid, and my mission is to help ‘give’ you what you want, isn’t it just like that time with the high priest?” Shana “Didn’t I tell you not to bring that up again? Or have you forgotten your reason for existence?” “*chuckles* Oh, how scary. I haven’t forgotten yet, princess. It is just that I am asking for your acknowledgement for my ‘helping’ you in the near future.” Shana “…” “Ufufufu, seems like I am allowed to move, aren’t I?” Shana “Just don’t go too far.” After I finished saying that in a soft voice, I heard Shana’s chuckle. I have long since vowed to always try to get what I want. I will never cower and wait for things to fall in my hands. I have decided to move by myself no matter what way it is, I will get what I want. So that one day, the hole will be filled….

It has been three weeks after we’ve been summoned to the continent of Edea, and at the moment, we are staying at the royal palace of Esteral, one of the few human-led Kingdom on Edea. During the past three weeks, we have received thorough training in order to gain the necessary skills in order to survive in this world for the next five years when we’ll be able to return to our original world. Our training includes close combat, magic, common knowledge (survival skills, history, monster encyclopedia and so on), alchemy, etc. Due to each of our special attributes, it had been decided that all six of us would be divided into different teams to train. Shelton and Mina, due to their similar attribute, have been allocated to train under the guidance of princess Rosemarie and the senior magician Prisella Mcgarden while Enri, Chizu-senpai, and Kana have been allocated to train under the knight captain of the second division and the senior magician Bertalia Kroh. As for me, I have especially asked to train under one of the elite knight slash alchemist of the special division, Shawn Tousel. As I have been trying my hardest in every one of my training so far, I can feel myself getting stronger day by day (although my starting stats were so low). However, as ironic as it is, I’m still the weakest among the six who have been summoned. Excluding Shelton, who is basically a cheat spec due to being the protagonist, and Enri who counts as the mini final boss, even Kana, who is a healer, is stronger than me. I can’t help but feel irritated every time I feel the mocking and snorting looks from those in the castle. They were similar to the eyes back at school on earth. Is it my fault that my starting stats were low? It was you people who summoned me, but after having found out that my starting rank was hollow, it didn’t take long at all before the staffs at the castle started to neglect me. The meals were no longer as nice as before, the maids assigned to look after me also disappeared sometime last week. Not to mention the usual cold ill-fitted gazes I usually felt from the girls around Shelton and Enri who kept bothering me from time to time after I gave them the completed lemonade which I made with Shawn-san (to make up for the previous failed one, I gave them both two iced cold bottles to drink after their respective training). As a result, the gazes every time I’m with the baka duo, who got even more popular even with the castle staffs plus nobles (most of whom are female), started to get worse. *Sigh* This is just a f**king repeat like when we were in school. One by one, the maids and staffs who I got along with at first started distancing themselves from me. It was only a few days ago when I found out why. They were being bullied by others for being near me, for being near me who was hording the duo all for myself. At the time, I was accidentally trying to find the maid who was first assigned to me to get back my dagger which I left for her to polish, and that was when I coincidentally saw the said maid being surrounded. ‘I’m not pretending to be a good girl. I’m sorry if I looked that way as I serve that girl, but never once had I considered her my friend.’ I closed my eyes and leaned on the wall behind me after I saw her ice-cold eyes. I should have known. From the start, I should have known that this would happen. I was unable to sleep that night. The words she said continued to sound in my ears, each time making my heart, which should have already gone numb over such occurrences since a long time ago, hurt like a needle has pierced through, and the memories of our interactions so far surfaced in my head. Even making old memories over Mina’s incident about a year ago resurface. ‘Hi, I’m called Mina. A pleasure to meet you.’ ‘You look so lonely. Can I sit next to you?’ ‘hahaha, it’s not funny that I alone tripped. Don’t make fun of me.’ The klutzy smile of hers was so dazzling that I’d forgotten the loneliness from not having a friend all this time. I was happy, and thought that I too finally had someone who I could call my best friend, and happily introduced her to Shelton and Enri. The original group of three had become four, and by the time I knew it, I had accepted Kana too as Enri’s girlfriend. It was such an ideal group, and everyone got along or that was what I thought. ‘Shelton, Serika said she can’t make it, her stomach hurt.’ ‘Let’s go ahead first. Serika isn’t coming, she got cleaning to do this week.’ Until, it all fell apart... ‘Always...always, why is it always you?!’ ‘Just what is good about you? Just because you grew up together, it’s always been related to you.’ ‘what am I talking about? *snort* stop acting ignorant like a goody two shoes. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?’ ‘Friends? Best friends? Don’t f**ck yourself. We were never friends!” I opened my heavy eyes. Realizing that I had the dream again, I moved the back of my hands over my eyes. They were wet. *sigh* I guess I still haven’t gotten over it. I hated them so do I hate Shelton and Enri. They never noticed, the reason I don’t talk that much anymore, why I wore a scarf, why I avoided the two cousins, why I told them I’d never accept the cousins as friends again. As much as I hated both of them, they are still my only family. Unlike my previous life, I had no one now but them. I know best myself that I should have left them alone since some time ago, but I’m reluctant. I was reluctant, until it happened. “Capture her!” A group of armored knights stormed into my room when I was practicing making a face changing magic potion which Shawn-san taught me two days ago. The person himself said he was busy with some mission and gave me an assignment to finish before he comes back. “What-!?” Surprised, I dropped the glass bottle I was holding in my hands. “You two, get her!” One of the knight who seemed to be the leader shouted. Then two knights stepped in and one knight grabbed my left wrist while the other one took out his sword from the sheathe at his waist. From his stance and gaze, I felt killing intent and instinctively, I quickly took out my short sword hidden on my thigh and swung it towards the hand holding my left wrist, and jumped back, distancing myself. Ignoring them scream of pain of the knight who got his wrist slashed by my short sword, I shifted my focus to the other knight who was pointing his sword at me. “You better surrender, little lass.” The knight said and licked his lips while eying my body up and down giving me the shivers as if something disgusting was crawling on it. “Tell me what is going on? You can’t be attacking me without a reason, right?” I turned to look at the knight at the back who seemed to be the leader. “Humph! Of course, we have.” Pausing a bit, he continued after pulling a paper and rolled it out before me: “Kurozawa Serika, you have been suspected for the attempted assassination of royalty, and is to be arrested immediately.” I frowned upon hearing what he said. This was not completely unexpected. I can roughly guess what is happening. It seems like someone had finally ran out of patience and decided to make their move. The fact that they came here to arrest me must be because they have made enough preparations and the person must find me to be a thorn in their eyes. Of course, knowing about it and not feeling angry was two entirely different matters. However, with the force of five knights, I have not a high chance of winning. Though with a few tricks, five of them is nowhere near enough to beat me. I didn’t waste my time training all this time, you know. Although, my aura (aura is the embodiment of one’s current rank) is a bit weak, fighting strength cannot be judged by just aura alone-is what Shawn-san said. After all, I have alchemy on my side. Nevertheless, considering this is inside the castle, even if I beat the five of them, I have an impossible chance of breaking out. Without any choice, I obediently let them take me somewhere while I wracked my brain about how to get out of this situation. The knights then brought me to a room on the ground floor of the same building. After a few knocks, I was brought into the room. “Prisella-sama the criminal has been brought here.” The leader bowed his head then pushed me to in front of him. “Good work, Poulan. Now leave her. You can go and guard the door since we’re going to personally interrogate her.” replied Prisella. “Yes Ma’am.” The leader who was called Poulan saluted Prisella then went out without forgetting to close the door. Only after he left did I get a chance to look around the room. Although it’s in the same building, I never got a chance to come to this room since I heard it is for official business like a formal meeting with the king or so. The room was luxuriously furnished with a big table and fluffy sofas surrounding it with a bookshelf just a bit away to the right. “Well, well, please do sit first. It is not good manners to talk while standing.” Hearing Prisella talk like that, I became increasingly sure that the matter now is definitely related to her, and is done with a goal in mind. While guessing what she would want to do and looking at her cautiously, I still sat down on one of the chairs at a corner of the room. “Would you like some tea?” “Cut to the chase, what do you want to do by framing me and bringing me here?” “Now, don’t be so hasty. There is still another person yet to arrive.” Prisella calmly poured me and herself some tea and patiently lifted her cup to have a sip. “Is it princess Rosemarie?” Prisella showed no reactions whatsoever, and her face was still as calm as if the usual flustered appearance was nothing but an illusion. *knock*knock* “She’s here. Come in.” As soon as she heard the knock, Prisella lifted her head and gave permission. “Ara, it seems like I’m a bit late, aren’t I?” Contrary to my expectations, the one who came was not Rosemarie but her maid who I saw on the day we were summoned. If memory serves me right, her name should be Shana or something. “So, you’re aware you’re late.” Prisella narrowed her eyes at Shana who displayed an extremely carefree attitude as she sat down and poured herself a cup of tea as if this all did not concern her at all. “Ufufufu, I got held by something difficult to achieve you see, and maybe some loose ends.” “Well, then let’s start, shall we?” “About time, what am I arrested for? I don’t remember doing anything though.” “Kurozawa Serika, as written in the arrest warrant, you have been convicted of assassination of royalty, specifically, Rosemarie. Do you acknowledge your crime?” Prisella put down her tea cup and looked coldly towards me while spouting nonsense that I had trouble understanding. “What? What did you say I did?” “Assassinaton of royalty, more specifically you are convicted of being a major accomplice.” “What the F—ck are you spurting? I did what?” “ufufufu, honey, don’t act ignorant. One of the maid saw you put a little something into Rosemarie’s drink, and that something turned out to be poison.” The answer to my question to Prisella was instead spoken by Shana who then stood up and walked towards me. “*laugh* how funny, I don’t even remember seeing any of Rosemarie’s drinks before, so how can I even put anything in it?” “Don’t lie, Kurozawa Serika. We have both witness and evidence. Even your personal maid has testified that you were the one who added the poison.” Personal maid...so it was her. “Even still, I refuse to acknowledge the crime, my personal maid has already stopped serving me since last week so her testimony is invalid.” By the end of the sentence, I was already gritting my teeth trying to calm my anger from bursting out. I can even feel my eyes becoming hot at this point. Not only did she hurt me with those words, to think she betrayed me in the worst possible way. As I thought, friends...were never meant for someone like me. “Honey, you don’t have to deny it so hard anymore, we already know why you did it, and if you’re thinking of stalling for time until your childhood sweethearts come, don’t even bother.” Shana gave a low chuckle then continued: “They seem to have been held by something important.” “You really know why I did it? Then tell me why I did such a thing.” I suddenly have a bad feeling growing in my heart as if I should not hear the reason. “For your lover Shawn Tousel. That is why you put poison in the princess’s drink.” “!!” How the f—ck did Shawn-san come up at this point? Wait... Shawn-san left urgently on a mission he said was directly ordered from his captain. He did say that it was strange to have a mission assigned when he was already doing one training me. It has already been three days and I haven’t heard anything about him since he left. “What did you do to him!?” I finally felt a string snapping inside my mind. It is okay if you frame me, hurt me, scold me since I’d long gotten used to it, but not to Shawn-san. He is just an innocent person not related to any of this at all. Just the thought of him getting hurt or framed due to getting involved with me makes my stomach churn. “Not much really, just that he was arrested due to treason and colluding with the demons is all.” Treason...Towards Prisella who said that as if reporting a trivial matter, hatred on top of anger as well as self-blame wells up in me. I’m sorry Shawn-san, it is all because of me. “You dare! How could you do that to him!?” Not to mention being innocent, Shawn-san is also an elite alchemist working directly under the king, they can’t just frame him as they like, right? “Answer me! Say something!” As no one answered, in a fit of anger I jumped in towards Prisella, hoping to hear her say that Shawn-san was still ok or just injured or missing. “You shouldn’t have done that to Shawn-san. He’s not wrong!” As I got in front of her, I can feel my wrist getting caught. “Enough, stop it Serika!!” In my anger, I can hear a familiar voice. Turning my head, the one who spoke and held my wrist was Enri. I can’t help but feel a sense of security after seeing him. If Enri is here then maybe, just maybe, I can still save Shawn-san. “Enri, you are here. Quick, get Prisella to tell me where Shawn-san is.” I was getting more and more frantic as I looked pleadingly towards Enri. “Serika!” With a loud shout, I finally feel Enri’s strange look and actions... as if he’d already known everything. “what, Enri, you’ll help me, won’t you? A life is at stake here!” I was starting to become desperate under Enri’s cold gaze which I’ve never seen before. However, all that I received from him was a cold, irritated, disbelieving gaze. I feel very uncomfortable under that gaze. Right, it’s all due to Prisella, Rosemarie and them. It must be them. “Serika, stop it! It’s not your fault. It’s just that you were fooled.” Hearing his words, I was taken by disbelief then anger again rises up. “It’s you, isn’t it? You framed him!” I once again shouted at Prisella. “Enough is enough!!” *Slap* A slapping sound reverberated throughout the room. I can feel my left cheek burn with pain. I put my hand on my left cheek and looked towards Enri in disbelief. The one who slapped me was no one else but Enri, who at this point, also looked shocked at what he just did. “I, I...” Hanging my head down, I can feel my sanity coming back. That one slap brought me back, and I realized, just how stupid I’ve been. What use was it to loudly scream for innocence? For help to come from those who mean me harm? For the trust and faith from those who never noticed my plight? Just what have I been doing so far? It was both funny and stupid. A while after that, I was back in my room, sitting on my bed. I don’t clearly remember what happened afterwards, I vaguely remember Enri apologizing for me to Prisella and them, and to forgive me since I was momentarily brainwashed or something. Then I only said one thing, ‘I’m going back to my room.’ And here I am. Sitting on the bed with my back against the head of it, I can feel the room getting cold. The floor was still ridden with the broken pieces of glass and woods from the commotion with the knights, but I don’t feel like cleaning it at all. The pain from the slap was no longer there, but the experience itself was still perfectly clear in my mind. It’s so funny, everything is so f—king funny that I can’t help but want to laugh. How stupid have I been? Stubbornly holding onto what is nothing but an illusion that I know was never there to begin with. What ‘story of three of us’? What ‘start and end with 3 of us’? It has always been like this hasn’t it? ‘They’ have never really understood and trusted me. It was only me who stupidly thought I was most clear on what kind of person they are; however, I can’t be any more wrong. That’s why, it’s funny. “haha...hahahaha...ha...*sob*...ha...*sob*” My originally shelf-pitying laugh turned into uncontrolled sobs and tears continuously poured out. It hurts. It hurts so much. Even more so than when I know that the maid betrayed me, even more so when I know that the most important person and my only family doesn’t believe in me and believes I’m a treacherous person who would easily poison others. I got it already. It’s already time I grow up.

A/N: A couple more chapters to go. Fighting me!!  GR 17: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (4)  #Unedited I finished quickly making the potions and then impatiently turned to stare at the little girl. My inner scale was working quickly. Should I really help her to ‘talk’? It is quite inconvenient to not be able to communicate properly with the girl. It is more than difficult to keep calling her little girl (It makes me feel so old). I desperately want to know her name so as to save some worry for my mental health. I could have her write her name on the ground but she doesn’t seem to know how to write either. *sigh* Ignorance is really a pain wherever you go.  I doubt whether there is sign language here. Well, not that I know how to do that either. My way of ‘talking’ for the little girl is different though.  Would my way of ‘talking’ work for her?  Getting nervous from my silent stare, the little girl starts to fidget, and her eyes are starting to get wet. Is she perhaps thinking something strange?  Anyways, after weighing, my scales tells me the issue of proper communication should be a priority, so here goes nothing.    “Little girl, from now on, answer me with only a nod or shake your head okay?” Noticing the seriousness to my voice, the girl too tensed her body and nodded.  “You should know that I’m injured right?” The girl nodded again as her eyes turned to look at the bandages I have wrapped around my body. “We have to make it to town by the latest the day after tomorrow as we have no more food and potions.” The girl’s eyes firmed.  “And after we make it to town, we have to find someone who can help you send you back to your family too.” This time the girl’s eyes shone a little as she heard the word family. As I thought, she was kidnapped from her family. ‘Well, not everyone is an orphan like you’ my inner devil sarcastically quipped.   “However, with my current condition, doing that is going to be very difficult.” My words seemed to have snapped her out of her reverie.  “That is why I need your help, little girl.” The girl’s usually downwards sight looked up to me in surprise as if she didn’t expect me to say that. I can finally see her beautiful navy eyes start to get some energy in them.  Seriously, her eyes had looked dead for some time now, and I can pretty much guess the reason.  “Little girl, do you want to learn to talk?” Just as her eyes starts to lose light again, I dropped the final bomb. As expected, the girl’s eyes opened wide regaining their liveliness a little. Soon; however, they were filled with confusion after she stared at me, realizing that I was serious.  “I am not sure if you would be able to do it but at this stage…”  “You and I have no choice but to do it.” I looked at the changes in her expressions. She is probably thinking and doubting whether it was possible for someone like her, someone as useless as her, would be able to really ‘talk’ or do anything to help.  Although I can relate to her struggle, I don’t want to force her. This is something she must deal with herself. Slowly the light in her eyes firmed as she looked into my eyes. She finally gave a powerful nod.  “Good girl.” I gave a heart-felt smile. She passed.  “Now that you have decided. I will teach you how you can ‘talk’.” I reached out to hold her hands. “But first we have to check something out first.” I slowly start to inject my mana into her body starting from her hands. To which she slowly closed her eyes as she felt the warmth it brought to her body.  I closed my eyes as I focused on regulating my mana inside her body. What I am doing now is called the mana awakening process. Each living creature has inherent mana inside their body from the time they are born.The only difference is the amount of the innate mana. There are two types of innate mana: core mana and inner mana.  The body would seal some amount of innate mana that it needs to maintain itself. This sealed place of innate mana is called innate core (the mana inside is the core mana). Core mana should never be used because it is the very essence of a living being similar to a soul’s power. It is sometimes believed to be the origin of each person’s mana sea (by the way, mana sea is like the storage facility of mana inside each person, and they are usually somewhere near the heart).  One has to find both the core mana and mana sea inside their own body in order to start the process of using mana. Finding any one of these places would lead to finding the other as they are connected.  After the discovery of the innate core and the mana sea, one can finally start to refine inner mana (the normally used mana to make all magical phenomenon) inside the mana sea.  So this is exactly what I am doing for the girl. I am now using my mana to stimulate her body and helping her discover her innate core and mana sea.  As my mana moved its round to one of the major arteries near her heart, I found the existence of a blockade. I can feel the girl’s muffled groan of pain. I haven’t even touched it, yet the girl was already experiencing a lot of pain. This is very strange.  Usually the path to a person’s mana sea or innate core can be narrow but never blocked. Just think about it like this, if the arteries or veins to your heart is blocked then how can your heart be alive? Wouldn’t it and subsequently your whole body rot and die without your blood circulating? The fact that this little girl is alive and kicking is really a mystery. I would love the doctors back on earth to examine her and tell me how this is possible.  Anyway, this is a big problem. My way of having her talk requires the use of mana. If she can’t use mana then she would not be able to talk. Then we would have even less chance of making it out of this forest alive.  At this point, my only choice is to try to break through this blockade. However, one mistake can totally ruin this little girl’s chances of ever using mana again, and judging from her frown and sweat, the pain it will cause is nothing but a terrible nightmare.  I opened my eyes only to meet the little girl's eyes. As if she knew I was hesitating whether to continue, her eyes were telling me to continue despite it being incredibly dangerous as well as the side effects this might have on her. I guess she really is not as naive as I originally thought.   Making up my mind to continue, I used my mana to form a small needle of sorts. (Without me noticing, some of my mana split from the mainstream and seeped through the blockade). Then I controlled it to poke one side of the blockade to see what happens. Despite a gruff of pain, nothing much happened but a very small hole was felt and I can feel a bit of dense mana coming from it. It seemed like I found her innate core.  Very slowly, I repeated the process of poking and slowly the path was cleared. At that moment, the core mana exploded out of her inner core expelling my mana completely out of her body.  The girl’s body glowed and slowly floated in the air. This is… The wind blew heavily and I took a step back in response. I can feel the grass and trees all around turning lively. As if they were overjoyed, the leaves and trees rustled to no end.  This is definitely the phenomenon that happens when a person blessed by spirits awakens their mana. I only heard it from one of my teachers back in the castle. To think I would see it with my own two eyes so soon.  Damn, this world is full of cheats. It seems this girl is well-liked by the wind spirits and plant spirits.  Wait a minute, this little girl is beautiful + cheat + tragic backstory, don’t tell me? A (potential) harem member!?  #1400+ words

#This chapter is written in Enri’s point of view March, Four years old I’m excited. If you ask why I’m so excited today, it’s because today is my third, no fourth birthday. I couldn’t sleep well last night so I went to mommy and daddy’s room at night to share my feelings with them. Even when I got scolded by mommy for waking them up at midnight (by the way when is midnight again?) Anyway, I’m really looking forward to this day because it’s my birthday. Birthday means parties, oh and birthday means presents. I hope I get that new limited edition fighting robot that just came out, but the transformable helicopter toy that can fly is good too. Mommy is stingy so she probably won’t buy them for me but daddy is better. I love daddy the most.  As expected, daddy is the best: he told me he has a surprise for me today. Uhehehe, I’m so excited that I can’t help but run around the house. I can’t wait for afternoon to come. Daddy, come back quick. Oh, looks like daddy is back. What is this?Just what is this? “Now come and meet your sister, Enri. “In front of me and clinging to daddy’s leg is a little chibi who he just called my sister. Facing my stare, the girl shrank back to hide behind daddy’s legs. Hey! Just whose daddy’s legs are you hanging on to so closely! That’s my daddy right there! “Enri, be nice and stop glaring at your sister Seri-chan, kay?” Mommy looked over and pulled the two of us to face each other. “Now, try to get along, ok?” The chibi looked at me timidly and then softly murmured something. “nise…meek…chu…nii-cha” What did she say? I can’t even understand what this chibi is saying. This is just terrible. “Now now, Enri you should greet her back, shouldn’t you?”“NO! No way!” “Enri, that is no way to treat your little sister.” What? Did daddy just scold me for this chibi? As expected, this chibi is no good thing. She must be here to steal my place away. Anyhow, I’ve never heard anything about having a sister. I heard from the fat kid across the block that sisters are bad creatures there to steal our parents affection. “ Liar! I have no sister! She is just an eyesore here to steal daddy from me! *humph*” I shouted and then looked towards the chibi: “I hate you!” before running away to my room. “Uh, *sob* Uwaa!” I can hear the chibi burst into tears behind me. “Enri! That is not what you should say to his sister! Come back here and apologize, right now!” Even daddy shouted to me.  “Now, now Seri-chan don’t cry okay? Mommy is sure your brother doesn’t mean that.” June, Four years old It’s been 3 months since my fourth birthday. Unfortunately, I have apparently gained a baby sister who I still am reluctant to accept. I mean, I never heard anything about having one since growing up till now(wait, did I?) and what does mommy mean by the chibi has been at the hospital all this time? Is she or is she not born from mommy and daddy? Other kids in the neighborhood have siblings since they were born but… I just don’t understand.  Moreover, it’s getting really, rea—lly annoying with this chibi. She is starting to follow me everywhere. She is so stupid, even till now she is still so timid. If it wasn’t for mommy forcing me to take her to play with me, I will just abandon her to run everywhere with the boys in a jiffy. “Hurry up and walk faster, will you?” The guys are probably in the park playing already. I sped up while thinking of wanting to play with them. “um, wait por me. Ni-cha.” The chibi softly murmured. Urgh! This is annoying! “You know where the park is right? I’m going first.” Who cares? It’s not like this is the first time she is going there anyway.  “Ah, Enri is here!” By the time I arrived at the park, all the boys were already there. “Oi! Over here!” Amid the group was a fat boy wearing a yellow cap on his head. He’s the leader of the group since he is one of the oldest in this neighborhood. “Hey, did you bring it?” The fatty asked me as soon as I got to them. “Of course, I promised didn’t I?” I said as took out the plastic Ranger set from my backpack.“Wow! This is the premium set that were only available to a small circle of people! So cool!” “How awesome! How did you get this, huh Enri?” As soon as I took it out, gasps and sounds of marvel rang out from the boys. “What do you mean how? Of course, my daddy got it for me.” I proudly claimed, and started to brag. Actually, this was given to me as my birthday present but it comes with a very unpleasant condition.  “Um, Ni-chan…” the so called unpleasant condition has arrived. “Yeah, just go play on your own or something- so where was I?”I inwardly clicked my tongue. That said condition was to accept the chibi. “You said the blue one is able to transform!” One of the boys said while touching and pulling on one of the robots.  By the time, I noticed it was already evening, and it was time to go home for dinner. I said goodbye to the boys and turned to find the troublesome chibi playing on the sand at a corner. A few girls was trying to talk to her but she just timidly said something back once a while. I’m sure what she said was so soft that they can hardly catch it. I continued to look at her in a daze as I tried to recall what mommy said for me to buy for her at the convenience store on the way back. Suddenly, the chibi got up and ran to one of the boys who was walking out of the park. Looking closely it was actually the fatty who she stopped by pulling on the hem of his shirt. Feeling like something is happening, I quickly ran to them. “Give…gib… it bach…” The chibi softly said as she looked at fatty. “huh? What?” Fatty turned his head after feeling a tug at his shirt. “ … rechurn… to Ni-chan” “ Huh? What did you say?” He loudly replied. “Give… please…gib …back.” The chibi still stubbornly held on to the hem and demanded. Hearing what she said, I remembered something and rummaged around my bag counting the number of robot toys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5- 11, ah, it’s one short. “Give what back?” Fatty said while his eyes were moving from place to place. “Ro-roboc…Ni-cha’s” “What robot? What’s it to do with me?” Fatty said as he pushed the chibi away from him. The Chibi, with how small she was, almost fell on her butt with his push. Seeing her like that, I felt like a nerve of mine was tucked and I quickly went to stand next to her. “What’s going on?” I held the chibi’s hand and confronted the fatty. “Enri, your sister is strange. She is spouting gibberish and persistently holding onto my shirt.” The fatty quickly explained. Hah! As if I’d buy that, bullying other people’s sister and trying to get away with it? Dream on! “Really?” I looked down at the chibi whose eyes were already wet and tears almost falling down. I think she is either starting to get scared or hurting from the push. “he..chook…ur… roboc…so… I… wan… bach.” She tried hard to hold it in until her cheeks were red and finally finished her words very slowly. For the first time ever, I felt like her current face is adorable making me want to tease her. “Is that why you pulled his shirt?” Even though I already know she is not at fault, I can’t help but to tease her to force her to answer. The chibi didn’t disappoint and nodded her head making her already round and pouty face even rounder. “She is lying! I don’t know anything” the fatty still denied. “Okay, I got it but just to be sure. Can I check you bag since one robot is indeed missing?” “No way. Why should I? Just because she said so? She is so strange.” “She is just timid not strange and she is my sister, so what she says is what I believe. So let me check your bag.” “No!” “You-“ Feeling a tug at my shirt, I looked down to see the chibi saying: “His poget…in…his poket” “Then what is that in your pocket? Quickly return it or I’ll do it the hard way!” “So, so what if I took it? Here, have it back. I just wanted to take it back home to play with for a day!” Fatty finally took the robot out and threw it back to us. “Just a dumb robot and you guys acted like I stole your money! Stupid siblings!” Looking at him coldly, I took the robot and put it back into my bag. “Don’t mind what he said. Let’s go home.” “Um.” I held her hand again and walked out of the park. For once, I feel like having this chibi as a sister is probably not such a bad thing. On the way home, we went into one of the convenience stores and bought eggs and some milk for mommy. Just outside the store, I heard the sounds of an ice-cream truck. I looked around excitedly for the truck and as expected, it was parked across the street at the corner just a bit away from here.  “Come, let’s go get some ice-cream.” I told the chibi as I quickly turn to run to the truck while holding her hands.  “Waich… *gasps* don…*gasps* run.”“Almost there so come on. Just a bit more.” I didn’t turn to look at her and pulled her along. Suddenly, I feel my hand go loose and empty. The hand I was holding onto was gone. The chibi probably let go as she couldn’t keep up huh. I guess I’ll just go get an ice-cream first and buy one for her too. “Ooh!” “What’s wrong?!”Hearing the commotion from behind, I reluctantly turned around. What I saw made my feet stop right in their tracks, and I can feel my heart going cold. The chibi was laying there on the ground, motionless, and people were surrounding her. “She just fell when running and fainted!” An old lady who saw what happened explained.“Oh dear, what do we do?” Another said. “We should call the ambulance! Quick someone call one!” A slightly knowledgeable passerby shouted. I quickly arrived by her side and pulled her while calling: “Hey! Chibi! Hey! Wake up! Why are you sleeping here? Oi, Serika!” Seeing her pale white face and closed eyes, I panicked and the name I beratedly refused to say all this time subconsciously blurted out of my mouth. “You, little boy! Are you her brother?” The man who asked to call an ambulance shouted. “Yes I am.” I answered, muddled as I continued to shake the chibi up. “Then can you call your parents? Do you remember their contact number?” Contact number? Oh!“I do!”“Then here, quickly call them!” I received his phone with shaking hands and dialed the number daddy had me remember in case of accidents.  Very quickly, mommy and daddy came and in a rush we all rode the ambulance and entered the hospital. Amidst the hustle and bustle with the adults speaking incomprehensible terms and notions, I felt like the time stopped as I watched doctors and nurses push the stretcher the chibi was lying on to what they called an operation room. A doctor told us not to go in and to wait outside. Mommy was crying quietly as she sat there and daddy was comforting her. Why is mommy crying? What is wrong with chibi? What is going to happen to her? “*Sob*... what are we gonna do? *sob* my poor child *sob* Oh God, please save my child *sob* she is only three. *sob*Oh, my pitiful child...” “Mommy…daddy... Chib- no, Serika, is she going to be ok?” By the time I noticed, my voice was shaking and my eyes felt wet. Was I crying? Hearing my quivering voice, both of them turned to me. “*sob* Enri, how come *sob* you didn’t look after her properly!? Oh, even if you didn’t like her. At least, she is your biological sister! *sob*.” Mommy shouted at me angrily. I cowered as I have never seen mommy so angry, so scary. “I- I didn’t… I don’t know… Uwaah!” why is this happening? Is it really my fault? I don’t know anymore. All of this was so confusing. I cried as I ran away from them. “Enri! Honey, calm down. It’s not his fault, honey.” I heard daddy tried to calm mommy down into sitting back on her chair as I was running away.  I didn’t know how long I’ve been running. I just knew that I was crying as I sat in the gap of a row of vending machines. “Well, well, there really is a crying boy here.” Hearing the foreign voice, I looked up to see a body full of white, a female nurse bending down to match my eyesight. “None of your business! Go away!” “Oh, what a rude boy you are. Here. ” The nurse looked unfazed with my outburst as she even handed me a cold wet tissue. I bet my face now is a wreck filled with tears and snot. I again raised my head to see a kind smiling face looking down at me. Somehow, I felt my rowling emotions start to calm down for a bit. Slowly reaching out my hand to the tissue on her hand. Suddenly, she grabbed my hand and pulled me up. “Now, that is no place to sit. Let’s sit properly somewhere and talk. Is that okay, little darling?”  “I’m not a little darling!” I retorted but I still let her pull me to sit on a nearby bench. “Yes, yes. Let’s drink some milk and calm down for a bit, shall we?” The nurse sat me down and went to get milk from one of the vending machines. We spent the next fifteen minutes or so drinking our milks in silence. I can feel the milk doing a good job calming me down. “So, what’s your name?” Suddenly, the nurse asked as if to break the silence. “Kurosawa Enri” I softly answered. I don’t know whether it was the milk or the calming atmosphere around the nurse, but I feel like it was okay to talk to this adult. “Kurosawa, huh? I figured since I heard she fainted but… I see.” Hearing the nurse mummering something softly, I turned to look at her in surprise. “You know me?” “No, no, not you, but your parents are rather common faces here, you know?” The nurse smiled and explained. “Common faces? Are they sick?” “No, they are not sick.” The nurse quickly denied, and then she stared at my face for a while: “Hmm, Enri-kun. What do you think about your sister, Serika-chan?” “The chibi? I, I don’t know. At first, I don’t like her. She is too timid and annoying. She can’t do anything at all.” “...I sometimes wondered, if she really was my sister.” Speaking till this point, my voice went softer and softer until they almost sound like a whisper. “I see.” Instead of scolding me for thinking this way, the nurse softly said and then fell into thought for a moment. Very quickly, she stood up and again bent down to match my sight as she extended one hand towards me: “Come on, I’ll take you to a place that can help you understand.” What does she mean? Where? How come this situation is just like one which daddy told me to never follow strangers when they ask you to follow them to a fun place? Perhaps sensing my suspicious look, the nurse stiffly scratched her head, and finally said: “I’m a legitimate nurse of this hospital, Takumi Rei. I’m also a close friend of your father Asuma-san, don’t you foolish boy remember my name from your father?” Trying to recall the name, I truly did feel like it rang a bell. Reluctantly, I reached out to her extended hand, and followed her. We walked past a very busy ward and into a another place that seemed to be less busy inside the hospital. As we stepped into the ward, I noticed the liveliness of the place. There were many children. Some are barely standing, some about Serika’s age, some my age, and some even older. They were all wearing white hospital clothes, and they were all rowdily playing together, crowding around the nurses with some looking over having found me. Their eyes were glittering with curiosity. A few even wanted to come over but was held back by the ones close to them. I don’t know why but I felt uncomfortable. Something inside me was reacting, finding something similar between the kids here and a certain chibi. I thought this was the place the nurse was talking about but it seems it wasn’t. We continued to go further into the building. As we went further, I start to notice the atmosphere changing from being lively and warm to becoming more quiet, more cold. Finally, the nurse stopped before a half-opened door to a slightly bigger room. I curiously looked into the room. There were six beds inside the room with three on each side of the room, and two of six were empty. One of the empty bed was the one on the corner on the right side while the other was on the left side and the furthest from the door.  The right side near the door was a bed with had a boy sleeping on it. Next to it was one with a boy with glasses lying on it reading a manga. On the other side, was one with a girl sitting up. The second of the occupied bed on this side, which was where a nurse was saying something, seemed to belong to a girl sitting on a wheelchair. The last bed near the window was empty. “Momo-chan, it’s time for your medicine.” I noticed one of the nurse inside speaking to the girl sitting on the wheelchair who was arranging a flower vase. The girl who looked about Serika or my age uninterestedly looked towards the nurse, then turned back to her flowers: “Not taking it.” The nurse tried hard to persuade the girl: “How come? Don’t you want to get better? You won’t get better if you don’t take your medicine, you know?” “What’s the point? I’m not going to get better anytime soon anyways.” The girl insisted loudly. Her loud voice seemed to have caught the others attention. All the other patients, except the boy who was sleeping, looked at her for a moment then returned their attention to whatever they were doing again as if it was only normal. The nurse continued trying to persuade the girl. “These children have been staying here since they were born.” I couldn’t help but lift my head up when I heard what the nurse aunty’s words. Aunty nurse’s face was one of sadness. Turning my head to look again at the room, I asked: “Why?” She answered: “They are sick.” “Sick? But they seem fine?” With how energetically the girl inside was arguing with the nurse, I found it hard to believe that she was sick. “You see that girl on the wheelchair? Her name is Momo-chan. She is born with a weak lower body. Umm, how do I explain?” Aunty nurse stopped speaking for a moment then continued: “Momo-chan, despite being already four, can hardly walk and not to mention run.” Is that why she is sitting on a wheelchair? “That girl sitting up is Sae-chan. She is three this year but she is mute. Even now she can talk clearly.” “That boy there sleeping is Rin-chan. He is born with a weak body that requires constant nutrition supplement. Simply meaning, he can’t survive without medicine and constant care.” “And that other boy is Kotarou-chan. He is born with a hereditary disease. In other words, he will be staying here for many years to come.” “Finally, do you see that bed near the window? That was your sister’s, Serika-chan’s bed. Serika-chan had a faulty heart. She had been staying here ever since she was born.” Feeling confused, I asked: “Why do they have to stay here?” Why aren’t they the same as me? I can walk, speak, eat anything I want, and can run as far as I want. The nurse then pulled me to a corner of the hallway, away from the door. She squatted down and put both her hands on my shoulders, matching our line of sight. “They are different-no they are special.” Seeing me tilting my head, she continued: “Just as what happens to a fish that is out of water, they won’t live if they are not taken care of properly. Enri-kun is healthy, so you can do all of the things they can’t, right?” “That in itself is a privilege, Enri-kun. It isn’t that your sister Serika-chan is useless, it is that she is just special. As for whether she is your biological little sister, I will full-heartedly assure you, she is born from your parents just a year after you were born.”  Everything after that was vague in my memory, I somehow find myself already standing in front of mommy and daddy again. “Thank you so very much, Rei, for bringing Enri back.” Daddy was thanking aunty nurse as he took my hands into his. “*sigh* Thank god you’re okay.” Once again hearing daddy’s warm voice, I feel like crying. “I-” Just as I was choking on my words of apology, my body was suddenly taken into a sudden familiar embrace. “Oh, Enri, my son. Where have you been? Mommy was so worried.” I can feel the warmth of mommy’s hug, making me choke even more on my emotions. Feeling like I had to apologize, I started to wriggle. “Are you still angry? Mommy is so sorry! Mommy shouldn’t have blamed you!” “It’s not that. Enri is not angry. Enri is- Enri is sorry *sob* Enri is sorry because I didn’t look after Serika properly. Enri didn’t listen to mommy’s word *sob* not to run around with my sister Uwaa!” “It’s okay, darling. It’s okay. Mommy doesn’t blame Enri. Don’t cry.” “Alright, alright. It’s not both of your fault, okay?” Daddy embraced us lovingly from behind. “Besides, your sister is fine now.” Daddy broke into a relieved smile: “Why don’t we go see her now?” “No, that is not allowed.” Aunty nurse who has been quietly looking at us wiped the waters around the rim of her eyes as she sternly proclaimed. “Why?” Daddy who was usually composed, totally looked like an aggrieved damsel right now. “She just finished her surgery and needs rest, so visiting is definitely out of the question.” Aunty nurse said while giving daddy a look as if asking whether he was an idiot. “Right, right. I was too happy, I forgot. Hahaha.” Daddy awkwardly laughed only to receive an elbow from mommy. A week later, I was finally allowed to go see the chibi again. I was kind of nervous as I stood outside the door to her room. “What’s wrong?” Daddy who was holding my hand asked. “Daddy, what if the chibi, Serika, hates me now?” I’ve been worrying about this over the previous week I didn’t get to see her. Surprisingly, It’s been very lonely this past week. I used to feel so annoyed at the tail following me known as Serika, but when she is not there, I felt as if there was a hole in my lifestyle. I sometimes even turned around and found myself unconsciously talking to the empty air behind me. She was annoying but I missed her. I admit I really misses her. “Ahaha, so that is what you have been troubled over since yesterday?” Daddy laughed until his eyes turned into curved lines. “But- but, I did treated her badly.” I softly explained my quilty conscience.  “If it’s that, then you don’t have to worry, Enri.” Daddy stopped laughing then crouched down and put his hands on my soldiers to match our line of sight. “Your sister, Serika-chan, will never hate her brother no matter what.” Seeing my confused expression, daddy continued: “You are her one and only dear brother after all. You didn’t see her expression everytime we told her about you. It was the brightest expressions she has ever shown in all the three years she has stayed here.” “To Serika-chan, you are the person she loves and looks up to the most.” Feeling a bit reassured from daddy’s words, I took my first steps into her room. Feeling the presence of visitors, the Chibi, no Serika- no, my little sister quickly lifted her head. That pale face quickly broke into a very, very happy smile, blowing all my worries way: “Onii-cha!” Ah, so this cute girl is really my sister huh. My cute, cute but weak little baby sister, Kurosawa Serika. I feel another kind of happiness thinking of the days ahead of us.

GR Chapter 15: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (2) A/N: I am feeling proud of being able to write a rather decently sized chapter of 2000+ words this time. “Aaaah!” To only wake up later in the next morning face to face with a closed up surprised face of a little girl.   The said girl scurried away from me due to my scream. As for me, I hit my head with the trunk above me due to suddenly sitting up. Oww, it hurts. I’d forgotten that I slept in a dead tree trunk last night. I guess I wasn’t the only one taking this as a motel last night. I slowly turned my head to the girl who gave me a big morning fright. I couldn’t see that clearly due to how dark it is in the trunk but I could make out that the other party is a little girl with long messy hair. Ah, I met eyes with her. The girl quickly looked away from my eyes. From the brief eye contact, I was fascinated by her eyes. They were clear and bright despite the fear and anxiety present. They somehow reminded me of something. A faint sense of familiarity. I quickly shook away the thought as now was not the time. The girl further backed away as she felt my stare. Perhaps, she thought I would do something to her? Excuse me, sissy. I am also a little girl alright? What and why could I possibly want to hurt you? Holding in an eye roll, I temporarily ignored the girl as I slowly peeked outside. Okay, the coast is clear. I slowly crawled out of the trunk after confirming that it was safe outside. Feeling the morning sunlight, I stretched my super stiff body. Yep, I now know what it feels like to sleep on hard surfaces. Thank you very much, Mr. tree trunk. I will not forget your favor of teaching me and covering me for the night. I heard faint sounds behind me so I turned around to see that the little girl have also crawled out. Finally, I can clearly see her appearance. The girl was a head shorter than me with a head full of navy hair and same colored pupils. I think she is at least two years younger than me from how petite she is. Her waist long hair was a mess and she was wearing a ragged robe like shirt. I think I figured out who she is. She should be the one the bandits were talking about last night. The escaped little girl. I never thought she’d still be here. I mean it isn’t even that far off from where the bandits are. Should I say she is lucky that she hasn’t been found or that the bandits are so stupid to have not found her? Either way, it is not of my business to care for such things. I quickly bring my thoughts into what my next steps should be. It seems like I underestimated this world’s ferocity. My naive thoughts of having a safe adventure just slapped me hard in the face. Now, I have to travel on my own and in the wild no less. *sigh* I guess brooding over what happened isn’t going to take me anywhere. I briefly looked over what I have on me and quickly analysed what I needed to survive. Weapon, checked: my sword and a dagger. Food, checked: I still have dried rations that would last around three days. Wate, checked: I can create enough for drinking at anytime. It is a miracle that I still have my space bag, thank goodness. *Growl* I thought it was my stomach that was speaking up since I technically skipped dinner yesterday, but then I realized the sound was coming from near me instead. I turned to look at the little girl to see her red face as she clutched her stomach. *growl* Ah, this time it really is my stomach churning. The girl looked at me in the same pose as her clutching my stomach. I felt the atmosphere turning awkward. I broke the awkward atmosphere as I sat down on a rock nearby and created a small ball of water to wash my face and mouth all the while as mine and the girl’s stomach went into a competition of who is growling louder. Alright, alright, let me wash my mouth first would ya. Habit says that eating before brushing your teeth is unhealthy. I know that brushing my teeth in such a situation is unrealistic but at least I want to wash my mouth. I quickly took out a piece of bread from my bag. As I was going to chomp on it, I heard a long and persistent growl from the side. I can feel the little girl’s eyes staring intently at the bread. A heated debate broke out inside my mind. The angel Serika was in tears telling me to share food with the pitiful girl. The devil Serika is telling me to be selfish and ignore her. The intellectual Serika is analysing pros and cons of sharing the food. The lazy Serika is looking at me with sleepy eyes. Another look into the girl’s clear eyes had me defeated and giving in to the angelic side. I slowly took out another bread and held it out in front of me. “Here.” I defeatedly call her over. “Here. Aren’t you hungry?” I once again said as she didn’t move from her spot. Feeling a little irritated at her slowness, I said for the third time. “If you don’t want it, I will just take it back right now.” Finally, the girl fiercely shook her head and moved. The little girl timidly walked over as I continued to held my hand out to her. As if she decided that I didn’t have any ill intentions, her actions quickened and she ate the bread after sitting down next to me. We both quickly finished our bread and I made another water ball to drink from. The girl looked guarded again seeing me use magic but then her parched throat had her looking at me with imploring eyes once again. I sighed as I created another water ball for her. I took my mind of the little girl as I rummaged around my bag to find the piece of paper that was given to me by Mr. Boon. As I unfolded it, I found that it was a map. A detailed map of the northwest region of Esteral. I can tell that it was one that was drawn by the old man himself from the routes marked and the messy unskillful lines. I felt slightly moved. This should be a trade secret for a merchant. The routes of transportation that was put together from years of experience such as this map can also be counted as a merchant’s legacy for his later generations. No merchant would be willing to sell this easily, not to mention giving it away to outsiders. I felt his sincere hope and support for me once again. I should be able to get to Archi safely with this map. However, for now, I should get out of this forest, and I should travel North as it was stated that the nearest village is in the north of this forest. I could restack travelling necessities again once I reach it.   I finished my preparations for departure as I got up. I walked away without speaking a word to the little girl despite feeling her panic as she saw me leaving. I didn’t turn to look though. I know that I shouldn’t because once I did, I will have to take her with me. I have to learn to harden my heart. I already have enough trouble looking after myself. I couldn’t possibly take on another burden. I already made up my mind that I was a selfish person. I walked and walked, stopping every once in a while picking up some wild herbs around or hiding when feeling the presence of wild monsters. It is a good thing that I came across of such wild monsters because it means that I have already passed the territory of the bandits. My joy dampened as I felt a small presence following behind me. I know without looking that the little girl was following me. I honestly don’t know what to do right now. I tried acting tough speeding up a little cruelly thinking to leave her unable to catch up but then I eventually soften when I saw her running in panic after me. I once again stopped to pick up a wild edible mushroom that could be eaten for lunch, feeling thankful that I didn’t slack off when Shawn-san taught me about wild plants and their uses in alchemy class. I saw the girl’s eyes shining as she watched me carefully pull it out from the ground. She then walked to another batch of the mushroom grown nearby. I feel my heart soften again at the sight. I mean, I never had a little sister before but seeing her slowly following and imitating me made a small feeling bubble up. I only had big idiot brothers during my two lifetimes, I mean boys will always be boys. As my mind wanders to Enri and my previous life big brother, I suddenly heard a rustling sound from where the little girl was. It was a snake. One that was directly in front of the little girl who had stiffened due to fear. Shit, I let my guard down. I forgot that there are usually wild monsters and animals around wild herbs. I started racking my mind as for what to do in this situation. How to deal with snakes again? “Don’t move. Just stay there.” I told the little girl, and decided to take a gamble as I slowly walked toward another patch of mushroom near the snake. Usually animals that stay near wild herbs especially care about the herbs, so what if I deliberately try to pick out one right in front of it? The snake quickly noticed what I was about to do as it turned and hissed at me instead of the girl. Bingo! It was a success. Just into my joy, I was caught off guard as the snake suddenly pounced at me baring its fangs. I stumbled back clumsily as I barely dodged its bite. Whew, I almost got bitten. I stood up taking out my short sword as the snake stood its head up and hissed at me with its forked tongue and reptilian eyes. *Gulp* This is scary. This is my first time facing a snake, a cold blooded creature that is famous for its venom filled bite. I silently cursed the various documentary that says snakes would not attack unless in fear. Right now, it was the one that attacked me okay? I hate snakes. I bit my lips as I braced myself as it once again shot out towards me with a flip of its tail. I swiped at it with my sword but only felt a blunt resistance as my sword hit its scaled body. What F*cking type of snake isn’t cut by a sword!? I once again experience the difference of this world’s ferocity, even your normal snake is this tough. The snake abruptly twisted its body to once again aim for a bite right at my face. My arms moved in panic as I blocked its bite at the last minute. I can clearly see its fangs that was blocked by my sword as the snake’s mouth opened widely. I quickly flipped my sword and used its blade to cut the mouth of the snake. The snake was cut into two with little resistance this time since I cut it from the soft inside of its mouth. I wobbly put my short sword back in its sheath as I finally noticed my body trembling. Whew, that was close. I turned to the girl to only feel an impact as my body was suddenly hugged. The little girl had ran to me and tackled me in a hug. I felt her body trembling and my shirt getting wet without hearing her utter a sound. “It’s okay. It’s okay now. I’m alright.” I softly murmured as my hand softly patted the girl’s back. I don’t think I can just leave her alone after all. Not only is she hopeless in this kind of forest, and would die if left alone. I figured why I have not heard a single sound from the girl. She was mute. I also found out why I felt familiarity with her eyes, it was the eyes of a girl who has realized her hopeless reality and was on the verge of giving up on life, the exact same eyes I once had in my previous life.       

Note: I'M SORRY! My dearest apologies for those reading on this site. I set chapter 11 to be released a day after chapter 10 but then something went wrong with the schedule posting and I didn't realize that chapter 11 was missing.  Only after I released chapter 12 that I noticed. Again, sorry!     #UnEdited  GR Chapter 11: A Brother’s Monologue #3 A/N: This is the last of Enri’s monologue. Be warned that this might be depressing to read. Next up will be back to the normal storyline and in Serika’s POV. October, ten years old It has been a month since the accident. I don’t remember much what happened after that. The blow I received was too much to bear. My parents are gone now. The only saving grace was that Serika is still alive and recovering quickly. The funeral was uneventful. People who claimed to be relatives came and went. They all talked about the inheritance, us being orphaned, needing guardians and so on. I was sitting in a corner hanging my head letting the lady who claimed to be some social charity or society something member take care of all the work. I didn't cry in front of them though. Why would I cry in front of strangers? During the past month, I was basically living inside the hospital accompanying Serika in her room. I lost track of how much we cried hugging each other. I stayed with her partly due to grief, and also partly due to stopping myself from the stupid thought of going to where my parents are to ask for forgiveness. Honestly, it took me great effort to not jump into the river on the way home but after Serika popped on my mind, those thoughts gradually disappeared. She only had me now, I couldn’t bear to leave her in this world alone. Shelton also came to visit us in the hospital frequently. Either due to feeling sad or going with the mood of the two of us, he also cried with us most of the time. November, ten years old Serika has been discharged from the hospital. We have been told that a distant aunt and her family will be taking us into their family, and to be nice. The family was a family of three: our aunt, her husband, and their daughter. The couple was over 40 years old, and wanted us as siblings for their only daughter. It took us two month before we warmed up a bit to them. By then, Shelton miraculously became our neighbor again. January, eleven years old We have been living with our distant aunt for two months now. I can say that they treated us neither too warm nor too cold. However, a conversation I accidentally heard broke my image of them. They said they would let Serika marry after high school. They said they would let me stop studying after high school. They said our inheritance money would be used to fund their daughter’s university and their restaurant. Anger was what I felt, not only for myself but for Serika’s sake. My sister is good at studying so she ought to be a brilliant college student. I don’t mind working to support her but to think she will force her to marry is too much. I took Serika away from the house without hesitation. We went to a center for orphans and told authorities the truth. Later on, we were yet again taken into another relative’s family. Another strange thing is that somehow Shelton became our neighbor again in this new family. If I hadn’t known him better, I’d say he’s gotten addicted to playing neighbor with us. Truth is I could guess that it was his form of support for us. The family treated us warmly. In fact, they treated us so well that they reminded me of my parents. The very image of them reminded me of my parents as well as the images of the crash scene replaying in my mind. I was once again tormented by guilt despite the warm environment. If only I hadn’t went out to meet that girl. If only I hadn’t scared her away. If only I hadn't loved. Regret came too late. I acted fine on the outside as guilt and grief continued to eat away my mind on the inside. It hurt so much seeing Serika happy with the new family. Finally, I decided to run away in May. May, eleven years old It was Friday night. I was told that our new parents would be late coming home tonight. After confirming that Serika was asleep in her room, I carefully picked up my backpack which was prepared stealthily since last week, and the letter informing them on my leaving which is to be put on the living room table. I once again looked around the living room as I finished tying my shoelaces. This place will be twice as homely to my sister if I wasn’t here. With my resolve, I turned around to leave the house. Two hours later, I was sitting dazedly on the bus. It was already 11:30 at night. To be honest, I have no idea where I should go. I suddenly thought of the park where we usually played as I saw the familiar scenery outside the window. I let the uncle driver stop the bus saying that I saw my parents. He let me out after warning me to be careful. The park was deserted with no shadow in sight. Except for the occasional night breeze, and the rustling of the leaves from the trees and bushes, it was very quiet. Memories continued to pop up in my mind as I walked to the swing. Memories which should have been beautiful and joyous turned into sad and nostalgic ones. I don’t know if it would have been different without the accident. I can’t believe that this many things changed in just one year. What would have happened if dad and mom were still here? Would they scold me if I didn’t look after Serika properly? Would they praise me and Serika for doing great in school? Would they be proud of me winning tournaments? Would they take us on family trips to the hot springs or the beach again? More and more thoughts welled up, and tears uncontrollably fell from my eyes as I hang my head down while sitting on the swing. As the night breeze blew on my face, I felt it cool my tears. I was too absorbed in my thoughts that I was unaware of the sound of footsteps until I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. I looked up to see the crying face of the most important person to me right now, my sister, Serika. In my shock, I widened my eyes and wasn’t able to let out a sound at all. Serika glared at me silently as tears continued to fall from her eyes. We looked at each other for a while as my eyes moved from her crying face to the back on her shoulders. My shock grew the more I observed her. “Wha- Just what are you doing here, Serika?” My voice was shaking from all the crying. “Nii-chan, you big big idiot!!” It seems my question was her trigger as Serika shouted then jumped on me. I was surprised by her pounce and fell off the swing with her on my body. I unconsciously cushioned her body with mine at the fall. This almost became second instinct to me now as I was taught since little to always protect my weak baby sister. “What the- Are you okay?!” I sat my upper body up and checked her for any injury, but she suddenly hugged me fiercely. “Idiot Nii-chan, just why did you leave without telling me?” Serika’s voice sounded near my ears. I can feel her little body quivering as she hugged my neck. I instantly regret leaving her behind. “I- “ I found myself stammering to answer her. “I thought that if I acted happy in the new family, Nii-chan would also be cheered up, but Nii-chan still cried and even left me like mommy and daddy!” By the end of her sentence, Serika burst into uncontrollable tears. I felt as if countless sharp shards was poking my heart seeing her like this. “Is it because mommy died because of protecting Serika that- that Nii-chan, Nii-chan doesn’t want me anymore?” Huh? What? It took me a while to figure out what she meant. She must be talking about how mom was protecting her when the accident happened. I also faintly heard about it. It seemed like because mom shielded Serika that a shard of glass pierced her neck leading to her death. I don’t blame her though. Mom used her very own life to exchange for Serika’s. “It is Serika’s fault, isn’t it?” Suddenly, it dawned on me. Just like me. Serika too was blaming herself. No, even more so than me. Different from me who was a bystander to the accident at the time. Serika watched as mom was pierced protecting her. Coupled with what she heard from the adults at the hospital, she must have thought that it was her fault. Despite that, she tried to be cheerful in hopes of making me happy and warming me to the new family. How strong can she be? I thought it was me who was always looking after her, but in fact, it was the other way around isn’t it? “No, no, it isn’t Serika’s fault.” I firmed my voice telling myself to comfort her properly. “Really?” She looked up at me with her voice still shaking. “Yes, really.” I answered her seriously as I used my right hand to lightly pat her back to soothe her. “Then, then why did you leave?” I racked my head at how to answer her and whether to tell the truth. “I just, just they reminded me of mom and dad too much.” I decided to tell her the truth: ”I feel sad seeing you so happy with them.” Now that I heard my reasons myself, I felt as if I was the pettiest kid on the planet. *sigh* how pitiful, Enri. “It’s not because of Serika?” Her eyes shone with pleasant surprise at the reason then, “They also remind Serika of mommy and daddy but Serika thought that Nii-chan would be happy if Serika acted happy so…” She continued softly as she hanged her small head again. Huh? Then it was a misunderstanding then? “Don’t leave Serika again, okay? Nii-chan?” As I was lost in thought for the Nth time, Serika once again lifted her head and implored with upturned eyes. “Sure, Nii-chan promise.” We held out our pinkies for the promise that we thought would last our whole lives. After that episode of heart to heart, we decided not to return to the house. We adventured outside for two weeks with the inheritance money I stole before I ran away from the house. We went to many places: the beach, the hot spring, and the library. It was only when Shelton came looking for us with a familiar woman that we finally settled down. The person was Aunt Rei who was the nurse from the hospital back then. She offered to adopt us in place of the previous couple. I accepted, and by the end of the year, that guy Shelton was once again our permanent neighbor living with his two grandmas who also looked after us in the following years. Serika, perhaps due to experiencing so many things, changed a lot. She turned less cheerful, less girly, and more mature. She would do house chores without being asked. Not to mention, she stopped sweetly calling me Nii-chan. As if our roles were swapped, she would look after me all the time. I felt somehow guilty so I often tried to force out girly reactions from her not caring whether she got angry. Perhaps that too became a habit, and by the time I noticed, I was teasing her all the time. I have somehow become what people call a ‘siscon’. I don’t particularly mind though because I love my little sister. She means everything to me, and I’d listen to everything she says. She seemed to not have many friends though. Well, I admit that it was partly due to me (and Shelton) ‘filtering’ the people around her. She later introduced a girl named Mina to us as her best friend, and I was happy to see her with a good friend. Then she started hinting that Mina’s cousin, Kana was a good girl to date, so I asked her out as per her request and partly due to being tired of finding a reason to reject the endless confessions. I am amazed at the fact that Shelton who was even more popular than me (according to Serika) was able to manage the girls so well. More than romantic feelings, Kana felt more like a means to me though she is closer than a friend. We continued our lives with the usual teasings and fights between me and Serika. Oh and Serika found her new found passion in scarves and martial arts (how ungirly, and of course, we accompanied her). She also got into a big fight with Mina and Kana which I’m sure is due to a misunderstanding. That was how we got into our second year and third years of middle school respectively until a certain supernatural incident occurred. We were summoned to another world known as “Edea”. It was a fantastical world with skills and statuses. I kept the fact that I heard a voice in my head as I was being summoned a secret. The voice told me three things: ‘Welcome, Thou, Sevora’s apostle.’ ‘Thou shalt be blessed with thee’s last hope.’ ‘Shalt thou not regret in thou’s judgements.’ At first, I found it ridiculous that we were asked to do such dangerous things such as fighting the demon lord. What the f***k**g rights do they have to order us around after kidnapping us? I unconsciously released some sort of power with my rage only to be stopped by Shelton with a similar kind of power. I felt uncomfortable knowing I almost hurt Serika. Moreover, that guy Shelton also seemed to have received some sort of power. Unbeknownst to me, a sense of competition welled up. After some discussion, I was wavering. My mind was telling me to refuse but there was this confidence from the new found power. Furthermore, the fact that Serika’s stats is too weak made me felt like letting her stay in the castle is infinitely safer than making her travel the unknown world. The promise of return in five years also played a part in making me agree. I am sure Shelton thought the same as me. After we declared our decision, we were then let to settle in the castle. I was taught shadow magic, swordsmanship, and general classes (history, monsters encyclopedia, culture, geographical datas, and so on). Shelton, with the addition of light magic, shared the general classes, and swordsmanship with me as well as Chizu.Mina shared the light magic class with Shelton while Kana was with me and Chili. All of us also got elemental magic classes including Serika. Only later on, Serika got a man named Shawn Tousel to be her exclusive teacher. He was responsible for teaching her everything she needed to learn as well as alchemy. Shelton did a background check on him of course (I am not so sure how he got such detailed information but this punk is exceptional). Aside from the fact that he came from a fallen noble family and used to be an adventurer, everything else seemed to be normal. I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous when I found out that Serika (might) like him. The feeling of watching your precious baby(sister) growing up only to be stolen by others is indescribable. Weeks pass as we continued to grow stronger until one day, news of Rosemarie being poisoned spread to me. The one who told me was the captain of the 2nd knight order, Cornell-san. He was clear about what happened as his team was assigned to investigate what happened. Being skeptical about everything, I tagged along with them in their investigation. I was later shocked about what I learned. From the evidence in the culprit's room such as summoning circles to communicating agents, eyewitnesses to the testimony of the personal maid. Everything pointed to the fact that it was Serika who did it. She was supposedly fooled into putting poison inside Rosemarie's drinks thinking it was some sort of medication. One part of me refused to believe it, and to believe in Serika. Another part of me accepted that Serika might have done it due to a moment's of blindness due to love. I was in turmoil internally as I was led to Prisella's office by Rosemarie's maid. As soon as I saw how Serika was acting inside, I was convinced. Serika did love that treacherous guy. Feelings of disappointment, and rage went over my head, and I did something I regretted as soon as I snapped out of it. Yes, I slapped Serika. I felt as if my heart was clenched seeing her disheartened expression. I felt guilty so I didn't stop her when she went back to her room. I knew it wasn't her fault for doing what she did. She was fooled into doing it. I told myself to apologize to her and have a heart to heart with her once things have settled down a bit. The next day, I once again found time after my training to look for Serika to apologize. Oh, I don't know why but I haven't seen Shelton since yesterday's event. Things wouldn't have been so troublesome if he was here. It's times like this that I felt like Shelton isn't as much of an eyesore. As I made my way to Serika's room, I saw a familiar silhouette walking to the small greenhouse with an unfamiliar man with long green hair. It was pretty far but I'd recognize that backside anywhere. I ran after her without a second thought. I was a bit out of breath from running too fast, but as I got closer I saw how Serika was dressed that an unpleasant premonition welled up. It seemed she was trying to leave the castle. I tried to ask why she was leaving, and as I thought she was angry. I did what I thought to do and properly apologized. However, she was bent on leaving nonetheless. With no other choice, I chose to stop her by force while enduring the sadness. To think Serika was willing to abandon me for that Shawn guy. To my surprise and unease, I fell into her trap and felt increasing drowsiness attacking me. In the midst of the smoke, I desperately walked towards her not caring about having dropped my sword. I felt like things would not be the same between us anymore were I to let her leave right now. ‘Please… Don't leave…’ ‘I beg you…’ I opened mouth but barely any sound came out of it. My vision went dark as I faintly felt a pair of warm arms caught me as I fell down. 

#Unedited So far in my 14 years of life, I have experienced two major shocking life changing events. First was after going through a horrible traffic accident at the age of nine. Back then we were going to my aunt's house to celebrate my big brother's winning a competition when a big truck suddenly steered off the track and hit our car. Both of my parents lost their life leaving me as the only survivor due to my mother who firmly shielded me from the impact. My brother was lucky as he'd already gone to my aunt's house before us. After that, I became less talkative, gloomier, and only after excessive crying with my brother did I begin to move forward. The second time is when I was 11 years old and I was out with a cold for three days. Actually, the cold should have been gone ever since the first day, but it was something else that made me break into a fever lasting for another two days. Right, it was the memories of my previous life. Countless scenes flashed in and out of my head, from a 4 years old me until the 24 years old me, with the last being the scene of a white hospital room and my parents' crying faces. I was a normal girl living a normal life but what's special was that I was a hardcore Otaku. Ever since I was told that I would not be able to live pass 30 years old, I indulged myself in animes, mangas, and even light novels. So that I could see and feel a world where I could do what I wanted through placing myself as the main character, it helped me live a happy life inspite of my short time. Waking up after three days of fever, I felt like my head would burst but there was something more alarming than any headache. That is the familiarity of the names like Kurozawa Serika, Kurozawa Enri, and Laker Shelton. Somehow I seem to have known these before.... ''Ah!"*Thud*"Oow..." The final trigger was hitting my head on the edge of the bed as a result of dizzily trying to get up. Right [Grimoire Knights]! "Uuu..." Patting my red forehead. I tried to once again piece my thoughts together. [Grimoire Knights] was a highly popular RPG game or should I say, a Galgame( a game intended for boys, usually is about battles and capturing hotgirls creating a harem in between) back in my previous life with millions of sales made in a very short time of its release. Due to its great graphics, beautiful characters(mostly beautiful girls), and lavish advertising, it boomed in no time at all, but at that time it was my best friend, a game otaku, who introduced me to the game. I had to accompany him in playing the game due to a favor I owed him, and it was only a short time later that I got into the game itself ,half of it was definitely not due to the boy version of the game. Uhem, it really wasn't. [Grimoire Knights] is more of an action game with a slight function of a gal game. Hmm, it was a game that follows the protagonist, Laker Shelton, when he got summoned to another world to train and fight against an evil force while building his own team of hare- ahem! girl fighters. Heh, I can totally picture Shelton as the harem mc, wait hasn't he already began to show traits of one right now? Ohh, and there's also the important antagonist or rival character, Kurozawa Enri. In other words, my big brother....To think that the kind big brother of my memory would turn into 'that' guy in a few years time. I already feel like crying. But most importantly, Kurozawa Serika, Serika, Seri......Seri~chan!!(0_0)Thinking up to there, my thoughts blanked out. If anyone were to see me now, they would probably see the funniest expresson on my face ever. My mouth was gaping wide, eyes dazed, and there is probably even signs of saliva going to come pouring out of my mouth.No way, no way, no way! I am 'that' Seri~. Uwah, I wanna cry. To think that I became her. T^T Kurozawa Serika, the first ever harem member of Shelton, his childhood friend, and the girl who sacrificed the most for him when he started training in the other world. She was also summoned with him to the other world, and due to not being fit for fighting, she became a healer and a cook for Shelton. Following him everywhere, and only with her death did Shelton get the resolve to firmly stand to fight and become strong. Right, you did not misread that, by sacrifice I mean she even died for him! Even when I was playing I can't help but think she is so annoying as she just kept following Shelton everywhere and kept him from interacting(flirting)with the other girls, but after I saw her death, I could only feel sympathy for her. She tried everything she could to help and stand by her loved one, only to die tragically and remembered as harem member #1 after she died. It was to the point of feeling anger for her at the sight of Shelton standing in a group of hot girls at the ending, never again speaking of her.No way, there is no way I am going to follow the storyline and fall for that heartless and enemy-of-all-women guy! Even though the boys back then said he was only 'dense' but you know you can't just cut it with a 'I am dense' and get away with messing with a maiden's heart, you know! You'd be cursed by the god of maiden hood! Huhuhuhu....*After a few hours of inhumane cursing* Hah, finally I feel a little bit better.Now what to do? According to the story line, we are supposed to be summoned at around our first year of high school so that is in 4 or 5 years time, so I have to somehow figure out the 'safeguard my life and maiden heart' strategy. Huhuhu, an otaku me will not lose to the likes of you, Shelton and stinking harem game!(Pardon our mc for her unstable state of mind at the moment...)

GR 19: Unchangeable (1) #Unedited  3rd PoV  “Hey! You sure they’re headed this way?” A middle-aged man holding onto what seemed like a big axe asked his two comrades as he walked in the forest. “Definitely. Even if I’m not sure. The boss went to such length to even use a tracking hound. You know the dog’s nose is worth even more than our heads.”  “Why is the boss so stuck up on that blue haired slave- Ow!” Even before he was finished, the man with a mask on his face punched the middle-aged man with the axe.  “Insolent! Who are you to question the boss’s decision? One more word from you and I will personally chop off your tongue and put you to the Black cage, got it?” The masked man who seemed to be the leader of the team of three threatened his subordinate.  “Got, got it leader…” The mean looking middle-aged man cowered and meekly replied.  “From the direction they’re headed, it seems like they are planning on going into the small village a little away from the forest.” The other man among the three spoke as he predicted the targets movement.  “Good, we’re changing directions.” The masked man took the lead and disappeared in the other way into the forest. “Wait, team leader!, wait for us!” The axe-carrying man clumsily followed after the masked man.  The man left behind let out a sigh before following afterwards. It was obvious the leader would lay a trap for the target after he found out about the target’s destination. However, he is a little uneasy because of this damn idiot. He’d never would have thought that he and the leader would be stuck with an idiot teammate.  He had been working as a dark mercenary with his leader for over 3 years now, mostly taking on any and all kinds of jobs from anyone who’d pay enough money. Killing, asassinating, murder, theft, and mostly kidnapping, the life that he very much enjoy living amidst the thrill.  This time it was a job from one of the team’s regular clients, whose name only the leader knows. That is why he and his newly recruited teammate only called him boss. The only thing known about the client is that he is a slave merchant. A fairly well-known one at that.  The man with the axe was such an idiot. They only recruited him because he had decent skills and bloodthirst matching that of the leader’s taste. If they’d known that he was such a blabber-mouth, the leader would have made do with only two people.   Fortunately, the mission this time is not that difficult. They only had to escort a slave from one of  the bandit groups near Esteral. Who’d have known that the bandits were so useless as to let the slave get away.  The leader was so angry he’d killed quite a few of them before he used the hound to track the scent of the escaped target. He didn’t know what the boss told the leader before handing him something so expensive such as a tracking hound but it seemed like the slave who escaped this time would fetch an astronomical price.  He is very curious. Just what did the slave look like? He’d heard it was a girl, so he wondered whether the boss would mind if the good was just a little damaged. His heart pumped excitedly as he imagined the scene of torture. A little distance from where the team of three had been just now, the branch from a nearby tree moved before the silhouette of a man could be seen. The man was slender as he crouched on a tree branch with his eyes shining with a green light.  As the team of three disappeared from sight, the man slowly got up to his full height, jumped down and ran to a spot not far from the tree he’d just been on.  *step*  “How was it?” The anxious voice of a woman was heard as soon as his feet had landed.  “They changed directions.” The slender man answered as he pulled his hood down showing a stunningly beautiful countenance with light brown eyes and ash blonde shoulder length straight hair.  If the man’s voice wasn’t low, one would think that he was a girl.  “Why would they change directions? Could it be that Miura isn’t heading this way?” The girl asking sported reddish brown hair and dark navy irises. She was wearing a well-fitted leather armor and a sword strapped on her waist, the get-up of an experienced adventurer. “No, I don’t think that is the case.” Her teammate replied before he continued: “It seemed like they had a tracking hound point out her scent, so the direction couldn’t be wrong.” “But why would they suddenly shift directions?” The girl mumbled slowly before catching up on something as she quickly moved towards the same direction as the previous three. Not before saying to her teammate:  “No matter what, it’s best to continue following them.” “Right, or we might lose them.” The slender teammate who had been acting as a scout also disappeared towards the same direction.  1st PoV  On the other side of the forest, me and Miura was continuing on our way to exit the forest. By now, I was growing tired of the scenery of only trees, rocks, and grass. The slow pace we’re walking in is also not helping at all. It couldn’t be helped since we have to travel this way since both I and Miura are not in the state to run around this dangerous forest carelessly.  We have to take care to not catch the attention of monsters so once in a while we had to stop on our feet and wait for the monsters to pass by. I can’t appreciate enough how much Miura being able to talk helped. Just like right now. [Left] As I received her message, I turned to look at the left side and as expected, there was a monster under one of the trees. I signalled Miura to crouch down as I observed the monster as I hid behind a nearby tree.  With canines protruding out of its mouth, and an outer appearance similar to a pig. It was without a doubt, a Warthog. However, it was undoubtedly a monster with its canines shining with a metallic sheen and terrifying red eyes.  As I observed it while trying to recall its characteristics from its Earthly counterpart, I waited for it to move away.  5 minutes 10 minutes 30 minutes One hour  F**k! This thing isn’t planning on moving away at all! It looks like it’s bent on swaying its butt and hanging around here, isn’t it? Isn’t it!?  It is almost noon now. We can’t be wasting time here. I bit my lower lip as I considered my options.  One, I wait this stupid monster out, and goes hungry for who knows how long while also delaying our trip into town.  Two, I kick this ugly pig’s butt and get some delicious monster pig’s meat to skewer for lunch.  Soon enough, my fighting spirit soared high as I readied my sword and moved to slowly lay some traps while signalling Miura to hide on a reliable tree. As soon as the preparations were ready, I went into position and picked up a rock on the ground.  “Hey, You ugly pig!” I threw the rock to the monster’s butt before mustering a taunting face as best as I could.  “Not only are you ugly but you are also a dim-witted pig!” I’d heard that monsters might not be able to understand human speech- Woah! It’s really coming after me! Success!  I turned my body around before running quickly to the trap spot. I guess although it didn’t understand what I was saying but the irritating intonation was still conveyed.  As soon as my body sprinted pass a tree, I shouted to Miura: “Now!”  *crash*  Right on the mark, a potion was thrown right on the head of the warthog. The bottle broke and an unpleasant smell poured out right on the nose of the warthog.  {Wheeeeee-  Wheeck} The monster let out an unidentifiable shriek. It’s probably one of disgust since the potion just now was one I brewed to paralyze the sense of smell of monsters. Making use of the chance when it’s still confused. I went on the offense.  *slash* First, the joints of its front legs, so that it can’t charge anymore.  Then- I quickly turned my sword from a slicing angle into one of defence as the warthog attacked with its protruding canines. I know it was not the best decision upon impact. I could almost feel my sword and my arms cracking from the impact. If I had not used the force to jump back, I would have been trampled.  *sigh*Just me and my sad life. Even a rank 2 monster, that rank D adventurers can beat without a sweat, is so much stronger than me. My hands are still shaking, geez. I guess using force is no longer an option. Time to go to the next trap.  I intentionally let my hands shake harder and feigned a tense look as I turned and ran. As expected, the metal-horned warthog followed in rage. It seems to have entered a frenzy as it ran while ignoring the pain on its legs. At a reasonable distance, I triggered another trap. *snap* A part of the grounds underneath the metal-horned warthog suddenly turned gooey.  Instantly, the monster got stuck in the goo. No matter how hard it swung its protruding teeth, nothing was hit. Instead, it just sank deeper.  "Els Aqua…" I chanted a water ball spell as I quickly climbed a tree. "... Rouval" As I reached the top, I finished the spell and fired the waterball down at the warthog. The goo turned stickier with the water mixed in, trapping the monster completely.  I looked down to confirm that it was really stuck before jumping down from the tree while concentrating mana on my sword with its tip pointing downwards.  "See who's mad now!" *stab!*  Making use of the force of gravity from the fall, I successfully pierced right through its head. The light in its eyes went out and it stopped moving completely.  I panted as I jumped down after taking out my sword from its skull. I could feel my heart still beating fast due to the lingering adrenaline rush. I guess this is the best I can do now. With no particular cheats whatsoever, I was able to beat a rank 2 by myself. I have gotten stronger than before. I guess travelling on one's own gives me so much experience. I am now able to vaguely judge what I could and couldn't do.  A smile broke on my face as I waved towards the little girl who was running here.  "Miura! We are having a barbecue for lunch today!"  Miura looked at the happy for a moment but then she tilted her head as if asking how we were supposed to take the carcass out of the goo.  "Don't worry. I'm the one who made it, so I can also get rid of the goo." I said in a happy voice as I put my sword back on its sheathe. I hummed happily as I wrote lines of runes around the peripheral of the gooey area.  "Barbecue, Bar, Barbecue, oh barbecue.." I hummed a random tune as I start thinking about the seasonings I should use for the barbecue in a good mood.

GR Chapter 12: Destination   IT has been almost three weeks since the summon. Many things have happened and I felt like I have changed either for better or worse. Instead of being summoned in our first year of high school, we were summoned to Edea in our second year of middle school, not to mention the Yamada cousins and Chizu-senpai are also here with us. I wonder if this is really the game world “Grimoire Knights”, things are different yet similar. Same because both Shelton and Enri still have their own set of female followers. Different because we can return to our world in 5 years time, and because I am now leaving them to find my tutor Shawn who were falsely accused because of me and to avoid my death flag.   *sigh* Even if I wanted to find him, I have practically no clue at all. He didn’t tell me where he was going for his sudden mission and I don’t know anyone who might know anything about it. Considering almost every acquaintance I knew in the castle are in cohorts to chase me away, I think it is wiser to not seek them for help.   In this foreign world, all I have is my knowledge from the game I used to play. Even with this knowledge, I am painfully aware that I am weak. I may have been trained for almost a month but it was a very hasty effort. I think I am only a bit stronger than this world’s normal adult man, and all I can count on is my mediocre water magic as well as my intermediate alchemy.   THAT is why my goal now is to get stronger! I will get as strong as any decent B-rank adventurer, and open my own alchemist shop! This is my best option to live my life peacefully in the next five years unless some other unnecessary variables pop up. After I have opened my shop and secured a stable livelihood, I will try to find out more about Shawn-san’s case.   Now that I got everything set out in my mind, let me explain my current situation. Presently, I am walking inside the West main street of the capital’s middle district with a getup of this world’s normal amateur adventurer: a leather armored top above my khaki cotton shirt, a sword strap on my back holding my short sword, a waist belt with knife holes and a space bag on my back waist, long fitted black pants, and a leather military-like boots. Adding a long cloak with a hood, I can now easily blend in the crowd with my now potion-dyed-chocolate brown hair and caramel eyes. In this human-led Esteral, people usually have very colorful hair and eyes colors. As in most fantasy worlds, black hair and eyes is like super duper rare in this world’s culture. Some abhor them as taboo child, some worship them as the chosen ones though it is more known that other worlders’ aka heroes usually have them. Long story short, you would stand out like a sore thumb if you are a blackie. I definitely doesn't want that, so I'm just gonna stay as low key as possible.   Ahem, moving on about my present situation, I have been wandering around this middle district for over two hours now. Going into as many different shops and inns as possible. I know I might be overly paranoid but I am trying to confuse anyone who might be following me just in case. *sigh* I'm tired. This is stupid. I'm starting to feel stupid after all this running around.   Turning around another mid-sized alley, I spotted a small inn with a slightly rundown sign saying “Cyclops Pops”. Considering it is almost 5 pm right now (in this world's time), I hesitated a bit before deciding to step in for a room to spend the night.   “Welcome to the Cyclops!” I was immediately greeted by a waitress wearing an apron and holding a tray.     I was slightly taken aback with the very rowdy sight of over ten tables packed with people around the place with a bar like counter in the right corner in front of what seemed to be a kitchen. Wow, I never would have guessed from the small entrance that this inn was so popular.   “Excuse me, how may I help you?” The same waitress who welcomed me asked with a smile, shaking me from my daze. I turned my head to find a slightly tall girl with moss colored hair and eyes.   “Ah, I would like a room for two nights and meals, please.”   “Oh, that will be thirty coppers, but only two meals will be provided since we have a different menu for dinners, so you will have to separately pay for your dinners.”  The girl then led me to a table further in the rowdy hall to take out a key for the room.   “Sure but...umm… would you happen to have a place where I can wash up?” After all that walking around, I feel so sweaty that I desperately need a shower to relax my tense body.     “There is a bathroom on the first floor, but you would have to get the water by yourself from the well in the backyard.” The girl gave me a knowing look and smiled after looking at me up and down. I guess I do look a bit messy just like a rookie adventurer who had just got them back from a mission.   “That's great. Here” Giving her an embarrassed smile, I rummaged around my waist bag for the coppers and handed them to her.     “Oh, payment accepted. Again welcome to the Cyclops inn, I'm Riley by the way. I hope you have a nice stay here.” The girl gave me another friendly smile after telling me where my room was.   “Nice to meet you, Riley.”   “Me too. You're new here, right?” The waitress asked.   “Yeah.” I gave her a nod.   “I knew it! I'd know if a cutie like you moved here.” Riley jokingly winked, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Wait, wait...Did she just flirt with me?   “Ooi, guys check it out! Riley's flirting again!” A man who seemed to be observing our conversation shouted.   “Hahaha, Riley's at it again?” Another echoed.   “D*mn Riley, you won't even let a kid off the hook eh?”   “Shut up! Mind your own business! A girl is even cuter when unripe ya know!” The subject of their boo-ing responded while I slowly took a few steps away with cold sweat flowing down my back and a few terms keep popping up on my mind such as **mo, **do., and so on. For my safety, I think I should just skip dinner and escape to my room as soon as possible.   “What do you mean unripe is better? Obviously, a ripe one with curves is the best.”   “Huh?! Wrong, an unripe one with minimum curves is infinitely better!”   Somehow, I feel this conversation is getting weirder and weirder by the minute as the men including Riley broke into a heated fight about ripe and unripe whatever it is that I don't want to explain.     I was already about half way stealthily reaching the stairs when I suddenly jumped backwards on instinct. Before…   *Booom* *Crashhh*   A resounding boom resounded and the kitchen wall exploded blowing away a few men who was eating on the counter.   “Rileyyy!!!” A horrifying howl resounded from the shadow as the dust faded showing the silhouette of a giant of a man.     “I said the order is ready, you Dimwit!!” The giant man wearing an eye patch growled, and I felt the illusion as if the building itself is collapsing just by his shout.   “O-Oh, B-Boss…” I creakingly turned my head to see a completely pale Riley and the guys who was arguing with her sweating a river of cold sweat while fixing their posture sitting as upright as a noble lady while some others who were eating clicked their tongue and went to help the few who got blown away.   “*Tsk*, I told ya not to sit on the counter, didn't I? These sh*tty new chicks.”   “You just had to make me break this wall again, Riley!” The giant glared everyone around the room as his eyes finally fell on me.   *Gulp* I suddenly regretted stepping in the door so much that I wished I could turn back time and the fact that I couldn't made me automatically break into curse words in my mind.   F**ck! What kind of sh*tty inn did I get myself into now? AFTer the surprise of a lifetime yesterday in the form of the Cyclops inn's welcome, I, against all odds, spent the night peacefully and slept like a log. As intimidating as the boss of the inn might look, Carlos-san was actually very nice. Last night, he scolded Riley a lot for scaring me, and even gifted me a free dinner. Well, the man sure has one hell of a presence though. A glare from him almost made my soul fly out of my body. I instantly found out why the inn is dubbed the Cyclops inn. Well,  Riley apologized profusely that she was only messing with me after the scolding from Carlos-san. I found out later though through the regulars there that Riley was serious when she admitted her preference.   *sweat* No way right? Haha...ha*cold sweat*   Anyway, I got a lot of help from them as I asked recommendations for shops selling travelling necessities. I got a lot of bargain prices due to that.   Now that I have everything I need, tomorrow I will set off to my next destination, Arćhi, the town of beginning. The town where I can get one of the hidden piece “The G.E.M”.